The advent of generative AI has disrupted virtually every role in every industry. For sales-focused organizations, this technology represents an exciting opportunity — if properly leveraged.
Forrester Principal Analyst, Seth Marrs, recently joined Cresta’s CMO, Scott Kolman, for a webinar discussing generative AI questions that weigh heavily on the minds of many revenue-generating contact center leaders.
In case you missed it, we’ll explore some key insights from the session:
How is generative AI changing the landscape of sales technology?
The rate of market adoption of generative AI has outpaced both the internet and electricity. It’s clear that businesses are eager to adopt new tools, but what does this hype mean on a practical level for sales technology?
Evolved summarization
Not so long ago, a tool with summarization capabilities did just that — summarized calls so agents didn’t have to.
Spurred on by the rise of generative AI, sales technology is now racing to a point where tools do not just create summaries, outline post-call actions, or even suggest follow-up email content, but will also perform advanced functions like logging actions from the call and automatically updating the CRM with that information.
For sales-centric organizations, this means less time spent on administrative tasks previously too complicated to automate, and more time focused on sales.
Tailored communication support
AI content creation isn’t a wholly new concept, but we’ll soon see it deployed in novel ways. While the idea that AI can produce content based on a prompt isn’t revolutionary, generative AI makes it possible to produce content based on specific company data and previous interactions. And in an even more evolved state, generative AI will allow agents to create customized content for industries, personas, or even individual customers.
This will significantly lighten the burden of formulating tailored customer communications for agents, without forcing any departure from best practices.
Accessible insights
Many contact center leaders are faced with the frustrating paradox of having mountains of valuable data at their fingertips, but few options for making it actionable. Generative AI is changing that.
Not only can agents, managers, and leaders ask questions related to specific interactions, they can also gain insights into groups of interactions, generate charts, surface trends, gain visibility into opportunities, and more.
How will this wave impact sales agents?
While there’s no denying that generative AI is disrupting the landscape of sales technology, it’s equally important to look at the impact for the agents using that technology.
For example, Marrs noted that generative AI can maximize selling potential when leveraged thoughtfully, so leaders must consider how the tools will be used by sellers and the practical impact they’ll have.
As to the question on many agents’ minds — will generative AI replace human sales reps? — the answer remains a resounding “no.”
However, there are three key outcomes agents can expect as a result of generative AI’s growing popularity:
- Significant change
If one thing is certain, it’s that the status quo is no match for generative AI. Agents can expect their daily work to change as a result of more advanced tools; the sooner they adopt, the more efficient and effective they’ll be. - More time spent selling
Marrs noted that, on average, sellers only spend 23% of their time selling — the rest is dedicated to activities without direct value. Advanced capabilities from generative AI will change that, so agents can expect fewer administrative tasks and more time spent on sales conversations. - Tighter alignment to results
With greater access to the full breadth of available data, contact center leaders are likely to ask for more consistent script utilization from agents. But rather than being restrictive, generative AI will facilitate support that empowers agents to thrive and to adapt scripts and guidance to their personal style.
For Cresta, deploying generative AI in the contact center isn’t a new opportunity, but a core tenet. While some sales-focused contact centers are newly discovering the possibilities, Cresta offers mature capabilities like real-time coaching, actionable performance insights, and knowledge assist.
To get a full view of how generative AI solutions like Cresta are changing the game for revenue-generating contact centers, watch the on-demand webinar replay. And to see Cresta in action, schedule a personalized demo with our team!
