ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN

SALES MKT-4000 MODULE 8

SALES PROCESS
LEAD GENERATION
Sales Process Steps
1. LEAD GENERATION
5. NEGOTIATION
(INBOUND OR OUTBOUND) (PRICE, PRODUCT, PLACE,
PROMOTION)

2. LEAD QUALIFICATION or
SCORING 6. CLOSING THE DEAL
(INITIAL APPROACH BASED (GOOD or SERVICE
ON QUALITY LEADS) DELIVERY/IMPLEMENTATION)
3. LEAD NURTURING
(NEEDS ANALYSIS, MEETINGS, 7. AFTER SALES SERVICE
DEMONSTRATIONS)
(ONBOARDING, CUSTOMER
4. PRESENTATION SUPPORT, CUSTOMER SUCCESS,
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT)
(DEMONSTRATION, TRIAL)
B2B vs B2C
Characteristics B2B (Business-to-Business) B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

Selling goods (e.g., equipment) or service

(e.g., consulting) to organizations, profit Selling goods (e.g., cars) or service
Target Audience seeking and non-profits. (e.g., massage) to individual consumers.
Low as typically order value tend to be
Transaction Value High as typically order value tend to be big. small.

Shorter due to lower complexity and

Longer due to higher complexity and involvement of a single individual or at
Sales Cycle involvement of multiple decision-makers. most a few decision-maker(s).

On the product’s or service’s features

On technical features, of the product or the including its emotional appeal which
Salesperson service, which satisfies customer’s enhances the customer’s personal
Focus organization’s needs. benefits and satisfies its needs.
Inbound Sales
Inbound sales happen when prospective customers (or leads) approach the
seller (organization) to learn about its products or services.
Referrals - an existing customer recommends the seller or salesperson to
someone they know and encourages them to try your product.
Search engine advertising - prospect searches for a keyword in an online
search platform and finds an ad in the search results for a relevant product.
Search engine marketing - Organic search results are the unpaid listings that
appear on a search engine results page (Yasar, 2024).
Content marketing – prospect clicks on content e.g., blog, social media, video.
Website contact us forms, report download, or inbound emails.

https://www.salesforce.com/blog/inbound-vs-outbound-sales/
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/organic-search-results
Inbound vs Outbound Sales
Outbound sales happen when a rep reaches out to prospective customers directly. These
prospects are not expecting outreach and may or may not be aware of the brand.
Cold calling (unsolicited) or warm (unsolicited but with preliminary research) - finding
prospective customers who have needs that can be addressed by their product, then
calling them to discuss the value of the product they offer.
Networking – finding prospects in conferences, trade shows, seminars, webinars, etc.
Social media e.g., Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook (including ad campaigns)
Community e.g., B2B buyer forums (Atlassian/Salesforce) or review sites (G2,
Capterra)
Referrals from previous territory representative or customer (other than the prospect)
Others e.g., directories, chambers of commerce, email campaigns.
 FIGURE 2 - SALES PROCESS IN ALL
BUSINESS MODELS
The sales process has been defined clearly by academics and perfected
by
practitioners (Deeter-Schmelz et al., 2024; Manning, Ahearne, & Reece, 2018).
They
differ slightly based on the four business models (Fjelstad and Haanæs
value chain transforms inputs
2018). into products e.g., Coca Cola

2.1 Importance of value shop resolves customer

problems on a case-by-case basis
Sales Process in e.g., IT consulting by Salesforce
B2B
Fjelstad and Haanæs value network links nodes—customers,
(2018) delineate business things, and places—and provides
services that allow exchanges among
models into four types.
nodes e.g., Uber Eats

value access provides access to the

use of physical, informational, and
human resources e.g., Amazon Web
Services

Figure2 shows the role of B2B sales representatives in all business models.

VALUE
CHAIN
Wholesaler -> Retailer Retailer -> Individual
Seller -> Retailer Customer

B2B Sales B2C

Sales
Seller to Wholesaler and Wholesaler to Retailer OR Seller to Retailer
directly are all B2B, only the Retailer to Individual Customer is B2C.

VALUE SHOP

Seller(Solutions) -> Organizational Customers

B2B Sales

VALUE NETWORK

NetworkingPlatform-> Seller* Buyers

B2B Sales

Only if both seller and buyer are organizations e.g., B2B ecommerce. If Seller sells
to individual customers mediated by the platform, it is B2C

VALUE ACCESS

Renter**(AccesstoSolutions) -> Organizational Customers

B2B Sales

** Renter earns subscriptions rather than a transfer of ownership;

value access can be given to individual
customers (e.g., news website) which is B2C
Generating Leads
Starting Point in the Sales Process
Hardest Step in the Sales Process
Salespersons Must be:
Smart
Creative
Bold
Unrelenting
 Qualifying Leads

Leads, Prospects, Contacts become qualified when ANAR

conditions are met:
1. They have the Authority to buy the product
2. They Need the product
3. They can Afford the product
4. They are Receptive to being called on
Responsibility for Generating Leads: Sales vs. Marketing

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) – potential customers

who have intentionally shown interest in a product through
their online actions or behaviors

Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) – leads that have been

vetted by salespeople and judged to have a high potential
to actually purchase the product
Inbound Lead Generation …cont
In the past, a majority of leads came through outbound channels. Today
more and more leads are inbound.
Lead capture – forms and other ways to allow users to submit their details.
Landing page platforms – tools that set up attractive pages for incoming leads.
Lead enrichment – tools that provide more data on leads to qualify and segment them.
Email marketing and automation – systems that can help you contact leads with offers
and nurture leads to move them closer to a sale.
Live chat and messaging – tools that help you communicate with leads on your site.
Lead Capture https://bdow.com/how-it-works#/

One way to capture leads is using different types of pop-ups – BDOW

A pop-up - is a small window or banner that appears on a website without the
user's action.
A scroll box - is a graphical user interface (GUI) element that allows users to
view content that exceeds the size of the display area by scrolling up or down.
Inline adaptive banners - Inline appear directly within the post body.
Welcome mat
Click triggers - an element on a website that encourages visitors to click. They
can be used to increase conversions, social sharing, and engagement.
Smart bar - a fixed navigation bar on a website that allows for the display of
personalized messages to visitors.
https://www.quackit.com/html/codes/html_scroll_box.cfm
https://advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-specs/fire-tv/inline
https://developers.google.com/admob/android/banner/inline-adaptive
Landing Page Builders
A landing page is a standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or
advertising campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after they click on a link in an email, or
ads from Google, Bing, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or similar places on the
web.
Unlike web pages, which typically have many goals and encourage exploration, landing
pages are designed with a single focus or goal, known as a call to action (or CTA, for
short).
Well-designed templates and tools for A/B testing and optimizing landing pages.
Unbounce - https://unbounce.com/landing-pages-
nb/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw6c63BhAiEiwAF0EH1KGbLVih7ZbwWia39yZQol7cxjHYQ9DkNvA52T-
UhO3Wc4ylglgyeBoCJKwQAvD_BwE
Xtensio (free) -
https://xtensio.com/?_gl=1*1wrxc1u*_ga*MTc3NDUwNDQzMy4xNzI3MzA2NDI1*_ga_7C6N0WZ5Q3*MTcyNzMwNjQyNC4xLjEu
MTcyNzMwNjQ1NS42MC4wLjA.*_gcl_au*MTQwMjgxMzIzOC4xNzI3MzA2NDU1
Lead Enrichment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvJyAWI4cjo&list=PLI
4Tn1HGL8rcsUoFyRVIoDTUm6d41kzc9&index=3

Leadfeeder - uses tracking technology based on IP addresses to recognize anonymous

website visitors into identifiable company names. It enriches this data with firmographics
and visitor behavior to assign scores to potential leads (Leadfeeder, 2024).

Bombora - uses AI to identify leads from the seller’s website visits and the customer’s
online browsing behavior. Beyond website visits, Bombora tracks content downloads, form
submissions, and engagement on websites to identify prospects. It integrates this
engagement data with firmographic data to detect the buyer’s intent probabilities
(Bombora, 2024).

Leedfeeder. (2024, July). Lead Generation Software. https://www.leadfeeder.com/lead-generation-software/

Bombora. (2024, July). Sales Intelligence and Revenue Intelligence. https://bombora.com/sales-intelligence-
and-revenue-acceleration/
Lead Enrichment
xiQ’s ‘Ask Gilroy’ chatbot can mine data about the prospect’s decisionmakers.

Analyzing LinkedIn feeds, websites, news articles, and social media posts, Gilroy assigns
personalities to these individuals, (e.g., self-assured), maps their career progression, and
recommends communication for emails and in-person meetups (xiqinc, 2024).

xiQ, like other sales intelligence software such as ZoomInfo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator,
uses AI to provide reports on company analysis, competitor analysis, social selling,
mergers, and acquisitions (Linkedin, 2024; Zoominfo, 2024).

These insights help sales representatives enrich prospect or customer data efficiently.
xiQ Deep Dive
Customer churn, also known as customer attrition, customer turnover, or customer
defection, refers to the loss of customers over a specific time period.
Xiqinc. (2024, July). Meet Gilroy, xiQ's AI-Powered Sales Assistant. https://xiqinc.com/gilroy-ai-sales-assistant/
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How AI plays a role in Lead Capture and Enrichment
Homework : https://xiqinc.com/webinar/gen-ai-how-the-next-
generation-is-generating-sales/

Next class – step by step AI.

Email Marketing
Chat

https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/marketing-automation/user-guide/lead-
generation/smart-pop-ups/articles/smart-pop-ups#Signup_pop-ups
Email Marketing and Automation Tools
https://mailchimp.com/?_gl=1*18wxkfw*_ga*MTc3NDUwNDQzM
y4xNzI3MzA2NDI1*_ga_7C6N0WZ5Q3*MTcyNzMwNjQyNC4xL
jEuMTcyNzMwNjQ1NS42MC4wLjA.*_gcl_au*MTQwMjgxMzIzO
C4xNzI3MzA2NDU1
Live Chat and Messaging
https://www.salesloft.com/welcome-drift