Solving Your Sales AI Challenges with SugarPredict
Still struggling to add artificial intelligence (AI) to your sales operations? Have AI but keep running into common challenges? We get it.
AI has made big strides in the past decade—and even the past few years. Sales teams now use it to power and optimize several tasks like:
- Sales forecasting
- Lead capture and support
- Lead scoring
- Recommended actions
- Automation and productivity
- Competitive intelligence
But these benefits don’t make it any easier to implement or adopt. It requires intentional data collection, data optimization, training of the software, and regular use.
As you explore AI for sales, you may encounter hindrances from lacking manager buy-in to adding it to your most common workflows. No matter how much you want AI to start working right away, you must take the time to anticipate possible difficulties instead of focusing solely on the benefits.
Let’s take a look at seven common roadblocks of using AI solutions—and how SugarPredict can help you clear them in no time.
1. Finding A Proper Focus
Every application of AI is different across industries, companies, and teams. Yet, AI users tend to apply it to the same common tasks. Even among sales teams, AI has numerous applications depending on who your customers are and what goals you want to accomplish. To make AI work, determine a strategy before “flipping the switch” and expecting AI to start working immediately.
- If you use AI to make predictions, which sales data do you want to forecast?
- Instead of applying AI to an entire data set, hone in on particular subsets for greater focus and flexibility.
- “Train” the data by running tests on historical data so it’s prepared to predict the outcome you’re aiming for.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarPredict helps you uncover key focus areas without added hassle. With AI-powered insights, your sales reps can focus on the opportunities with the highest probability of conversion and the closest fit to ideal targets.
2. Applying AI to the Workflow
It’s easy to become impatient when adding AI to your sales team’s normal workflow. Reps may be hesitant to adopt new technology or lack time to invest in setting it up.
For the most successful application to your sales workflow, demonstrate AI’s benefits by fitting it into their existing processes. Observe what’s working and what’s not in your sales team’s daily routines. Make them part of AI onboarding. Then, gather their feedback to determine how AI will be most helpful to their existing workflows.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarPredict helps sales minimize time-to-value. By working alongside your data, SugarPredict gives dependable next-step advice that reps can use to accelerate deal velocity and maximize productivity.
3. Lack of Technical Skills
AI can be scary to non-technical users because of behind-the-scenes algorithms and complexities. With help from your IT, systems, or big data teams, you could lead onboarding and implementation that answers all their questions and equips future sales users with the knowledge they need.
But that’s also expensive and time-consuming. Instead, look for a platform that presents insights clearly, offering your sales teams the next-best action.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarPredict is a fully integrated deep learning platform that puts the power of AI in the hands of every business, no matter the size, business maturity, or technical sophistication.
4. Gathering Data Without Being Able to Interpret It
Data doesn’t have to be perfect to work well with AI. That’s the beauty of it! AI can help fill in gaps and spot errors to improve your data.
It isn’t necessarily true that the more data you have, the more accurate AI will be. Look for AI technologies that do the work for you, clearly surfacing insights you didn’t see, pinpointing problem areas, and identifying trends in your data.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarPredict taps vast external data sources to analyze factors your data doesn’t cover. It works alongside your existing sales, marketing, and services data to uncover insights unique to your business, accelerating growth.
5. Privacy and Security Concerns
It’s essential to ensure safe and ethical data use in the workplace—from privacy and integrity to non-discrimination. While government rulings have addressed some of these concerns, top sales platforms also safeguard against AI misuse.
To ensure your customer data is safe, look for credible, reliable sales platforms that carefully handle your information.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarPredict’s design ensures that personally-identifiable information is not exposed to users, ensuring the privacy and security of your customers’ data.
6. Getting Buy-In From Business Stakeholders
To secure buy-in from sales leadership, you need to show value and potential. But without the right tools, larger AI projects can take a while to deliver results. Start small so it’s more manageable and won’t take as long to achieve a return. Get buy-in from other stakeholders to demonstrate need. Plus, leverage your AI vendor to provide recommendations, insights, and advice to help your project succeed.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarPredict places the power of AI into the hands of all your users on day one. Our AI engine’s greatest value is its proven immediate time-to-value, successfully driving sales after activation and implementation.
7. Creating Trust
Trust is arguably users’ biggest problem with adopting AI. A trustworthy AI program can result in higher sales, more jobs, or more accurate medical diagnoses. On the flipside, a questionable AI program can lead to negative media attention, customer attrition, and even legal action.
The answer lies in transparency—from both your company and your AI vendor. This means loading in the most accurate data to eliminate biases. It means regularly assessing and optimizing algorithms to continually train the AI. And it means choosing an AI provider that makes it easy for users to understand why it arrived at a particular result.
How SugarPredict Helps
SugarCRM is committed to providing the fullest level of transparency. We believe the customer owns their data—not us. We implement stringent security measures to safeguard your data and provide you with tools to control it on your terms.
What Are You Waiting For?
The challenges of AI should never be why you don’t take advantage of its incredible power. SugarCRM makes it easy to apply AI to the data you already manage with SugarPredict, our fully integrated engine for helping you gather key sales and marketing insights, assess customer sentiment, and predict the future for the highest level of growth.
Experience the power of SugarPredict for yourself by requesting a demo today.
