The creation of an AI actress, Tilly Norwood, by Dutch company Xicoia, the AI division of the production company Particle6 Group, has caused quite a stir amongst the acting profession, with some calling for the use of AI-generated actors to be banned. How far away are we from having AI-generated salespeople who can do a great job of selling IT products and building relationships with customers?
► Could your next sales team be AI-generated?
► Humans are still best at building trusted relationships
The sketch video that launched Tilly Norwood – AI Commissioner – was created using ten AI software tools and written using ChatGPT. It features 16 AI-generated characters in total. Whether you are convinced by it or not, it’s impressive. But if production companies can now create AI-generated actors, what about salespeople who can do as good a job as a human by using connectivity and collaboration platforms?
Of course, AI sales bots and avatars do have some obvious benefits. They can work 24/7, they don’t need to be managed, and they won’t draw a salary or expect to be paid commission. But could a convincing character be created that could actually sell?
A blog post by learning platform provider, Pantopo, posted earlier this year, lists the key skills of salespeople as being:
- Emotional intelligence
- Persuasion and negotiation
- Adaptability and problem-solving
- Relationship-building
- Complex decision-making
It contends that, while AI can do a lot of what’s required to replicate human traits in these areas, it can’t do it all. For example, while AI can recognise the general sentiment and tone of a discussion, it can’t pick up nuances and non-verbal cues and lacks empathy.
When AI negotiates, it will always do that using known information. Similarly, with problem-solving, it can make suggestions based on what it has learned but doesn’t have the creativity and intuition to go further. While AI can send a follow-up, it can’t build genuine rapport and trusted relationships in the way a skilled salesperson can. When it comes to decision-making, if the scenario is nuanced and complicated, as it often will be, AI can’t navigate through the problem in the same way.
AI can certainly do the simple things and will almost certainly take over for transactional sales and as the first point of contact, but there is some way to go before avatars replace the sales team. What it does mean is that the skills AI can’t replicate – empathy, nuance, navigating complexity, building trusted relationships – will become more important and salespeople should look to enhance these skills as much as they can.
Inspired by
‘AI Commissioner’ YouTube post
AI as an Aid or the Future of Sales?
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