Many salespeople today are struggling; only 57% of them make their annual quotas, surveys show. One problem is that buying processes have evolved faster than selling processes, and buyers today can access a wide range of online resources that let them evaluate products before even meeting a salesperson. AI tools can help organizations close the gap, but most don't know how to use them effectively. In this article the authors describe how sales AI has been a real game changer at a few companies. They also provide a self-assessment tool, the Sales Success Matrix, that will show sales leaders where to start or improve their AI journeys. The matrix has two dimensions: relationship level (which runs from transactional vendor on the low end to trusted co-creator at the top) and process level (which runs from ad hoc to customized). At the lower levels of both relationships and processes, simple AI that decreases costs and improves efficiency works best. In the mid levels, advanced AI increases sales effectiveness by analyzing opportunities and customer needs. At the highest level, cutting-edge technologies help firms generate deep insights about customers. No matter where a firm falls on the matrix, AI can help it boost sales. And the sooner and more broadly it applies AI tools, the better they work.

Every year, the research firm CSO Insights publishes the results of its Sales Performance Optimization survey, an online questionnaire given to more than 1,000 sales executives worldwide that seeks to examine the effectiveness of key sales practices and metrics. In this article, two partners from CSO provide the 2005 and 2006 survey highlights, which describe the challenges today's sales organizations face and how they're responding. An overall theme is the degree to which the buy cycle has gotten out of sync with the sell cycle. Buyers have always had a buy cycle, starting at the point they perceive a need. Sellers have always had a sales cycle, starting at the point they spot a prospect. Traditionally, the two have dovetailed--either because the seller created the buyer's perception of need or because the buyer pursued a need by contacting a salesperson (often for product information). Now the buy cycle is often well underway before the seller is even aware there is a cycle--in part because of the information asymmetry created by the Internet. The implications for managing a sales organization are profound in that sales training must now address how reps handle an environment in which buyers have more knowledge than they do. The authors offer evidence that sales executives are taking--and should take--aggressive action to train and retain sales talent, manage the sales process, and use sales support technologies to meet the challenges of this new environment.