Learn how technical sales teams at specialty chemical companies can navigate challenges using a fresh approach to generative AI.
Chemical Manufacturing
September 5, 2024
The integration of generative AI is poised to revolutionize the chemical testing equipment industry — an industry where precision and reliability are paramount. From chocolate makers to municipal water utilities, companies and organizations need testing equipment to ensure the efficacy, safety, and quality of the products they deliver to consumers.
As the demand for faster, more accurate testing across sectors like healthcare, cosmetics, and government grows, AI is shifting from a competitive advantage to a critical necessity across the testing equipment manufacturing industry’s value chain. With the market expected to surge from $30.8 billion today to $52.19 billion by 2033, the question isn't if AI will reshape this industry — it’s how fast.
In particular, generative AI is poised to change how chemical testing equipment manufacturers market, sell, and work with chemical manufacturers across a myriad of verticals to leverage increasingly innovative equipment and improve their processes and end product.
To learn more about generative AI (genAI) use cases for chemical testing equipment and services, keep reading. In this article, Nesh explores the many opportunities available for companies seeking to improve their processes and sales cycles in this sector.
The chemical testing equipment market’s growth is projected especially in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and environmental monitoring. But this growth also comes with a new set of challenges.
As more competitors enter the chemical testing niche, companies must differentiate their offerings and provide unique value to customers. Equipment manufacturers must keep up with changing industry demands and advancing technological processes.
This poses challenges for marketing and sales teams in the industry. Marketing and sales representatives must stay aware of new, innovative applications for testing equipment and how each application serves a specific customer use case. With the limited availability of subject matter experts, sales reps may only sell into industries with ingredients or processes they know, causing misalignment with marketing initiatives for new equipment offerings in different verticals.
Stringent regulations in chemical testing — particularly in areas like water quality and food safety — require constant adaptation in testing methodologies. Recent global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the vulnerability of supply chains, affecting the availability and cost of chemical testing equipment.
To complicate compliance requirements further, there's a growing emphasis on developing and using testing equipment that aligns with sustainability goals and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria.
All of this adds to the growing knowledge requirements to be effective chemical testing equipment sales reps.
Fortunately, AI systems support opportunities for companies looking to grow and innovate in a challenging market. Opportunities include:
Chemical testing companies have a lot to consider moving into their full potential moving forward. This is where generative AI platforms emerge as a trusted solution.
To address industry challenges and capitalize on new opportunities, generative AI technology is particularly useful in one of the most critical aspects of business growth — technical sales, services, and marketing.
As subject matter experts retire or manage taxing demands on their time, sales reps need solutions that enhance their own expertise. Generative AI platforms like Nesh can provide sales representatives with instant access to deep, contextual knowledge about chemical testing equipment. This includes:
Take this example. With an implemented genAI solution, a sales rep can quickly learn how a particle size analyzer improves the mouthfeel of chocolate by controlling granule size, enhancing their ability to communicate value to potential customers.
By typing a query into a generative AI tool that incorporates the right technical knowledge, the sales rep can analyze the customer’s need and compare equipment parts for the best option. The genAI solution can then help them position the product in ways consistent with marketing initiatives and priorities.
AI-powered tools enable technical sales teams to engage more effectively with customers. Sales reps leverage these tools to have more effective, knowledgeable interactions and act as trusted advisors to their customers.
Sales teams can generate tailored messaging for presentations and proposals to close new, high-ticket customers in the industry. Technical sales representatives can provide real-time answers to technical questions of existing customers, encouraging loyalty and trust. They can also offer personalized product recommendations based on customer needs, whether it be specific equipment hardware, software, or processes for chemical testing.
By automating routine tasks and providing instant access to information, generative AI helps streamline the sales process. Sales reps also gain a tool that helps them better understand the equipment they sell, their customer pain points, and the end-use case of their customer’s products. GenAI ultimately enables sales reps to focus on high-value activities, have more informed customer conversations, and close deals faster.
Generative AI assists in breaking down silos between marketing and sales with faster, more accurate dissemination of cohesive marketing strategies.
In the case of the Nesh platform, genAI helps marketing teams disseminate new sales enablement materials and quickly gain real-time insights on content usage and effectiveness to improve sales enablement activities.
Marketing teams gain confidence that sales reps are leveraging consistent brand messaging. Leaders can ensure that priority industries are being targeted with the right positioning.
Let’s consider some of the real-world applications of generative AI in specific sectors that rely on the chemical testing equipment industry.
With increasing concerns about water quality and availability, water testing equipment users need help to address complex regulatory requirements.
Sales reps targeting this industry can leverage generative AI to better understand the latest information on PFAS-free testing methods or microplastic detection techniques and the application of their equipment to meet evolving standards. Understanding these specifics improves the sales reps ability to position their equipment effectively with customers.
In food and beverage testing, generative AI can help sales teams articulate how advanced chemical processing equipment ensures product safety and quality. In a food industry use case, Sales reps can use generative AI to create detailed explanations of how their equipment uses chromatographic analysis to improve food safety testing, drawing from recent research, their organization’s and subject matter experts' knowledge, and industry best practices.
With genAI, they can also leverage the insights in their technical data sheets and safety data sheets to build positioning with specifications on how their equipment helps test for common pesticides with superior speed and efficacy than their competitors.
The pharmaceutical and biopharma industry requires rigorous testing protocols combined with fast results. Sales teams can use generative AI to better understand the pain points of specific testing and the unique requirements of a customer’s application.
Generative AI assists sales teams in demonstrating how cutting-edge equipment ensures drug efficacy and safety, leveraging their company’s advancements in AI-driven drug testing methodologies. Sales rep's use genAI to enhance their ability to help customers find products that meet their requirements.
In other cases, genAI assists sales reps as they collaborate across teams to build or tailor a customized solution that meets the customer requirements for greater accuracy, increased capacity, and faster delivery of results for their specific use case.
With growing environmental concerns, generative AI tools can help companies showcase how their equipment helps their customers meets stringent environmental regulations. AI tools can provide concise, contextual information on the latest EPA guidelines for Environmental Sampling and Analytical Methods (ESAM) and how specific testing equipment aligns with their customer’s mission-critical standards.
Personal care companies recognize the importance of consumer transparency and must provide reliable sourcing and testing results on their ingredients and packaging. To do this, they need access to the latest testing equipment — and many brands are looking to partner with chemical testing companies for increasingly innovative equipment solutions.
Generative AI helps sales reps working with personal care product manufacturers and quality assurance teams stay updated on the latest innovations in cosmetic standards and testing, ensuring they offer solutions that meet both regulatory requirements and consumer demands for safe, effective products.
In other cases, a personal care company may be looking to improve the application of their lipstick and need chemical testing equipment to ensure each component is processed to a specific standard. Sales representatives can leverage genAI to find a solution in their portfolio typically leveraged in other industries like food quality testing but is also designed to help their customers achieve this result. Sales reps use genAI to better understand their equipment portfolio and how they can sell into new verticals.
As we look to the future, the potential of generative AI in chemical testing equipment sales and marketing is overwhelming — in a good way. We can anticipate generative AI will increasingly support:
However, it's worth noting that this technology must be approached responsibly. The information produced by genAI models needs careful validation and foundation in enterprise knowledge that aligns with regulatory, safety, and quality frameworks.
With Nesh Sales AI, chemical testing equipment companies are assured their marketing, sales, and services teams are leveraging their own enterprise data founded in accurate technical, safety, and regulatory information. With Nesh Sales AI, companies across the chemicals value chain gain access to the tools they need to close deals and grow revenue.
Generative AI is already playing a huge role in shaping the future of chemical testing equipment and its sales. By enhancing sales rep knowledge, improving customer engagement, and accelerating the sales process, Nesh enables your company to capitalize on growth in this expanding industry.
To implement generative AI for your operation, contact Nesh for a free demo today. We’re here to help you become well-positioned to lead your industry forward.
Want to learn more about how to leverage AI in the chemical industry? Download our Ultimate Guide to AI in Chemicals.
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