Generative AI and sustainability both play a crucial role in the future of chemical product portfolios.
Sales AI
July 11, 2024
Picture this: one of the members of your sales team is gearing up for a pivotal client conversation. This particular technical sales rep has just completed onboarding and is now expected to drive the conversation.
How do you ensure they are not just informed, but armed with insights that resonate deeply with the prospect?
Pre-call planning.
Far from a new concept, planning for a sales call has traditionally been a painstaking process, especially for greener sales professionals. The process generally involves scouring through notes in the CRM software, browsing industry websites, or having a face-to-face meeting with a more seasoned team member to gain insights that can help build rapport, gain trust, and move the deal deeper into the sales cycle.
Thanks to generative AI (GenAI), this same level of information can be shared and accessed among all team members. Continue reading to see how technical sales teams can accomplish effective pre-call planning with these intelligent systems.
Pre-call planning in the chemical industry involves meticulously gathering and analyzing information to tailor your sales approach before a call. It’s about understanding not only the customer’s current needs but also anticipating their future requirements based on industry trends and specific application demands.
The objective? To gather knowledge that can help deepen the salesperson's understanding of customer pain points, needs, expectations, and long-term goals.
The chemical industry is driven by innovation cycles and time-sensitive projects. When pre-call planning is augmented with GenAI, industry trends and challenges such as ESG initiatives, unexpected cost increases of raw materials, supply chain disruptions, and other potential customer concerns are brought into focus.
Effective pre-call planning creates an individualized playbook that a salesperson can rely upon before each conversation. It’s about positioning each member of your team as a trusted advisor who anticipates customers’ needs and offers innovative solutions. However, the process by which sales teams access this information is shifting.
As we mentioned before, gathering information before each call has historically been a chore simply due to manual processes. Even with 87% of sales teams currently leveraging CRM technology, scrolling through an endless stream of notes fails to be efficient enough.
GenAI streamlines pre-call planning by allowing reps to harness vast datasets across multiple platforms with a few simple keystrokes thanks to retrieval augmented generation, also known as RAG technology.
Through simple queries, sales reps gain access to:
It’s important to note that GenAI doesn’t replace the salesperson — it enhances their capabilities. By leveraging sales AI, you augment each team member’s expertise to engage clients more effectively, build credibility through informed discussions, and foster long-term partnerships to drive mutual growth.
Integrating GenAI into your technical sales strategy isn’t just about optimizing pre-call planning—it’s about compelling your target accounts to opt into your strategic growth initiatives. By embracing this technology, sales teams unlock better insights, streamline their processes, and drive meaningful outcomes — regardless of who they serve in the chemical industry.
Here are five specific ways GenAI streamlines the technical sales process for your team.
Effective pre-call planning hinges on your understanding of the customer. Strapped with data from sources like internal databases (CRM), annual reports, notes from other team members, investor pages, and product portfolios, a GenAI system delivers a holistic view of the customer. With instant access to this information, reps can effectively pre-call plan before every call, regardless of potential time crunches.
Understanding customer pain points is crucial for effective sales engagement. Teams that analyze data to pinpoint challenges and risks that impact the customer can tailor their approach to offer targeted solutions. For instance, the sales rep can suggest polymers that are more ESG compliant, demonstrating a clear understanding of the client's needs and priorities.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses is Sales 101. Technical sales teams with insights into competitive positioning become more agile as customer needs fluctuate. By analyzing market dynamics and competitor strategies, GenAI helps sales teams differentiate their offerings based on customer needs. This proactive approach not only enhances the likelihood of a successful sale but also strengthens long-term customer relationships.
Onboarding and improved ramp time is a top concern for almost 50% of sales leaders according to a recent poll about sales enablement. Questions about specific products, regulatory compliance, and other areas of expertise become readily available when GenAI tools are available, accelerating the learning curve and eliminating knowledge gaps throughout onboarding and training.
The benefits of GenAI are not limited to frontline salespeople. As technology continues to evolve, embracing artificial intelligence represents a forward-thinking approach to sales enablement. It opens the door to a better market strategy for those within management positions. By integrating AI-driven workflows into every stage of the sales cycle, company leaders can gain a competitive edge, adapt swiftly to market changes, and help team members forge deeper, more profitable relationships with their clients.
Generative AI isn't just a tool, it's a powerful ally for sales teams that need to elevate their performance and achieve transformative results. By harnessing AI’s capabilities to support pre-call planning and sales, businesses unlock new opportunities and pave the way for sustained success in complex industries.
At NESH, we know that successful sales are rooted in human connection and industry expertise. But we also understand that GenAI tools offer a transformative advantage. It’s about harnessing technology to decode complexities and implement tailored solutions that propel your business forward.
Experience the power of information on demand during every phase of your sales cycle. For a closer look at NESH’s generative AI solution for technical sales, connect with our team.
Looking for more ways to leverage generative AI? Check out our use cases fact sheet.
Generative AI and sustainability both play a crucial role in the future of chemical product portfolios.
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Generative AI and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) have become essential tools for chemical technical sales teams.
Learn how to optimize your technical sales cycle with AI.
