How to Use AI in B2B Sales – RevBoss

Just as the initial panic about AI taking over faded, it quickly turned into amazement at how much time it saved us.

By now, we all know that AI frees up your team to focus on higher-value tasks. While it’s undoubtedly one of its most impressive functionalities, it comes second in the B2B sales team use case list. According to HubSpot, sales reps already using AI and automation often rely on tools that provide data-driven insights, such as sales forecasting, lead scoring, and pipeline analysis.

This article will discuss how AI is transforming B2B sales, especially regarding lead generation.

The AI Advantage in B2B Sales

Harvard Business Review found that organizations using AI saw a 50% boost in Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). That’s a pretty big deal, showing how AI doesn’t just flood you with more leads but actually improves the quality of those leads.

That’s also a relief, considering B2B sales cycles often stretch for months. Instead of spending valuable time on labor-intensive tasks or struggling with ineffective automation, AI helps your team get smarter faster. It analyzes data to pinpoint which leads are most likely to convert, helping you shorten lengthy sales cycles.

Of course, AI takes over the repetitive, manual (or sometimes just poorly automated) tasks, freeing your team to focus on meaningful interactions. But that’s just a fragment of what it can achieve.

By streamlining lead scoring and personalizing outreach, for example, you improve the quality of your sales efforts beyond speeding up processes. This means you can make more informed decisions and close deals more efficiently, all while keeping the personal touch that’s essential in B2B sales.

How AI Supercharges B2B Sales (Beyond the Basics)

Predictive Lead Scoring

Manually scoring leads has always been a headache; traditional methods often fall short of their expectations. According to BlendB2B, “The problem with this approach is that the behaviors that are most often scored, and our approach to scoring them, rarely, if ever, correlates with intent, or need, to purchase.” That’s because “frustratingly, leads that never can or will purchase are incredibly adept at performing the actions that marketers think only buyers will.”

In short, assigning arbitrary scores (AKA “feel-right” scores) isn’t enough. Predictive Lead Scoring, however, is a different ball game. 

AI algorithms sift through a bunch of data – like past interactions, behavioral signals, and even social media activity — to predict which leads are most likely to turn into paying customers. This means your sales team can focus their time and energy on leads that matter instead of chasing dead ends.

Furthermore, Predictive Lead Scoring helps identify potential roadblocks in the sales process before they become bigger issues. For example, it can highlight when leads are not engaging with your content, flag potential budget constraints, or reveal misalignments between their needs and your offer.

Smarter Customer Segmentation

According to Brianna Langley Henderson, an experienced strategist and Growth Marketer, the future of B2B customer segmentation is AI-driven. As she predicted earlier this year, “Customer segmentation will become more dynamic and fluid, adapting in real-time to changes in segment behavior, market conditions, and competitive analyses.” 

Those predictions were spot-on, as Forbes’ recent article, Marketing 2.0: Embracing The AI-Powered Future, also reinforces the accuracy of AI in segmenting email lists, for example. 

The reason is simple: AI moves beyond the old approach of segmenting customers by industry or job title. Instead, it considers detailed factors like buying behavior, past interactions, and current intent signals. This naturally results in more precise and relevant marketing messages, as AI constantly refines your segments based on the latest data. 

Next-Level Content Personalization

B2B buyers today expect a personalized experience. 86% of B2B customers expect companies to be well-informed about their personal information during service interactions. And AI helps deliver just that.

Whether it’s an email, a product recommendation, or website content, AI can help every interaction feel more personal, not generic, making it easier to move leads down the funnel. Here are a few ways it can achieve that:

• Dynamic content creation customizes messaging in real time based on your audience’s needs, ensuring each interaction feels spot-on and relevant. Tools like HubSpot’s CMS can help you with that. 
• Customer segmentation powered by AI can break your audience into groups based on their unique behaviors and preferences. This lets you craft content that speaks directly to each group’s pains and motivators. Tools like Segment can help you create hyper-targeted customer segments with ease.
• AI-driven personal assistants guide users through their journey, offering the right content at the perfect moment without needing to reach out to a human assistant immediately. Try out Intercom’s AI-driven tools to see how they can improve your customer experience.

How Does AI Improve Outbound Lead Generation In B2B Sales?

Outbound lead generation has always been a tough nut to crack in B2B sales. Cold calls, mass emails, and generic marketing can lead to low engagement and high rejection rates, defeating the purpose of outreach. But AI is changing outbound strategies, making them brighter by…

Revamping Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)

In line with A Spark of B2B on Medium​​​​​​​​​​​​​​, “Businesses are sitting on a goldmine of customer information. AI algorithms can sift through this vast data to identify patterns, behaviors, and preferences. You can create highly targeted and relevant content, enhancing the B2B customer experience and the likelihood of conversion.”

In the past (and in some cases, even today), creating an ICP was mostly about broad categories—like a prospect’s industry or location. AI-driven models analyze data to understand the triggers and signals that make a prospect the right fit (the “how” behind it all), so your message hits home.

Automated Outreach That Feels Personal

Say your AI system notices that a prospect has frequently visited your pricing page and downloaded white papers on ROI. Instead of sending a generic follow-up like “Let me know if you have questions about our services,” AI drafts an email that directly addresses the prospect’s interest in maximizing their investment.

It might say, “I noticed you’ve been looking at how our solutions can drive ROI. I’d love to show you how other companies in your industry have seen significant returns.”

This personalized approach ensures that when your sales team steps in, they’re not starting from scratch. They’re engaging with a prospect who already feels understood and valued, making it easier to build a relationship and move toward closing the deal. 

All That Said, Over-Reliance on AI Can Become an Issue

AI’s role in B2B sales is only going to get bigger. As technology evolves, it’ll become even more woven into how businesses handle lead generation, customer engagement, and their entire sales strategy.

It’s undeniably powerful, but it’s not a silver bullet. Over-relying on AI can hinder your B2B sales efforts in several ways if you’re not careful. 

Loss of Human Connection

AI can analyze data, predict behaviors, and automate tasks, but it can’t replicate the empathy, intuition, and nuance that come from human interaction. Relying too much on AI might lead to losing that personal touch, crucial in building trust and long-term client relationships.

For example, an AI might recommend sending an email at a specific time based on data, but it won’t know that a quick phone call or an in-person meeting could be more effective in certain situations. Clients can often tell when they’re interacting with a machine rather than a person, which might make them feel less valued and more like just another number in your system.

“But people want to interact less and less with sales reps, don’t they?!”

Generally, yes – if that means a sales rep strikes before a prospect is done with self-servicing their information. 

And even when they choose to talk to a sales rep, they only spend around 17% of their time interacting with a human throughout the buying process. An article by Sales-i put words in our mouths: “This tells us that our salespeople must bring their A-game every time they engage with a customer. They need to make a big impression quickly, and they must make the interaction meaningful on both sides.”

Risk of Inaccurate Data Interpretation

AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. It’s the garbage in/garbage out principle. The AI’s predictions and recommendations can be off the mark if the data is incomplete, outdated, or biased. This can lead to misguided strategies that don’t align with your business goals or customer needs.

For instance, if an AI model is trained on data that doesn’t accurately reflect your target market, it might lead you to prioritize the wrong leads or craft messaging that doesn’t resonate. If your data isn’t accurately reflecting your target market, it could lead to missed opportunities.

Over-Automation Leading to Less Engagement

There’s a fine line between efficient automation and over-automation. Automating too many risks creates a robotic, impersonal experience that can turn prospects off. Automated emails and follow-ups can be great for efficiency. Still, if every interaction feels automated, you might end up with disengaged prospects who don’t feel a genuine connection with your company.

Mark Our Words: the Human Touch Will Soon Become “Boutique” 

As companies rush to automate everything in an unfocused way, those who can put the human element first will stand out in a sea of automated sameness.

At RevBoss, our platform ​​​​​​​is powered by AI, but it’s, most importantly, guided by humans. That’s why we have our RevBuds, our human team, who ensure that the AI-driven RevBoss Platform doesn’t just run on autopilot but is steered with real, raw expert insight.

We help you rethink your ICPs by creating custom AI models that pinpoint why a prospect is a great fit for your business, not just who they are and what they want. This level of personalization means your outreach is more likely to resonate, making it easier to connect with the right prospects immediately.

We also support the entire outbound process, from setting up domains to warming up inboxes and integrating with your existing tech stack.

Schedule a call to learn more about how RevBoss can help you implement an AI-powered outbound prospecting strategy that attracts high-fit buyers to your business.