Salesloft.

2023

State of AI in Sales

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Executive Summary

The 2023 State of AI in Sales Survey polled more than 500 U.S.-based sales executives to understand roadblocks to success and how AI can solve common business challenges and improve the sales process and revenue outcomes

95% of executives polled report their organization 
 is currently using AI in sales in some capacity.

84% say their company has used generative AI in sales 
 in the past year.

97% say it is important to work with tech vendors that have an AI strategy.

The survey also found two-thirds of executives are not very confident in their organization's ability to reach its sales goals and sales team burnout is rampant. 86% of executives say they’ve noticed an increase in sales team burnout or turnover in the past year.

Likely contributors to burnout are the vast amount of 
 non-selling activities that take up a seller’s time and the multitude of tools a seller must use to perform their job – 
 all of which prevent sellers from maximizing their time 
 to advance and close deals.

Amid this burnout, sales executives cite the ability to prioritize activities (52%) and increased efficiency and productivity for sales teams (49%) as the top two benefits for using AI in sales.

This report delves deeper into the role of AI in sales and identifies 5 key takeaways from the survey, exploring the perceptions and advantages it can offer sales teams.

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Takeaway 1

Sales team burnout is rampant as sellers navigate an evolving landscape.

86%

86% of executives say they’ve noticed an increase in sales team burnout or turnover in the past year.

31% say they’ve noticed a significant increase

57% say they’ve noticed a moderate increase.

Sellers are swivel-chairing from a multitude of software applications to perform their job.

40% of executives say their sellers need to log into 4-5+ applications to perform their job.

Only 4% of executives say their sellers can perform their jobs in a single application.

Non-selling activities take up a significant portion of the sales team’s time.

Nearly a third (29%) of executives surveyed said internal meetings and administrative tasks like data entry and CRM updates take up most of their team’s time.

Nearly a third of executives (28%) say lead generation and finding new business opportunities are the biggest challenges facing sales teams today.

1 8% said talent management (e.g., limiting burnout or turnover, understanding seller band width, etc.

1 8% said prioritiz ation of activities (e.g. prioriti z ing deals that need attention, the best action to take to win deals, etc.)

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Takeaway 2

Nearly all executives say their teams are using AI for sales and are confident in the accuracy of AI predictions and analysis.

95%

95% say their organization is currently 
 using AI in sales in some capacity.

21% say they use it significantly

34% say they use it moderately.

84%

84% say their company has used generative AI in sales in the past year.

21% say they’ve fully implemented generative 
 AI in sales

26% have implemented generative AI in sales 
 in some areas

22% say individuals have used it on an 
 ad-hoc basis.

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Sales executives cite the biggest benefits

• ​

  The ability to prioritize activities (52%)

• ​

  Increased efficiency and productivity for sales teams (49%)

• ​

  Improved lead generation and qualification (44%)

98%

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accuracy of AI prediction & analysis across all use cases (e.g., scoring, forecast, sentiment, etc.)

32% say they are very confident

51% say they are confident

14% say they are somewhat confident

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Takeaway 3

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AI-driven solutions are

expected to take over routine

and repetitive tasks, taking a

39%

39% of executives expect AI to take over routine and repetitive tasks, freeing up sellers to focus on higher-value activities.

32% say it will require sellers to become more skilled in areas such as data analysis and interpretation.

Over half (59%) of executives say AI will play a collaborative role,with AI and human sales reps working together.

• ​Only 22% of executives said AI would play a leading role with human sales reps playing a supporting role.

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Takeaway 4

Two-thirds of executives are not very confident in their organization's ability to reach its sales goals.

Only a third (36%) of sales executives say they are very confident in their organization’s ability to reach its sales goals this year.

The remaining 64% say they lack full confidence in their ability to reach their sales goals.

Executives say their biggest sales goals or priorities 
 for 2023 are:

Improving customer retention and loyalty (64%

Increasing sales revenue (63%)

Improving sales team productivity and efficiency (61%)

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Takeaway 5

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Sales executives want to

work with tech vendors

that have an AI strategy.

97%

97% of sales leaders say it's important that their sales technology vendors have an AI strategy.

• ​38% say it's very important.

98%

98% of executives say they are likely to choose a sales technology vendor who has an AI strategy.

41% say they are very likely to choose a sales technology vendor who has an AI strategy.

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Research Methodology

Salesloft collected responses from May 23 to June 13,2023 from more than 500 executive-level sales professionals responsible for selling products or services to other businesses (B2B).

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Of those surveyed, 31% identified as VP of RevOps, 24% as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), 13% as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), 18% as Sales Director, 7% as RevOps Leader, and 7%

Survey Breakdown by Company Size (Annual Revenue)