AI usage has caught fire in inside sales, but it's still early for teams selling in the field. While field sales will always be a relationship-based, get-in-the-car and make-things-happen role, many of its admin aspects can now be automated. How? Through an AI field sales workflow.
Whether you're a team leader or individual rep, this guide will show you how to use AI to power everything from getting leads to analyzing meetings.
Success starts with calling on the right prospects. AI is poised to significantly upgrade your ability to do so. Numerous and ever-growing options exist for teams on most budgets.
These platforms allow reps to:
The next step is getting your prospects into a centralized database (or even a spreadsheet in a pinch). The short version is your prospect list gets exported and transferred into your database. The longer version typically requires two paths:
Path 1: Use Zapier, which connects most sales tools without requiring code. Make is another, if more advanced option, that requires some knowledge of APIs, aka an Application Programming Interface that lets you connect into the backend of a platform. You'd also need some knowledge of logical flows, but do not need to know Python, Javascript, or another coding language.
Path 2: Use open APIs to connect the endpoints of different tools. This typically requires knowledge of a coding language like Python or Javascript. Fortunately, you can now use a tool like ChatGPT to do the heavy code lifting by inputting the requirements of each tool's API and asking it to write the requisite code. This most likely would require troubleshooting to ensure everything works as ChatGPT and other models make mistakes. You can also use them to troubleshoot as issues arise, however.
Here's where AI really starts to optimize your strategy and starts to become your personal sales analyst. Instead of visiting accounts based on gut feeling or just because it's the second Tuesday of the month, you can use data to maximize efficiency. The more data, the better. For example, take these fields:
You would export an organized activity report with these fields as headers and then import the data into a tool like ChatGPT. Ask it to consider things like number of visits, timing (day of week/month, time of day), note sentiment, sales amount, visit density/proximity of accounts to each other, etc.
Have it build a weekly or monthly visit schedule for you to test out. Ask the tool benchmark your results and give you your weekly and monthly averages. Try your new schedule for at least a couple of weeks to a month and compare your results. Continue refining your schedule by importing your data back into the tool weekly so it can learn and adapt.
You can also have ChatGPT segment your customers based on the data. Here's a simple prompt to provide to the model:
Doing all this ensures you're consistently visiting the right accounts and not simply following a path because it's known and comfortable.
Now that you know who to visit, AI helps you decide when and how. Add your visits to a routing tool. ChatGPT may have given you a specific order in which to visit them, but you can also rely on a smart tool to build you the best route for the day. For example, RepMove automatically:
After each meeting, adding notes to customer accounts is a must. This should be non-negotiable. Many traditional CRMs don't necessarily make this simple, but modern field sales and AI-powered CRMs and apps like RepMove make it a snap. Adding context to visits, such as what was discussed or follow-ups, becomes the foundation of future success.
For example, here's how notes become strategic assets with RepMove:
There's no reason to let things fall through the proverbial cracks when AI field sales notes make it so simple and easy.
AI can also be something of a sales mentor. Reps can upload their weekly notes, or team leaders can upload their team's notes into ChatGPT, and ask these questions:
AI provides objective feedback to help you grow and refine your approach. Once you have at least a month's worth of notes tracked, ask ChatGPT to analyze trends in your conversations. Doing this consistently will uncover insights that may have otherwise been missed.
Depending on the tools in your sales stack, you can create an automated workflow across your field sales operation that requires very little to no code. Here's a sample workflow:
You can create a worldclass outside sales prospecting and growth process without a 10-person ops team or enterprise software suite. With tools like RepMove, ChatGPT, and a clean workflow, any rep can run a high-performing territory powered by AI with a relatively minimal investment.
Start a free trial of RepMove or reach out for a personalized walkthrough of our AI field sales platform.
