The ChatGPT craze continues and it's excitement has spread into the the realm of enterprise sales. It's truly "mind blowing" technology and an innovation that is one of those that will change the world forever (much like the search engine did). This new language model has already revolutionized how businesses approach customer engagement with its ability to generate human-like responses at an insanely fast speed.
Many folks are weary that AI in general will take over their job (World Economic Forum estimates 85 million jobs will be replaced by 2025) and early indications of ChatGPT are that it could replace many folks in the world of sales. My belief is that there are two sides to this coin. One that involves sellers who embrace this game-changing technology and leverage it to improve their accuracy, efficiency, and creativeness - giving them a competitive advantage. And the other, which involves folks that are resistant to change, slower to adopt, and playing catch up when it's too late.
For the early adopters, ChatGPT is quickly becoming a valuable tool for account executives in improving their selling techniques while saving a ton of time in the process. Let's dive in.
Here are 3 ways ChatGPT can improve how Account Executives can attract more buyers:
1. Personalized Outreach
As the demand for more personalized and efficient customer experiences continues to grow, ChatGPT is emerging as a valuable tool for account executives to be more productive and personalized with their customers and prospects. ChatGPT is already helping thousands of account executives personalize their interactions with customers by analyzing contextual information and historical data giving the AE a big advantage when they communicate.
How does this work?
ChatGPT analyzes contextual information such as the customer's industry, company size, and job title to personalize your message. Let's say you have a prospect that's a CIO who works at a financial institution and you sell a solution in data security. ChatGPT can suggest relevant challenges that are specific to the financial industry, the particular persona you are targeting, and provide you a point of view that is relevant to this person while tying in your solution in a matter of seconds.
Here are some examples...
Here is an example of how you can generate highly personalized email to the target persona above.
Type In ChatGPT: Write a short email to a CIO of a bank and share why they should consider using Crowdstrike to help them reduce their overall cyber risk. Emphasize the importance for them as the CIO. Use this case study as a customer reference https://www.crowdstrike.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/crowdstrike-sparebank1-case-study.pdf.
Result (in <10 seconds!):
Dear [CIO Name],
As the CIO of [Bank Name], I know you are keenly aware of the growing importance of cyber security in today's world. I wanted to bring to your attention a recent case study on how Crowdstrike helped Sparebank 1, one of the largest financial services providers in Norway, reduce their overall cyber risk and streamline security operations.
By leveraging our endpoint protection platform, Sparebank 1 was able to consolidate security tools, gain real-time threat intelligence, and proactively respond to threats across all endpoints and devices. As the CIO of [Bank Name], you are responsible for ensuring the security and integrity of your organization's sensitive data, and I believe Crowdstrike can help you achieve this goal.
Our platform provides comprehensive visibility into endpoint activity, enabling you to detect and respond to threats quickly, and our expert services team can provide round-the-clock support to ensure your security posture remains strong. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss your specific security needs and how Crowdstrike can help you maintain a competitive advantage in today's landscape of increasing threats.
Please let me know if you are interested in learning more.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
I don't know about you, but this is mind-blowing to me! It truly reminds me of the first time I used the Google search engine. Could the email be better? Yea, probably. Could you write an email that good in 10 seconds. Absolutely not.
LinkedIn Connection Requests
Type In ChatGPT: Create a casual, friendly, linkedin request under 600 characters to connect with a CIO at financial institution and reference how I specifically help other CIOs at banks reduce cyber risk. Also mention that we have lots of mutual connections.
Result:
Hi [CIO's name],
I hope this message finds you well. I noticed that we have a lot of mutual connections in the financial industry, and as a cybersecurity expert, I specialize in helping CIOs at banks reduce cyber risk. With your experience in the field, I'd love to connect and exchange insights on best practices for ensuring security in today's digital landscape.
Thanks for considering my request, [Your name]
Research
Type In ChatGPT: What are the top 5 challenges for CIO's of banks in 2023?
Result:
1. Cybersecurity threats: With the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, CIOs of banks are likely to face continued challenges in protecting their organizations from cyber attacks. This may include securing remote and hybrid workforces, managing third-party risks, and implementing advanced security measures.
2. Digital transformation: As digital transformation continues to accelerate in the financial industry, CIOs of banks may face challenges in managing complex technology ecosystems, integrating legacy systems with new digital platforms, and ensuring that the organization is able to leverage emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain.
3. Compliance and regulatory challenges: Banks are subject to a wide range of regulations related to data privacy, cybersecurity, financial crime, and other areas. CIOs of banks may face challenges in ensuring compliance with these regulations, managing regulatory risk, and adapting to evolving regulatory requirements.
4. Talent acquisition and retention: As technology becomes increasingly central to banking operations, CIOs of banks may face challenges in attracting and retaining top talent in a highly competitive labor market. This may include developing innovative talent acquisition strategies, promoting diversity and inclusion, and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
5. Legacy system modernization: Many banks have complex legacy systems that are expensive to maintain and may not be able to support new digital capabilities. CIOs of banks may face challenges in modernizing these systems while ensuring continuity of operations and minimizing risk.
Discovery Questions
Type In ChatGPT: What are 10 good discovery questions to ask a CIO of a bank if I sell a cyber security solution?
Result:
1. What are your top cybersecurity concerns or priorities for the next year?
2. What specific cybersecurity threats keep you up at night?
3. How do you currently manage and mitigate cybersecurity risks across your organization?
4. What is your current cybersecurity strategy and approach to protecting your organization's data and systems?
5. How do you assess and manage third-party cybersecurity risks, including vendors and partners?
6. How do you ensure that your employees are aware of cybersecurity risks and trained to handle potential threats?
7. How do you measure the effectiveness of your cybersecurity program, and what metrics do you use?
8. Have you had any recent cybersecurity incidents or breaches, and how did you respond to them?
9. Are there any regulatory or compliance requirements related to cybersecurity that you need to meet, and how do you ensure compliance?
10. How do you prioritize cybersecurity investments and initiatives within your organization?
"You can have any opinion you want on AI, but here’s the truth: technology doesn’t care about your opinion. It’s not gonna stop advancing. So, if you’re doing a job that AI is capable of doing soon, it’s time to think about that and prepare yourself for change and/or use it as a tool." - Gary Vaynerchuk
2. Time-Savings
Time is money and as sellers, we are always looking for more ways to be efficient with our most valuable asset. By leveraging ChatGPT, account executives can save time by automating certain aspects of the sales process. As shown in the above examples, you can have ChatGPT cut down a considerable amount of time in your outreach efforts while becoming more personalized in the process. A customized email that used to take 10-20 minutes to write can be cut down to less than 3 minutes.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the average business professional spends 28% of their day on email but when it comes to sellers, that number jumps up to 60%! In a 50 hour work week, that's 30 hours spent on email. Imagine if ChatGPT could cut that down in half and give you 15 hours more to prospect? What would that do to your overall pipeline? Your W-2?
"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." - Jim Rohn
3. Building Trust
Building trust with potential customers is essential for any successful seller and there is study after study proving this.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust is a key driver of purchase decisions, with 81% of consumers saying that they need to be able to trust the brand in order to buy from them. In a survey by HubSpot, 97% of respondents said that honesty is the most important trait they look for in a salesperson, highlighting the importance of building trust and credibility.
A report by the CEB found that customers who trust a salesperson are more likely to buy at full price, buy additional products or services, and remain loyal over time.
ChatGPT can help account executives establish trust with customers by providing accurate and reliable information during every interaction. Like in some of the examples above, it can show that you have done your research on your prospect, their industry, their company, challenges specific to their role, and gives you the opportunity to make it all about them.
By leveraging this tool, you can gain confidence in your ability to respond quickly, be more reliable, credible, and provide a more positive experience which are all very important when building trust.
These factors can lead to increased sales and long-term customer loyalty.
"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships." - Stephen Covey
Conclusion
There is no denying the popularity of ChatGPT. In fact, it's been labeled as the fastest growing app ever. as it reached 100 million monthly active users in its first two months. To give you an idea, it took Instagram two and a half years to get to that number and TikTok nine months.
As sellers, we are always looking for ways to get ahead of our competitors and deliver better experiences for our customers in the process. This is a tool that if used correctly, can give you a leg up in the near-term before it truly becomes mainstream.
If you haven't familiarized yourself with this tool, the time to act is now.