September 26, 2024
3 mins
The future of sales is here, and it's all about finding the right balance between human and AI expertise.
In line with this evolution, SquadStack hosted the Masters of Sales event on September 19th, 2024, at Taj Santacruz Mumbai to discuss the impact of AI in telecalling processes and how it can impact the future of sales.
Top professionals and thought leaders from organizations like IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance, HDFC Life, Tata AIG and Aditya Birla Capital came together to evaluate;
Here is a glimpse of the key takeaways from this insightful conference!
A prominent theme throughout the discussions was the complementary role of AI in augmenting sales and telecalling processes. New innovations for knowledge management, AI-driven quality analysis, live assistance, analytics, and co-pilot for CRM have already started emerging in the market.
Even though these tools can quickly provide customizable scripts, instant product recommendations, and cross-selling/ upselling opportunities, a critical element remains unsolved: the lack of humanness in AI interactions.
Participants discussed how Humanoid Agents or Voice Bots are currently excellent at operational tasks but fall short of creating meaningful customer interactions. AI agents lack the emotional intelligence required for high-stakes sales use cases.
Until AI can replicate authentic conversations, humans will remain at the forefront of improving customer experience and building relationships.
There was definitely a consensus around using AI as a tool for empowerment, just like the ‘Iron Man’ concept. It can equip telecalling professionals with tools to improve agent performance & productivity, reduce agent ramp-up time through knowledge management, define conversation-driving keywords, and build propensity models to identify potential leads. This approach allows sales teams to focus on complex tasks and conversations while AI handles the routine.
However, AI must be supervised.
Leaders highlighted how machines are junk in, junk out. They cited examples of how AI bots were corrupted with irrelevant and abusive information, leading to undesirable outcomes and bad customer experiences. This suggests that human oversight in AI implementation is critical to maintaining trust in the system.
One of the hottest topics was the new Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines and their far-reaching impact on the telecalling industry and its customers.
140 numbers have always been known for marketing, but with stricter rules coming in for commercial outreach, connectivity levels have fallen from 40%+ to below 10% across the board.
Regulations around consent-based commercial outreach require brands to ask for explicit permission before any sort of outreach, even assistance.
Leaders expressed how this is also impacting lead journeys. Brands will be unable to assist customers with queries easily. Insurance renewals, upselling, or even simple KYC assistance will now count as commercial outreach. The challenge now lies in maintaining customer engagement without jeopardizing compliance.
The group also discussed use cases that can work under the TRAI guidelines, such as sign-up sales, drop chase, and cross-selling and upselling. Unfortunately, all these have their own problem statements.
Under sign-up sales and drop chase, brands have to create an added ‘customer consent’ step, which can lead to massive lead drop-offs.
Cross-selling and upselling are still positive, but this use case relies heavily on the ‘right time’ of outreach. For example, insurance requires telecallers to call and inform customers about renewals. The consent process creates an added step, which leads to the customer not getting timely information.
Even with these challenges, the telecalling industry is still trying to fight through. Companies are already exploring alternative communication channels, such as WhatsApp, in-app calling, and SMS triggers, to streamline the consent process. However, adapting to these changes will require a substantial overhaul of existing sales strategies and customer touchpoints.
The Masters of Sales event highlighted that while AI is the future, its integration into telecalling processes needs to be monitored and thoughtful. Companies that can harness the power of AI while maintaining the human touch will be able to scale their telecalling and sales operations drastically.
As the telecalling landscape continues to evolve, the partnership between humans and tech cannot be ignored. It will be the key to unlocking new opportunities and driving greater sales impact across industries.
Masters of Sales is an initiative led by SquadStack. It is designed to empower professionals by providing a vibrant community for expert discussions, mentorship, peer collaboration, and diverse industry insights.
We are bringing together top minds and emerging talents to foster a space where every conversation sparks growth, connections lead to opportunity, and insights drive success.
Join us as we redefine what it means to excel in sales—together.
