Given the somewhat softer demand in the door and window industry, dealing with, gathering, managing and following up on sales leads is increasingly important these days. During the covid years, demand was insane, and it was all about who could build and deliver doors and windows fast enough to meet the customer demand. Today, however, we are dealing with a more traditional market demand curve, and it is all about who can most efficiently gather sales leads and convince prospective customers that their product is the best value manufactured by a reputable company that will stand behind the customer. Mastering the art of the sales funnel is now the name of game. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help with key stages of the sales funnel, helping your company to efficiently build awareness, develop interest, advance interest to the decision stage, prompt action and, finally, to build customer loyalty resulting in re-engagement down the road.
So, what is AI?
AI is a branch of computer science that uses math and logic to create machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include learning from experience, understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, solving problems, making decisions, visual perception, speech recognition and even language translation.
Well, there are six important ways in which AI can really help you power your marketing and sales efforts.
One is AI-assisted lead generation. AI can help identify patterns, predict outcomes, and target the right audience. It can also help create personalized campaigns that resonate with an audience, which can lead to higher conversion rates and more quality leads. ChatGPT, or Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, is an AI chatbot and virtual assistant that uses natural language processing (NLP) to answer questions and assist with tasks in a human-like manner. It was developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. It is way more humanlike than some of the linear chat boxes which can only answer a few questions with simple predefined answers that are in a pull-down menu. It is much more like talking to a real human being who analyzes the specific nature of your question and comes back with a specialized answer. This AI chat box can function not only through your website but also through your email, SMS texting or a variety of social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok to provide correct answers to your prospects, provide additional information, and most importantly make appointments for your sales staff.
Secondly, AI can ensure that no phone call goes unanswered, and that every call has at least some form of follow up. I am a firm believer that if someone calls your business then the phone should be answered, not sent to a voice mail. I try to answer my phone as much as I can but let’s face it, it is impossible, even if you have an admin answering the phone, because he or she may be on the phone as well. Well, what about an AI bot who answers every single call that would have otherwise gone to voicemail? Statistics show that when an interested prospect calls a business, he or she will call their second or third choice if the first call goes into voicemail. However, if the first call is answered and action is taken, then the prospect will oftentimes stop right there if they feel that the company appears to be on top of their request and follow up is imminent.
A third way that AI can help is by creating social media posts. AI can create social media posts for your company on various platforms which help promote your company to the public and to your contacts. It can also follow up by responding to comments and inquiries that are made in response to your posts, showing that your company is in touch with consumers. AI can track user behavior, demographics, and interests to help companies find prospects and deliver ads to them on their preferred platforms.
A fourth way that AI can help is to generate customer reviews. AI can send out automated review requests to previous customers and contacts and write reviews while posting these on Google. Many prospective customers look at Google reviews for various businesses before even deciding to call and make an inquiry. This is an important area where AI can help to build your online reputation.
A fifth way that AI can help is by obtaining referrals. AI can contact associates on LinkedIn or in your contact database and offer them a commission or gift card for bringing you referrals. These types of leads have a high conversion rate because they are prequalified since someone in a position of trust knows you and is recommending your business to the potential customer.
Finally, AI can function as an automated Customer Relations Manager or CRM. It can automatically send out emails or newsletters to your contact data base reminding customers who you are, and what you do. It can inform them of upcoming sales events, awards that your company recently received, or news story’s featuring your company. AI can be a big part of your ongoing public relations campaign, always making sure that your prospective customers have you in mind when they are looking to purchase a product that you can supply.
So where can you see this technology in action and try it out? I did a Google search and one of the first firms to pop up was Courtesy Custom AI. I talked to Gabrielle Evans, and she offered me a demo. Within minutes she had me talking to a very “personable” AI assistant that was answering my questions about their services. Other than the fact that the AI lady was talking a little too fast for my taste, I really thought I was talking to a real person. Gabrielle told me that the AI voice could be slowed down and that the actual voice could be chosen from a library, or it could even be my voice!
The bottom line is that AI is a rapidly growing technology that can assist you in your sales and marketing efforts. It can be used in each of the four major stages of the sales funnel: awareness, interest, decision and action, as well as help maintain loyalty and re-engagement after the initial sale is completed. However, as I pondered writing this blog, I decided that AI can never replace people, because it is programmed to carry out its mission in predictable fashion, which is defined by the rules of the program. Humans are far too unpredictable, and it is in our blood to sometimes break the rules. That’s how the sales process is improved!