Salesloft Survey Shows AI Adoption Soars Among Sales Executives

Inaugural State of AI in Sales Survey finds executives using AI to combat common contributors to sales team burnout

ATLANTA, July 27, 2023 – Salesloft, provider of the first and only global AI-powered revenue workflow platform, today released the results of its 2023 State of AI in Sales Survey, which polled more than 500 U.S.-based sales executives. An overwhelming 95% of executives polled report their organization is currently using AI in sales in some capacity, and another 84% say their company has used generative AI in sales in the past year.

“Generative AI is transforming nearly every industry right now. While it can help sellers draft pitches and write emails with unprecedented efficiency, the real power of AI lies in its ability to help sellers identify the next best action in their workflows to advance deals and improve the customer experience,” said David Obrand, CEO at Salesloft. “Backed by data-driven insights, AI can build real-time roadmaps that help sellers take the most important and impactful actions in the moment. This is a paradigm shift that will transform how B2B businesses engage with their prospects and customers, ultimately driving more relevant interactions and consistent revenue outcomes.”

Salesloft’s survey also found that sales team burnout is rampant as sellers navigate an evolving landscape. More than three quarters (86%) of executives say they’ve noticed an increase in sales team burnout or turnover in the past year. Over half (57%) say they’ve noticed a moderate increase while 31% say they’ve noticed a significant increase. The survey indicated likely contributors to this are:

• Sellers are swivel-chairing between several software applications to perform their job: 40% of executives say their sellers need to log into 4-5+ applications to perform their job.
• Non-selling activities take up a significant portion of the sales team’s time: Nearly a third of executives surveyed (29%) said internal meetings and administrative tasks like data entry and CRM updates take up most of their team’s time.

Amid this burnout, 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. Thirty nine percent of executives expect AI will take over more routine and repetitive tasks, freeing up sellers to focus on higher-value activities.

In June 2023, Salesloft launched Rhythm. Powered by a proprietary, patent-pending AI engine called Conductor AI, Rhythm translates real-time buyer signals from across the Salesloft platform and partner integrations into a single prioritized workflow of the most important and impactful actions a seller should take in the moment. Unlike anything else on the market, Rhythm provides an explanation of why the action is important, building trust and intuition in sellers.

“Watching my reps go through their Rhythm workflow is fantastic. They just run through their steps one by one, one click at a time,”  said Vedant Namboodiri, Global Sales Operations Manager at Cin7. “Rhythm has been incredibly valuable in reducing the time our reps spend on admin and increasing the time they spend with customers. It makes me stop and think, 'Where was this when I was a seller?'"

To learn more about Salesloft’s latest platform innovations and its recent launch of Rhythm, visit our Rhythm announcement. 

Research Methodology

Salesloft collected responses between May 23 and June 13, 2023, from more than 500 executive-level revenue professionals responsible for selling products or services to other businesses (B2B). Of those surveyed, 31% identified as VP, RevOps, 24% as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), 13% as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), 18% as Sales Director, 7% as RevOps Leader and 7% as Sales Vice President (VP).

Survey Breakdown by Company Size (Annual Revenue)

About Salesloft

Salesloft is the first AI-powered revenue workflow platform that brings certainty to every revenue action and customer interaction. Close more deals, forecast more accurately, and coach to success throughout your revenue organization. Thousands of the world’s top sales teams, like those at Google, 3M, IBM, Shopify, Square, and Cisco, drive more revenue with Salesloft. For more information visit salesloft.com.