The paid version gives you access to more up-to-date information and allows you to create company- and function-specific AI tools that can make the process more efficient and precise. However, it is worth further refining these preparation materials yourself and supplementing them with information where applicable, so that you can get the full benefit of them when you meet customers yourself.

Artificial intelligence to support sales in creating discussion summaries

I tend to take notes on every customer encounter so that the next time I meet someone I can remember our previous conversations as well as possible. And of course, many organizations also require these notes to be entered into the CRM anyway, so at least some note must be made anyway.

However, these notes are often a bit confusing because the topic may change during the conversation and the theme of the conversation may also change. And please help me if this information needs to be interpreted by someone else who wasn't at the meeting - then nothing will come of it.

In this case, the notes, at least in their current form, no longer really refresh the memory when the next meeting comes, but may confuse you or at least take an inordinate amount of time to interpret. However, artificial intelligence has learned to be quite a good support in such situations.

In practice, the summary of the discussions is as follows:

Step 1: Transfer your notes to electronic format

The notes must be in a format that AI can understand so that summaries can be made of them. If the notes are already in Word, for example, there is no need for this step.

Step 2: Anonymize the text

Many AI solutions by default share the data entered with other users. This is why remove all references to, for example, a company, person or other identifiable element from the raw text of the memo, so that confidential discussions do not end up in the wrong hands.

When utilizing company-specific artificial intelligence tools, there is probably no need for this. However, please confirm this with your organization's AI administrator before taking action!

Step 3: Provide text to AI

Enter the anonymized text as a file or text to the AI and ask for a summary of the textA good prompt or request for artificial intelligence could be, for example, “Condensate the text below as a note for CRM” or “Condensate the attached text as a note for CRM”.

Step 4: Check the AI summary

Usually, AI manages to make good summaries, but sometimes it has a tendency to draw overly straightforward conclusions. That's why The summary still needs to be checked and made sure that there were no false assumptions or other so-called "hallucinations" involved..

At this stage, also include any identifying information for internal use if you removed it in the previous step when anonymizing the text.

Step 5: Recover your data

Once the notebook is finally in order after checking and completing it, it's time transfer data to recovery The most typical storage locations are a CRM system or another place where you have agreed to share this type of information.

The list is long, but in reality this will take a few minutes at most after a few practice sessions. You don't need any special paid tools for this, but for example a free one ChatGPT is able to summarize practically as well as a chargeable one.

However, if your company has a small investment capital available for technology development, for example: With the paid business version of Copilot It is possible to skip most of these steps during remote meetings, as it creates notes directly from Teams conversations.

Artificial intelligence to support sales in analytics

After using AI for a while, you'll probably notice as a salesperson that data about these encounters and opportunities has started to accumulate quite rapidly. There are memos, lead lists, preparation materials, and whatnot. Now is a great time to put this data to use.

A word of warning: This is the only method that may require a little more work in the midst of your busy everyday life. So it's worth setting aside a little time for your first try so that you don't get caught out by the rush and your enthusiasm is nipped in the bud.

Step 1: Think about the question you want an answer to

It all starts with a question. For example, have you ever wondered what kind of customers actually buy from you? Why have some customers chosen another partner? Or do you dread the thought that you have inadvertently passed over a potential prospect?

So choose a question that getting the most objective answer possible would likely improve the effectiveness of your work. Let's use a question from purchasing customers as an example.

Step 2: Collect the necessary data

It's time to open a CRM or other tool that contains information about all the customers you think will buy from you. So, take all the necessary information into Excel or Word about the companies that have bought from you or from you more broadly, for example, in the last two years.

This information is usually extracted in bulk from modern CRM systems. If necessary, you can also enter the information manually or ask the system administrator to create a list of these companies – especially if there is a lot of information and you cannot extract it from the system yourself.

Step 3: Ask AI for help

Now it's time to open the AI tool and ask for help. In the example used In the paid version of ChatGPT You can attach the list you collected as a file directly to the AI for interpretation, while in the free version you will likely have to formulate the question slightly differently and list the companies separately manually.

Please note that if you do not have a customized environment created for your company, the data should be anonymized if necessary before being provided to the AI. However, if it is just a list of companies, there should be no problems.

Below is an example using a fictional list of six companies. Each of the companies employs at least 100 people and its main industry according to the TOL2008 classification is Software design and manufacturing.