Of all corporate functions, sales by its very nature is surely the most people-focused. While it may no longer involve quite as much face-to-face interaction as it once did, selling has remained emphatically a job for people rather than machines. However, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning are already starting to make major inroads into the sales process, adding an extra dimension to everything from marketing automation to customer relationship management. According to Salesforce Research, high-performing teams are at least twice as likely to be using intelligent sales technologies such as artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis, next-step analysis and deep-learning. So, what further changes in the sales environment can we expect to see over the coming years?

Artificial intelligence in sales affects how clients buy – and how sales associates need to sell. AI fuels purchasing choices we make every day – from the shows we see and the routes our driver pilots to the next item we order online. Suggestion, location, and association algorithms comprise our behind-the-scene buying influencers – and they perform AI creepy and cool: Disturbing that our devices know and correlate so much about us. Fresh that what it does is essential. "The power of selling is going away from the individual and approaching the machine – machines that can immediately prospect, follow up, present, and propose without human interference," says Victor Antonio, writer of Sales Ex Machina: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World of Selling.

How human vigor and algorithmic rigor are joining forces in the sales function. This article is part of an MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. We live in a data-saturated world where a great many of our interactions with other humans happen online. It makes sense then that one of the most human of business activities -- sales -- is currently undergoing a digital renaissance. While the sales function has historically relied on metrics, today there is far more sales-centric data, and far richer data, than ever.

Hands up if you still think Artificial Intelligence or AI is a Spielberg film, and has something to do with Robotics? Until quite recently, it really didn't occur to me that AI Artificial Intelligence had anything at all to do with selling. So should we be using AI in Sales? But first I will explain why I might take this view. You see when I started selling ET had just been released on the big screen, and the Space shuttle had not long started its missions into the final frontier.

AI for short -- is already changing the world in countless ways. Millions of people use devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home to find out more about products and services they need or to control their home environment. Virtually all automakers are exploring self-driving car technology. Retailers are seriously considering plans for delivery drones. AI has transformed the way businesses and health services operate in a short timeframe.

Of all corporate functions, sales by its very nature is surely the most people-focused. While it may no longer involve quite as much face-to-face interaction as it once did, selling has remained emphatically a job for people rather than machines. However, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning are already starting to make major inroads into the sales process, adding an extra dimension to everything from marketing automation to customer relationship management. According to Salesforce Research, high-performing teams are at least twice as likely to be using intelligent sales technologies such as artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis, next-step analysis and deep-learning. So, what further changes in the sales environment can we expect to see over the coming years?

Of all corporate functions, sales by its very nature is surely the most people-focused. While it may no longer involve quite as much face-to-face interaction as it once did, selling has remained emphatically a job for people rather than machines. However, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning are already starting to make major inroads into the sales process, adding an extra dimension to everything from marketing automation to customer relationship management. According to Salesforce Research, high-performing teams are at least twice as likely to be using intelligent sales technologies such as artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis, next-step analysis and deep-learning. So, what further changes in the sales environment can we expect to see over the coming years?

About this course: Welcome to Course 2 - Sales Strategy - This course is designed to discuss the application of intelligence analysis in the sales planning process. And this approach contributes to integrating the sales planning process into the corporate strategy of the company because, in the strategy analysis and formulation process, we apply models, frameworks, tools, and techniques that also apply to the sales planning and management process. Therefore, the expected outcomes of this course focus on the transition from traditional to strategic sales planning, by discussing and applying the concepts recommended to support the development of the strategic guidelines. The concepts, models, tools, and techniques discussed and practiced during the course focus on the improvement of value creation from the sales function empowered by intelligence analysis, a process which typically applies in the strategy analysis front. The discussions go through how intelligence analysis can support the sales function, by providing methods to connect strategy to marketing and sales planning processes.

Sales communication: There will most likely be dramatic changes to sales communication as a result of machine learning. If business communication mimics the transformation of consumer communication, the business equivalent of short-form communication such as tweets and text messages will be AI responses. Machines can quickly and easily answer queries about pricing, product features or contract terms. Within the next decade, virtual reality would allow prospects to tour a factory, "join" in to conferences and meetings with your entire team and see products being manufactured, all without leaving their own office.

How human vigor and algorithmic rigor are joining forces in the sales function. This article is part of an MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. We live in a data-saturated world where a great many of our interactions with other humans happen online. It makes sense then that one of the most human of business activities -- sales -- is currently undergoing a digital renaissance. While the sales function has historically relied on metrics, today there is far more sales-centric data, and far richer data, than ever.