Did that headline make you do a double-take? That’s what I was going for.
But let me make one thing clear. I’m not here today to talk to you about replacing jobs. I’m here to talk to you about how to get more out of what you already have by making your salespeople much, much more efficient.
Welcome to the Virtual Selling Era
An October 2020 study by McKinsey shows that 80% of B2B seller interactions have moved to digital. The silver lining? That’s exactly what our customers want. B2B decision-makers actually prefer remote interactions with salespeople through digital channels.
Why? Because they’re easier to schedule, safer, and help them save on travel expenses. It’s a win-win-win, am I right?
Not quite.
Because of course – some companies are thriving and are seeing their business accelerate revenue at a rate that it’s never experienced before. These businesses have a good problem – they’re struggling to keep up with demand.
But other companies are experiencing the reverse effect – they can’t seem to get enough pipeline to hit their numbers.
If you’re a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) like me, you’re under constant pressure to deliver – no matter which of those buckets you fall into. So, what do we do?
We could go hire a bunch of business development reps (BDRs) to drive the demand we need. But that’s costly.
Or, we could partner more closely with other teams, like marketing, to hit our numbers. Did you know that only 1% of the traffic marketing is driving to our websites is passed over to our sales teams? So for every 1,000 web visitors, only 10 actually end up speaking to a sales rep. And to make matters worse, only 13% of those “Marketing Qualified Leads” actually convert into opportunities.
But what if we could double (or even triple!) the number of qualified website visitors that make it to our sales teams?
With Drift, now you can.
Introducing conversational ai – Hit Your Number Faster Without Adding Headcount
AI-powered chatbots engage and qualify your site visitors at all hours of the day, in multiple languages. Their only job is to build the qualified pipeline you need to hit your number so your reps can focus on what they do best – closing deals.
Think about it, 40% of your BDRs’ time is spent on repetitive tasks like answering questions, booking meetings for your AEs, and qualifying the interest of your buyers.
AI chatbots do all of the heavy lifting for your sales team. So instead of spending your budget on additional BDRs to get to your number, you can invest it in more quota-carrying reps.
Don’t just take it from me. Here’s what the CRO of ServiceNow had to say about Drift Conversational AI 👇
Heard enough and want to talk to someone from our team about how to scale your business with ai chatbots? Book time with one of our AI specialists here.
Not sold yet and want to learn more about how it works? Check this out 👇
Engage Your Buyers 24/7, Across the Globe
Customers expect personal, real-time digital interactions with brands. They expect to get their questions answered quickly (within seconds), otherwise, they’ll go get it from your competitor. But the cost of scaling to meet those real-time expectations with a massive BDR team is too high. So companies try to fill the gap with forms and decision-tree chatbots, neither of which help site visitors get their questions answered (or qualify them well enough to meet the sales team’s standards).
AI chatbots are equipped to answer any questions your buyers have, no matter what time of day or where the conversation goes. They do this by using Drift’s patented Conversational AI technology that breaks down conversations into events. Events help categorize conversations allowing for smooth context switching as a conversation goes on. So rather than forcing your buyers down a one-way path, AI chatbots can identify what questions your buyer is asking and accurately answer them all individually, delivering the best possible experience.
Check out this example of a buyer looking for product specs, pricing, and info about their rep all at the same time👇
Deliver the Leads You Actually Want in Your Pipeline
If you’re like me, you are all about efficiency. We want to make sure our AEs are spending their time on only the best accounts.
Here’s the thing. If your BDR team is handing off too many leads – and they’re not actually qualified – you’re going to miss your revenue targets because your AEs are wasting too much time talking to the wrong people. On the flip side, if your BDRs aren’t handing off enough leads, then your AEs aren’t getting the at-bats they need to hit their goals.
Because they’re trained on past conversations, AI chatbots have a personalized conversation with every potential website lead. Instead of relying on forms or a generic set of qualification questions, AI chatbots respond to and answer your buyer’s questions first – while capturing the qualification information you care about along the way. This gives your buyer a better experience and leaves your salespeople with only high-value, qualified leads that they can start to work once they’re passed over from Drift.
Check out this example of a AI chatbot qualifying a buyer before connecting them to the right sales rep👇
Deflect Customer Support Questions
Not everyone that comes to your site is a potential buyer. You have job seekers, competitors, non-ICP prospects, and more commonly, your existing customers. And like any of us, when your customers have questions, they want answers now. So they’ll do whatever it takes to get in touch with a human. But just because we don’t want sales involved in support conversations, it doesn’t mean we don’t want to still deliver the best possible customer experience.
AI chatbots act as your very own concierge to engage your customers and get them the answers they need. They do this by answering any questions your customers have about your product or service, or at least pointing them in the right direction of the help doc that can. If the customer has an issue that requires a human touch, they can submit a ticket and receive follow up from a support agent.
Check out this example of an AI chatbot deflecting a customer looking for support👇
Interested in learning more about how conversational ai can help you build the pipeline you need to hit your number? Get a demo today.
And don’t miss our upcoming webinar to hear how a Drift customer transformed their business with Drift Conversational AI. Sign up here to save your spot.
