The Future of Sales: AI Guided Selling Explained
Today’s B2B buyers aren’t an easy bunch. They expect personalized experiences, relevant content, and quick, accurate answers at every stage of the purchase journey. But even in a digital-first world, they still want meaningful, human interactions.
Sellers are under pressure to meet buyers’ expectations. But doing so is no small feat.
Sales reps are stretched thin, juggling countless tools, channels, and customer demands. Often, sellers simply don’t have the bandwidth to deliver the tailored content, guidance, and experiences B2B buyers have come to expect.
Enter: AI-guided selling.
AI-guided selling isn’t about replacing humans with machines. Instead, it’s about empowering reps to sell smarter. AI acts as a trusted coworker, offering timely insights, data-driven recommendations, and real-time support so sales reps can stay focused on what really matters: building relationships and closing deals.
But what is AI-guided selling, and why does it matter?
In this post, we’ll explore:
- What AI-guided selling really is
- How it fits into the modern B2B sales process
- The benefits it brings to your sales team
- Real-world examples of AI-guided selling in action
- Some of the most popular AI-powered sales tools in the market today
Let’s dive in.
What is AI-guided selling?
Until recently, artificial intelligence (AI) was no more than an abstract concept for most people. But that’s all changed – fast.
More and more people are embracing AI to simplify and streamline many aspects of their personal and professional lives. Forrester predicts that generative AI will experience an average annual growth rate of 36% to 2030.
Generative AI will experience an annual growth rate of
As AI sales tools evolve, buyers’ and sellers’ engagement will be transformed. AI-guided selling is one way we’re already seeing this happen.
But what is AI-guided selling?
By now, the vast majority of B2B buyers expect personalized interactions from the companies they do business with. Generic sales presentations and content will no longer cut it.
Delivering personalized guidance and experiences to each buyer makes sense. But sellers only have so many hours in the day. That’s where AI selling comes in.
Guided selling, defined
As the name suggests, guided selling is a practice that guides reps through the sales cycle. Guided selling enables sales reps to tap into data to deliver outstanding experiences and personalized solutions that resonate with every buyer at every stage of the sales cycle.
Supercharging guided selling with the power of AI
AI-guided selling is the term that’s used when artificial intelligence (AI) is incorporated into guided selling.
Most revenue organizations have a ton of data about buyer interactions. AI aggregates and analyzes this data to help sales reps determine the next best action to take in a given deal.
Make no mistake: AI-guided selling isn’t a replacement for live sales reps. Instead, AI works hand-in-hand with sales reps to power outstanding experiences. AI does the legwork of analyzing data and making recommendations based on that data. That means sellers can spend less time guessing what step to take next, and more time building relationships that’ll lead to closed deals.
How does AI-guided selling work?
This kind of selling enables sales reps to deliver content and experiences that resonate with each buyer. But how exactly does it work?
As touched on earlier, most sales organizations have plenty of data available about buyer interactions. For example, when it comes to sales content, an organization might have historical data related to:
- Which sales content is used most often by sales reps
- At what stage in the sales cycle key assets are used
- How buyers engage (or don’t engage) with this content
- How this content impacts sales outcomes
Organizations may also have data about a specific buyer, such as their industry, size, competitors, market conditions, and behaviors.
There’s no shortage of data. However, most organizations lack the time and expertise to analyze and make sense of this data.
Today, revenue organizations leverage AI to aggregate and analyze this data.
With AI-guided selling tools, revenue organizations can aggregate and analyze key data and glean valuable insights. AI can also guide the sellers through the sales process by recommending the steps they should take next to bring a deal closer to the finish line. These recommendations are based on data rather than gut feelings.
Though it’s not the same, AI selling can be likened to your experience on Amazon. When you open the Amazon app on your phone, you see a variety of tailored recommendations based on data, including your browsing and buying behavior and historical data. You’re more likely to purchase because recommendations are tailored to your unique needs.
What are the benefits of AI-guided selling?
Today, a growing number of sales organizations leverage AI-guided selling. This isn’t surprising, as guided selling benefits buyers and sellers alike.
AI-guided selling benefits B2B buyers
With AI-guided selling, sellers can deliver personalized, relevant experiences and solutions to buyers. Buyers aren’t wasting their time on irrelevant content and experiences. Instead, they’re working with a trusted partner who understands their challenges and delivers solutions.
AI-guided selling benefits B2B sellers
It also takes the guesswork out of selling. Rather than relying on gut feelings, sales reps can tap into data to determine what step to take next. With this approach, sales reps can better meet customers’ expectations for personalized experiences and solutions. That means they can close more deals faster.
Guided selling examples
We’ve explored what AI-guided selling is and how it works. But how exactly are revenue organizations using it?
Now, let’s take a look at some AI-guided selling examples.
Simplifying meeting prep
Accelerating follow-up
Recommending sales content
Personalized content at scale
Personalized enablement
Example #1: Simplifying meeting prep
Sales reps must be prepared for each call. Often, this requires reviewing notes and digging into data. But this takes a lot of time, and sales reps don’t have much to spare.
AI-guided selling helps simplify meeting preparation so sales reps can always show up ready to deliver value. For example, rather than listening to a call recording to jog their memory, a sales rep can use AI to ask a question like, “What pain points did this customer mention during our previous call?” AI can summarize these pain points and suggest the next step a sales rep should take.
Example #2: Accelerating follow up
Prompt follow-up is important. But for busy sales reps, it’s not always easy.
AI enables sales reps to follow up with prospects in real-time. For example, AI can help them generate follow-up messages based on an analysis of a recent sales call. AI can also suggest content relevant to a specific prospect’s needs.
When sales reps can follow up quickly, this can accelerate the sales cycle. In other words, they can close more deals faster.
Example #3: Recommending relevant sales content for any scenario
B2B buyers depend on sales content to make informed purchase decisions. But content must be relevant to the buyer’s needs. Otherwise, they’ll disengage.
It can be challenging (and time-consuming) for a rep to determine which piece of content will resonate with a buyer at a specific time. AI-guided selling can help.
AI analyzes data about the customer and historical data about content use and performance. Based on this analysis, AI suggests content that will resonate with the buyer and is proven to improve sales outcomes.
Example #4: Generating personalized communication at scale
In the world of sales, effective communication is key. Today, in the era of virtual selling, a lot of that communication happens electronically.
With AI-guided selling, sales reps can quickly and easily draft personalized communication to buyers. For example, if a seller shares a piece of sales content with a prospect, AI can generate a contextual email to go with the content.
#5: Delivering personalized enablement and coaching to boost lagging skills
In an ideal world, a sales rep would apply all of the skills they’ve learned while on sales calls. But often, there’s room for improvement.
Today, many organizations use conversation intelligence software, which leverages AI to record and analyze sales calls. After a sales call, a sales rep can receive real-time feedback on improving performance (and the deal’s outcome). AI may also suggest training or a piece of enablement to help the sales rep hone specific skills and boost long-term performance.
What are some of the best AI-powered selling tools?
Modern B2B buyers demand personalized experiences, content, and solutions throughout the sales cycle. A generic approach will no longer cut it.
But meeting customers’ expectations takes a lot of time, which sales reps don’t have much of. Furthermore, determining what will or won’t resonate with each customer can take a lot of guesswork.
With AI-guided selling, your sales reps can deliver outstanding experiences that resonate with each buyer – no matter where they are on the purchase journey. That means your reps will be equipped to close more deals, and your revenue will grow.
Investing in the right AI guided selling tools empowers your sellers to deliver outstanding customer experiences at scale. But with so many AI sales tools on the market (and more popping up constantly), it’s tough to know where to start.
Let’s take a look at some of the top AI sales tools that can help your sellers work smarter, move faster, and close more deals.
1. Mindtickle
Today, many of the world’s best revenue organizations rely on Mindtickle to deliver outstanding customer experiences at scale.
Mindtickle is an AI-powered revenue enablement platform that equips your teams with sales training, enablement, content, and insights – all from one platform. Copilot from Mindtickle is an AI-guided selling tool that assists your reps at every stage of the sales cycle.
With Copilot, your sellers can prepare for every prospect interaction with dynamic role-plays and AI-powered feedback. That way, they can perfect their pitch before money is on the line.
Copilot also lightens the load of meeting prep and follow-up. This eliminates friction and helps sellers close deals faster.
Copilot can also answer prospects’ questions, recommend content and next steps, and draft contextual emails. This saves sellers’ time, which frees them up to focus on strategic selling.
2. Salesloft
Salesloft is a popular B2B sales engagement platform that helps teams drive durable growth. Conductor AI, Salesloft’s AI-powered selling tool, is woven throughout the entire platform. Conductor AI can help sellers determine what actions to take next to drive better outcomes. This AI sales tool can also help sales organizations understand data, draft content, and get insights into deals.
3. Salesforce
Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform used by businesses around the world. With Salesforce AI, sellers can automate time-consuming tasks and optimize every customer interaction. For example, sellers can use the tool to draft personalized sales emails, generate summaries based on calls, and create customized close plans to win more deals.
4. Drift
Drift, now part of Salesloft, is a conversational AI platform designed to engage prospects in real-time. Using AI chat agents, Drift delivers accurate, personalized answers to prospects’ questions. This keeps conversations flowing and prospects interested, without pulling sellers away from higher-value work.
5. Gong
Gong is an AI-powered revenue intelligence platform. Gong leverages AI tools to analyze customer and prospect interactions, and then uses those insights to actions that drive productivity and revenue growth.
Now’s the time to invest in AI-guided selling
B2B selling isn’t getting any easier. Customer expectations are high, and competition is fierce. Your sellers are under pressure to ace every customer interaction, every time.
AI guided-selling gives your sales team the edge it needs to stay ahead.
With AI-guided selling, your reps have the insights, automations, and workflows they need to create personalized, high-impact experiences that move deals forward.
There’s no better time to make the shift to AI-guided selling. But remember: your strategy is only as powerful as the tools driving it.
AI-Guided Selling with Mindtickle
Ready to see how Mindtickle’s Copilot can empower your reps to deliver memorable buyer experiences?
Get Your DemoThis post was originally published in May 2024 and was updated in April 2025.