This is an excerpt from an article published by Sales and Marketing Management.
Several years back, researchers analyzed 103 million hands of online poker.
To their surprise, they discovered that the best hand wins only 12 percent of the time. Turns out, the best player wins 88 percent of the time, no matter what cards they’re dealt.
Sales organizations have been in frenzy to adopt AI. But just like those poker players, your success doesn’t depend on having the best technology. Your sales organization needs the best players—sellers who are highly skilled at reading the situation and guiding buyers through complex decisions.
In other words: Human sellers remain the decisive factor in winning complex deals, despite AI’s promise to automate everything from prospecting to pricing.
And there’s science to back this up.
Let’s dive into what the evidence says about winning in this environment.
Despite unprecedented access to AI-powered research and evaluation tools, today’s B2B buyers are struggling more than ever to make confident decisions.
Research we conducted with Dr. Leff Bonney and Florida State University’s Sales Institute reveals a fascinating paradox: The more information and automation your buyers have access to, the less confident they become in their decisions.
This is due to what behavioral scientists call Escalation of Commitment. Buyers conduct a lot of self-directed research, they get locked into their assumptions, and they resist changing course—even when better options emerge.
Two underlying psychological forces make Escalation of Commitment particularly challenging for sales today:
While AI excels at facilitating transactions, it increases buyers’ need for skilled human sellers who can challenge their assumptions and guide complex decisions. In fact, according to our data, better human selling experiences could have led to different outcomes in 53 percent of lost deals.
So what does that better human sales experience look like?
Read the full article (ungated) to see what skills sellers need to master in the age of AI.
Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy Officer at Corporate Visions, is the sought after expert on evidence-based revenue growth using counterintuitive approaches. Known for his candid thought leadership and engaging keynotes, he’s spent decades testing and refining go-to-market strategies that put buyers squarely at the center. Tim is the author of four insightful books, including Customer Message Management, Conversations that Win the Complex Sale, The Three Value Conversations, and The Expansion Sale.
