Unleashing the Power of Generative AI for B2B Prospecting
Getting the attention of prospects today is more challenging than ever, yet prospecting to find new leads is arguably the most critical element to the sales process. While Generative AI tools have shown vast potential, it is still a nascent technology many are navigating for the first time.
How are sales leaders approaching Generative AI to help their teams with B2B prospecting?
One minute insights:
The majority of businesses are providing enterprise licenses and accounts to use GenAI
Social media posts are the most common types of custom content generated
Most sales professionals report that B2B prospecting has improved significantly or moderately due to GenAI
Almost half report that GenAI used in prospecting has directly resulted in a closed opportunity that otherwise would not have been won
Most are deploying GenAI in some capacity, but overall deployment complexity and satisfaction with manual content is holding others back
When it comes to engaging with GenAI, almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents are ex- perimenting with isolated projects (32%), have integrated into some processes (19%) or have fully integrated across operations (13%).
Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
We believe that manual content generation is having good results for the company
My team is generating very good content, we don't need this AI.
We are still doing more research. Part of what we are considering is using AI for chat and early responses from customers.
That it is more complicated than initially thought.
Most organizations are providing enterprise licenses for GenAI utilization and B2B prospecting is benefiting
60% of sales teams are accessing GenAI tools through an enterprise or business license, as opposed to 38% 2% Not sure 60% Through an enterprise or business license personal accounts.
How is your sales team accessing GenAI tools today for use in B2B prospecting?
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
78% of sales professionals report GenAI tools have improved the outcomes of their sales team’s B2B prospecting efforts significantly (32%) or moderately (46%).
In your opinion, how much have GenAI tools improved the outcomes of your sales team’s B2B prospecting efforts?
n = 50
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
Sales professionals cite cold emailing (40%) as the outreach method that benefits most from GenAI.
Which outreach method do you believe benefits most from GenAI?
n = 50
Not sure 4% | Conferences 2% | Other 0%
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
Almost half (48%) of respondents report that GenAI used in prospecting has directly resulted in a closed opportunity that otherwise would not have been won.
Has the use of GenAI in prospecting directly resulted in a closed opportunity for your team that otherwise would not have been won?
n = 50
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
Lead engagement is the most common use case, while social media posts are an overwhelmingly popular choice for custom content generation
Lead engagement (e.g., custom emails/communications) is the most commonly selected (48%) broad use case for B2B prospecting with GenAI tools. 40% use GenAI for custom content generation (e.g., presentations, whitepapers, blogs, etc.)
Broadly, what is your sales team’s main use case for GenAI tools when it comes to prospecting?
n = 50
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
Question: Can you briefly describe how your sales team has integrated GenAI into their workflow?
One of the ways that we have integrated GenAI is through chatbots, these can handle initial customer inquiries and provide basic information.
Social media posts (82%) are the most common choice for custom content generation from GenAI. Presentations (58%), blog posts (54%) and case studies (50%) are the next most common choices.
Broadly, what is your sales team’s main use case for GenAI tools when it comes to prospecting?
n = 50
We don’t use GenAI for custom content 6% | Other 2% | Not sure 0%
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
Other response: “lead gen”
Question: Can you briefly describe how your sales team has integrated GenAI into their workflow?
All the sales team use GenAI when writing content for blogs, emails and LinkedIn posts. There is no formal integration of tools into systems but we regularly check how everyone is using GenAI and share experiences.
More specifically, what types of lead engagement materials does your team generate with GenAI? Select all that apply.
For lead engagement materials, cold emails (70%) are most commonly generated content using GenAI, followed by email subject lines (66%) and LinkedIn messages (66%).
RFP responses 28% | We don’t use GenAI for lead engagement 4% | Not sure 0% | Other 0%
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
More specifically, for what types of research does your team utilize GenAI? Select all that apply.
Market/industry research (76%) is the most commonly reported type of research conducted with GenAI tools.
We don’t use GenAI for research 6% | Not sure 2% | Other 0%
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
n = 50
Data privacy and prompt writing top the list of diverse challenges confronting sales teams utilizing GenAI
Data privacy and using the right prompt tied as the top ranked challenges teams are experiencing when it comes utilizing GenAI in B2B prospecting.
Please rank the top three (3) challenges your team are experiencing when it comes to utilizing GenAI in B2B prospecting.
n = 50
#4 Content ownership | #5 Unintended AI bias | #6 Unintended cultural changes | #7 AI hallucinations | #8 Not sure
Note: Question only shown to those who answered “Experimented with isolated projects”, “Integrated into some processes”, and “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your sales team’s engagement with GenAI as it relates to B2B prospecting?”
Question: Where do you see GenAI having the most significant impact on prospecting and lead generation in the future of B2B sales?
I think that there will be some sloppy application that will lead to a massive inundation of sales emails and there will be some pushback from business customers on generated content and perhaps at some point even more restrictions on sending cold solicitations. I think the real utility is in research and early pipeline development, using it to analyze a lot of data to determine the right people to contact. It's classic sales, at the end of the day, you just want to be talking to people who want to buy what you have to sell. No amount of rephrasing an email will do that for you, but leveraging the power of GenAI to ensure you're targeting the right people has been a game changer.
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Respondent Breakdown
Region
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding Respondents: 80 professionals and leaders who have visibility into their organization’s GenAI deployment for B2B prospecting