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Running an SME isn’t easy.
One moment, you’re crunching numbers to manage cash flow.
The next, you’re handling employee concerns, optimizing operations, or rethinking your marketing strategy. There’s always something new pulling your attention every day, and balancing it all can feel like a juggling act.
Then there’s sales. Tracking leads, following up with prospects, closing deals, and staying in touch with customers are many necessary activities to look after for business longevity. You simply can’t ignore them.
But here’s the thing: you don’t have to do it all alone.
We aren’t also saying you need a bloated headcount or some fancy technology.
All you need is an AI sales assistant.
No, it won’t replace your job. But it will take some of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks off your plate. Think about it: sorting through leads, scheduling follow-ups, and even identifying the prospects most likely to convert can be delegated to AI.
The best part?
Research shows that 64% of SMEs already use AI tools or plan to in the next two years, and 81% believe AI will be vital for their success in the near future. So, if you haven’t jumped on the AI bandwagon, it’s time you do.
In this blog post, we’ll explore seven ways you can use this technology to make your sales process easier and more effective.
7 Ways to Use an AI Sales Agent for SME Sales
1. Use AI to save time finding and ranking leads
Your lead pipeline probably comes from all over the place—contact forms, cold calls, drip campaigns, social media interactions, referrals, and more. If you’re like most SME owners, you’ve pieced it all together manually on a spreadsheet, which is painstaking.
Why go to such lengths when AI can integrate with your existing CRMs, email platforms, and analytics systems to gather and organize this data in real-time? More importantly, it can help you figure out which leads are worth pursuing.
For instance, you can set criteria like the lead’s level of engagement, industry, or even budget. HubSpot is one popular tool that allows that. So, if someone keeps visiting your pricing page, AI can flag them as a high-priority lead, and you can start a conversation as soon as possible.
This level of intelligence saves your sales team countless hours and ensures you’re focusing on leads with the highest potential to convert.
2. Simplify sales outreach and follow-ups with automation
Today, personalization may be just one piece of the puzzle, but it’s also a critical one. Custom AI solutions can help you understand a lead’s interests, past purchases, or even how they interact with your website.
This information helps you create email and message templates that feel like they were written just for them. No one wants to receive cookie-cutter content that feels bland and unoriginal. But that’s not all. AI also figures out when to reach out.
For example, if someone opens your email but doesn’t respond, it can automatically send a follow-up in a slightly different tone or angle. If they click on a product link, the next message could include a discount or case study relevant to that.
Such automated follow-ups mean your leads aren’t forgotten, even on your busiest days, and that your prospects receive relevant, impactful communication without being overwhelmed by unnecessary fluff that doesn’t advance them in the sales funnel.
3. Keep customers engaged anytime with AI chatbots
It’s a given that you have customers who reach out late at night or on weekends. That’s the nature of the business. But it’s also impossible for you to respond immediately, especially if you have a small team. That’s where incorporating a chatbot in your workflow can be quite useful.
It can help customers find the right product, walk them through the purchase process, or even provide order updates. And because it’s available 24/7, you don’t have to worry about missing a potential sale or leaving a customer waiting too long for a response.
Moreover, the AI chatbot works where your prospects already are—on apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or your website. It can also integrate with your existing tech stack, like your CRM system, to provide personalized messaging at appropriate times.
For example, if a customer asks about their previous order, the chatbot can instantly pull that info, making the interaction smooth and natural. If it can’t help, it can schedule a call with a live rep when they come online.
For SMEs, this is cost-effective, too. You don’t have to hire extra staff to manage inquiries at night or during weekends.
Look at it this way: the average salary for a customer service representative in the US is $3,400 per month, and it’s an ongoing expense. Chatbots cost between $500 and $5,000, a one-time investment.
Therefore, it’s a no-brainer for you to join hands with an AI development company to build your own chatbot.
4. Use AI to predict sales trends and plan ahead
Planning for the future is easier when you have a clear picture of what’s coming. And as an SME owner, that’s a boon.
When you have patterns and correlations on seasonality, economic shifts, and changes in customer behavior at your fingertips, you can anticipate demand and plan inventory levels more effectively. You no longer need to rely on static spreadsheets or basic trendlines.
You have AI algorithms to lay down the groundwork for you.
Let’s say you’re a small clothing retailer.
With AI-powered sales forecasting, you might realize the demand for winter coats increases.
Based on historical trends, weather forecasts, and recent purchases, AI might flag an upcoming spike in winter coats. What do you do? You stock up on them so that when customers come looking, you have the supply to meet their demand.
It’s as simple as that.
AI-driven forecasting can automate up to 50% of workforce management tasks, leading to cost reductions of 10% to 15% while ensuring operational resilience. This means better cash flow management, reduced waste, and improved resource allocation for your SME.
5. Improve upselling and cross-selling with AI suggestions
Upselling and cross-selling are some of the oldest tricks in the book, and they never fail to deliver. The good news is with AI, you can encourage customers to upgrade or buy premium versions and offer related products in a way that feels relevant and helpful.
You’ve likely experienced this yourself while shopping online. For example, an eCommerce platform might suggest a matching phone case or recommend a bundle deal with headphones when buying a smartphone.
Such dynamic product recommendations aren’t random—AI algorithms drive them to maximize customer engagement and sales.
The buck doesn’t stop at eCommerce, though.
AI can give your team real-time insights if you’re having a sales conversation. Applying sentiment analysis can identify emotional cues and prompt you to offer a premium product version or suggest a cross-sell that fits their needs.
Such personalized suggestions leave a positive impression on your customers and increase your Average Order Value (AOV).
BCG reports that businesses that use AI enjoy a 50% jump in lead-to-sale conversions, a 2X boost in the number of leads generated, and a 2X lift in cross-selling and up
6. Adjust pricing easily with AI recommendations
Setting the right price for your offering is important. Too high, and you might drive customers away. Too low, and you leave money on the table. However, you don’t need to worry about that.
Using predictive models and real-time optimization techniques, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, such as historical sales, competitor pricing, market trends, and customer preferences.
If demand suddenly spikes for a product, they suggest a slight price increase. On the other hand, during quieter times, they might recommend discounts to keep sales steady.
A common example of dynamic pricing is Uber, the ride-hailing service provider that adjusts cab fares (increasing them by 3X) in real-time during heavy rains or peak traffic hours.
Industries like travel, too, experiment with pricing based on season. Airlines and hotels, for example, increase their rates as per booking patterns and occupancy rates. That’s why everything is so unusually expensive during New Year’s.
7. Let AI handle your CRM updates for you
For any sales team, keeping the CRM updated is important.
You must maintain a record of where each lead is in the sales funnel and what AOV you can expect from them. Because you’re speaking to a lot of people at scale, it’s easier to drown in information and miss out on key details that could help close the deal.
That’s why you have to be organized. Salesforce states that 83% of sales teams using AI experience revenue growth, compared to 66% of teams not using AI.
This technology can effortlessly handle CRM management. For instance, when you email a prospect, the activity can automatically be logged in the system, capturing details such as whether it was the initial message or a follow-up.
With features like predictive analytics, AI can suggest the best times and methods to engage customers. For example, you might find that a specific customer responds better to phone calls on Wednesdays or prefers emails for product updates.
Speaking to a lead on call? AI can summarize your conversation and record it in your CRM. The technology can also flag incomplete fields or duplicate entries. This level of automation helps you spend more time on lead nurturing and not resource-intensive data management.
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If you’ve been thinking about exploring AI but aren’t sure where to start, you’re not alone. That’s where working with the right partner comes in.
As a Generative AI development company, we can help you build an AI solution that integrates with your processes. Whether creating personalized sales content or leveraging OpenAI development for smarter automation, there’s always a way to make AI work for you.
A chat with our AI experts might be just what you need to plan your next steps. Schedule a free one-hour consultation with us, and we’ll guide you through everything.
You’ll also receive a complimentary strategy roadmap that demonstrates the value we can bring to your business.
Let’s talk today!