Reshaping B2B Sales Trainings: Focus on Soft Skill Competences and perceived Usefulness of AI Tools

  • Lisa-Maria Samhaber

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Digitalisation and automation of B2B sales processes as well as the integration of AI will be the key for success in the future. While some companies are challenged by digitalising and automating their sales processes, others are already incorporating AI in nearly every sales process step. Especially after the COVID pandemic, many firms are accelerating their digitalisation approaches, and the constant rise of AI is altering the way business is conducted in the B2B sales sector. Yet, despite all technological advancements, what remains unaffected is the importance of human connection in B2B sales. The roles of salespeople are more shifting towards a consultative nature and salespeople are required to be customer experts by identifying needs and providing solutions in a faster, more efficient and more effective manner. Therefore, the importance of soft skill competences increases crucially not despite, but much more because of the rising levels of automation and digitalisation of B2B sales processes. This ongoing automation and AI integration can enable salespeople to let go of mundane and repetitive administrative tasks and allow them to focus more on relationship building activities with customers. Therefore, the soft skill competences of salespeople gain even higher importance as interactions with customers are becoming more frequently and specialised in nature. This means that a salesperson needs to upskill soft skill competences regularly to successfully tackle changing circumstances. Hence, sales trainings need to be adapted by shifting contents, rethinking current approaches and putting a higher emphasis on the improvement of soft skills. While in traditional B2B sales training settings, soft skills are oftentimes improved by conducting role-plays, the acceleration of AI solutions offers the possibility to train soft skill competences using AI-supported approaches. In the past years, AI-powered software solutions for training purposes have been introduced to the market. Yet, despite its potential, AI has not fully reached the B2B sales training domain. Salespeople as well as sales trainers are hesitant incorporating AI tools, especially in the context of improving soft skill competences. On the one hand, issues such as bias, data accuracy and ethics raise concerns, but on the other hand, salespeople and trainers emphasize the usefulness of AI tools for training purposes. First, AI tools enable sales trainers to facilitate the preparation phase of trainings and the evaluation of trainees. Second, trainings can be designed more flexible, allowing salespeople to exercise more frequently outside of traditional training settings. Third, especially when it comes to the improvement of soft skills, AI solutions provide the possibility to continuously improve soft skill and negotiation competences by analysing written and verbal communication. Here, AI avatars enable salespeople to foster their negotiation skills more frequently and in a safe place before conducting in-person trainings and participating in negotiations with customers. Therefore, the usefulness of AI tools for sales trainings is perceived valuable and beneficial and B2B sales trainings need to be reshaped.
Date of Award2024
Original languageEnglish
SupervisorMargarethe Überwimmer (Supervisor)

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