With last year’s AI boom impacting the business world and the continued developments and use cases, it is no wonder that using AI for sales development calls and prospecting efforts is now on the table. However, and to no surprise, this discussion comes with concerns around quality, legality, logistics, and all-around practicality.
Naturally, as Concept is a B2B lead generation agency, we have been doing our homework on the matter. Here are some of our findings and opinions. Note, this is in no way legal advice, and we are not lawyers – we just know a thing or two about lead gen.
To add some context for this discussion, here is an example posted by Steve Burton from the Point Company on LinkedIn.
Is it Legal to Use AI for Sales Development Calls?
Like any legal topic that impacts consumers (similar to CAN-SPAM laws), many regulations are coming in quickly, creating what seems to be an ever-changing rule book. To start, on February 15, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a declaratory ruling to confirm that artificial intelligence-generated voices are “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
This means that AI prospecting calls must have the recipient's consent to call and record. For B2B landlines, this does not have to be written consent, but for mobile calls, this written consent is a requirement. It is important to remember that these are federal regulations, so you must also layer in the corresponding laws of your state or any governing bodies for your industry.
To add another layer of complication, it may be difficult to validate that the number the AI is calling is mobile or landline. This is especially true when using tools such as ZoomInfo to create lead lists, or for form submissions. There is simply no guarantee in either case.
Human Intervention Needed in AI Prospecting Calls
Just like any AI tool, if you do intend to use it for prospecting and sales calls, it will require a fair amount of human intervention and continuous upkeep. You may have seen job postings and news articles that refer to “prompt engineers.” The idea is that AI needs an appropriate prompt and input, to give you the desired output. Although AI applications certainly build their apps in a manner that sets you up for the appropriate prompts, it is still up to your team to feed the system with the necessary information.
After these initial prompts, your team must monitor and test calls, find the loopholes and pitfalls, and create iterations of this AI calling tool. This continued monitoring and testing could very well be a full-time job, if not several depending on the size of the calling efforts.
Don’t have an in-house prompt engineer? You can choose to train existing employees, hire an internal resource, or possibly outsource these efforts to a third party. Does your prompt engineer have a thorough understanding of the industry the AI will be calling into? They will need it.
Of course, AI calling will likely require additional, internal protocols around its use, job roles, responsibilities, services, and more. Again, we are not lawyers, so you should probably get your legal team in front of this one.
How AI Sales Calling Supports Your Team, Rather Than Replacing
Will AI replace sales team members? The short answer, is no. When an AI call does not go according to plan, or when there is any kind of problem-solving involved, there must be a rep available that the system can route to. This way they can step in and assist.
Scale and Fatigue
Rather than replacing, like many tools and advancements, AI can be used to scale your efforts and provide warmer, higher-quality conversations for your human team.
AI systems can make a large volume of calls in a short period, far surpassing human capabilities. This increased call volume can potentially lead to more leads and appointments. It can handle these repetitive tasks without fatigue, providing a steady level of performance.
Consistency of First Touch
AI would be great in a press conference; it sticks to the talking points. Because of this, you can expect a consistent, branded approach to all of your first or cold touches. However, this also means there is little room for flexibility and creativity.
The Cost of Integrating AI Sales Calling and Your CRM
As AI joins your sales team, it will also join your processes for tracking activities and performance. As any serious sales organization knows, these processes, activities, and results are tracked within a CRM. This means that your AI calling platform will have to – in one way or another – integrate with your CRM.
It would be no surprise if the various AI sales calling platforms have already started to implement integrations to some of the more popular CRM solutions such as Salesforce or HubSpot – but not all integrations are created equally.
Some platforms may suggest that they integrate, but understanding if it is an app approved by the CRM of your choice, using APIs and creating a custom integration, or a flat-file transfer is important. Custom integrations can be time-consuming and costly, and flat-file transfers move information over all at once in a certain cadence such as daily or twice a day.
Once that integration is set up, you can begin reporting on this activity, and possibly creating additional automations from the details making their way into your CRM.
Teams that are interested in using AI for sales development calls and prospecting efforts are likely trying to get the same results many of our clients look for when leveraging our appointment-setting services. If you find that these legal, logistical, or cost implications of AI calling just don’t make sense for your organization, our team can help scale your outbound efforts and drive more qualified leads for your team. Contact us, to get started.