It’s 2025 and, fortunately for you, you’re still employed as a frontline sales manager at AcmeTech Enterprises LLC 💀. You oversee a team of reps. Sales is still sales. They find the pain, solve the problem, and close the deal. Same game. Same rules.
The only difference now is that the game is happening during the biggest technological shake-up of our lifetime. Yep! You guessed it. You’re reading YET ANOTHER blog post about AI 🤖.
Whether you like it or not, AI already touches most areas of our lives. And, when it comes to sales, it’s deciding who’s about to crush quota and who’s about to get left in a smoking crater like Wile E. Coyote while their competitor speeds off with the deal, holding up a tiny sign that says "Should've used AI."
“But I’m not an oddly sexy, yet easily thwarted cartoon coyote! I’m a sales manager!” Ok. Good for you, but if you’re still clinging to old-school methods and refusing to engage with AI as a partner, then Congrats! You’ve officially become the weakest link on your sales team.
As a leader, (hell, as a human) if you’re still treating AI like some futuristic gimmick instead of the most powerful asset you’ll ever have, you’re doing your entire team a disservice. AI is here, right now, making top-performing sales orgs faster, smarter, and more effective. The companies who get it are watching their reps close more deals in less time. The ones who don’t? Well, they’re still having pipeline meetings where one of five Matts on the team swears he’s “pretty sure” that deal’s gonna close.
Don’t get it twisted, though, AI is not a magic bullet that instantly turns your most stoned remote AE into a turbo-closer. AI is a teammate. A strategist. A workhorse. It’s the sales assistant you always wanted but could never hire because HR said you didn’t have the budget. It’s the one thing standing between your team hitting quota and you sitting in yet another meeting explaining why Q4 “didn’t go as planned.”
If your team is still doing their own research manually, I’m sorry, they’re wasting time. AI can generate real-time data on accounts, market trends, and competitor moves in seconds. It’s flagging industry shifts before your reps even realize they should be adjusting their pitch. It’s identifying key decision-makers, highlighting pain points, and even telling you exactly what messaging has worked on similar prospects before. Meanwhile, your reps are still out here scrolling through LinkedIn, trying to figure out if “VP of Strategic Digital Transformation” has budget authority.
And forecasting? Oh, you think your team’s “gut instinct” is a reliable way to predict next quarter’s revenue? So cute! AI is analyzing actual data like buyer behavior, pipeline velocity, and historical deal trends to tell you where your numbers are really headed.
I know what you’re thinking. “But AI isn’t perfect!” No kidding. Neither is your team. Yes, AI can occasionally get things wrong, and no, it shouldn’t replace human judgment. AI is a collaborator, not a crutch. The problem isn’t AI making mistakes, but sales leaders refusing to learn how their team can use it effectively.
This isn’t a choice between AI and your team. It’s a choice between AI-assisted sales teams who are closing deals faster and teams who are still fumbling through the old playbook, pretending nothing’s changed. AI isn’t replacing great salespeople. It’s just making it really, really obvious who the great ones are.
So, here’s the deal: You can have the most powerful tech in the world, but if you’re not actually learning how to use it right, you’re just another Wile E. Coyote staring at a signed contract that turns out to be a painted-on tunnel as your competitor speeds right on through.
