Sales teams across Australia and New Zealand are implementing AI to drive growth and keep up with customer demands, according to new research released in the sixth edition of Salesforce’s State of Sales report.
Ninety-three per cent of sales teams in Australia and 91% in New Zealand are either experimenting with or have fully implemented AI across their sales functions.
The report includes insights from 5,500 sales professionals across 27 countries, including 300 from Australia and New Zealand combined,, revealing how companies drive growth and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
In Australia and New Zealand, 57% of sales reps don’t expect to meet their quota this year, and an even larger 86% missed it last year. These numbers highlight the significant pressure sellers are under, and lagging productivity may also be a factor. ANZ sales reps report spending 71% of their time on non-selling tasks, making it difficult to connect with prospects.
Reps say selling has gotten more challenging amid heightened competition
Across most sales organisations, revenue growth isn’t keeping pace with company goals. Worldwide, sales professionals say rising customer demands and competition are their top obstacles. More than half of sellers in Australia (59%) and New Zealand (54%) say competition has gotten more challenging since last year, and only 12% in Australia and 14% in New Zealand say it’s gotten easier.
Nonselling tasks pull reps away from customer relationship building
Competition isn’t the only obstacle to sales. Non-selling tasks, such as administrative work and meeting preparation, consume 71% of reps’ time in Australia and New Zealand. Without time carved out for critical selling efforts, reps struggle to connect with customers.
“Deep relationships with customers are the difference-makers when it comes to challenging sales environments,” said Jane Brown, Area Vice President at Salesforce. “B2B buyers are more likely to purchase when reps act as trusted advisors. However, too often, deep knowledge of customer need and opportunity is lacking or not effectively communicated. That makes it difficult to build trust, derailing deals.”
Sellers see accuracy, personalisation benefits from AI despite adoption hurdles
In a climate of heightened competition and scarce hours in the day to sell, many sales teams are looking to AI for support. Currently, 93% of sales organisations in Australia and 91% in New Zealand are experimenting with AI. Of course, given the exceptionally rapid pace at which AI is evolving, whether teams consider their current implementations complete may change in the future.
Regardless, the benefits of AI for sales teams are clear and growing.
Worldwide, when asked to name where AI has had the biggest impact, sales professionals point to five key areas:
- Sales data quality and accuracy: From error detection to automatically updating deal records, AI can ensure data is up-to-date and free from human error.
- Understanding customer needs: AI can analyse customer feedback from a variety of sources to gauge customer sentiment and identify areas of need before a sales rep presents a solution.
- Personalisation for customers: Sales teams can leverage predictive analytics to forecast a buyer’s future order based on past purchases, provide recommendations to upsell, and more.
- Sales forecasting accuracy: From highlighting pipeline red flags to projecting closed deals, AI can deliver insights to help shape revenue-generating sales strategies.
- Prospect/customer communications: Teams are tapping generative AI grounded in trusted customer data to write personalised emails to prospects — saving time trying to craft a message manually.
There are some obstacles to successful AI implementation, however:
- Australian sales professionals say their biggest challenge is security concerns, prompting sales teams to proceed with caution.
- New Zealand teams say their biggest obstacle is insufficient employee training on how to use the technology highlighting the need for proper employee training on how to use AI safely
Sales teams are taking action to address these obstacles. In Australia and New Zealand, 48% of sales teams that have fully implemented AI first consolidated their tech stack, which helps streamline data. Nearly the same amount (53%) implemented additional data security measures.
“AI is no longer a nice to have — it’s a must,” noted Sales Cloud CMO Amber Armstrong. “Its impact is greatest when every tool in a team’s tech stack is consolidated. Having a single platform — like Sales Cloud — allows sellers to leverage comprehensive data for the most accurate, relevant AI outputs. It also streamlines workflows for maximum productivity.”
Companies with AI also see improved employee retention
Beyond the benefits to core sales motions, across the globe AI is linked to higher employee retention. High levels of stress can threaten employee longevity, but on teams with AI, sales reps are 2.4x less likely to feel overworked. This can help lower anticipated staff turnover: 94% of Australian reps and 97% of reps in New Zealand using AI say they have no intention of leaving, compared to just over half on teams without AI.
Data also suggests that AI is not replacing sales jobs, as some fear. Quite the opposite: 68% of global sales teams with AI added headcount in the past year, compared to 47% of teams without AI.
“In the era of AI-driven sales, the value of retaining skilled reps has never been more critical,” said Brown. “Employee retention keeps staffing and training costs down. So, by investing in both cutting-edge AI technology and the continuous development of our people, we ensure that our teams are not only more productive but also more engaged and committed, leading to stronger teams and higher sales.”
More information
- Read the full State of Sales report
- Deep dive into how sales teams use generative AI
- Explore the Stat Library, Salesforce’s bookmarkable database of stats for journalists
- Discover how the predictive and generative AI capabilities of Sales Cloud help improve productivity
Methodology
Data in this report is from a double-anonymous survey conducted from March 8 through April 18, 2024. The survey generated 5,500 responses from sales professionals across North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, including 300 from Australia and New Zealand. For more demographic information, please refer to the full State of Sales report.
