As pandemic restrictions gradually lift, many professionals are opting to continue working from home, skipping the daily drive or transatlantic travel for a single business meeting. However, for some, this poses distinct obstacles. Salespeople are finding it more difficult to read their clients’ emotions and reactions, which are normally picked up through body language during face-to-face meetings. New firms are now turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to help them with the heavy work. Q for Sales, a new conversational tool, claims to be able to track people’s emotions during video calls, offering stats to the salesperson and even proposing ways to influence those emotions to close the sale.
You may be able to resist a salesperson, but will you be able to resist an AI that is explicitly geared to persuade you? Uniphore’s AI “provides sales teams with the contextual insights they need to perform at their best,” actively reading the client and delivering data on their sentiment toward what the salesperson is saying. It can tell if a customer is interested and even give you tips on how to improve your sales skills by highlighting important points after a call to demonstrate where the salesperson had them on the line and where they dropped off.
The study offers a frightening insight into the future of corporate dealings, which may one day be virtually exclusively directed by AI that understands the statistically “correct” reaction to maximize profits. Of course, because GDPR and other data privacy rules make it illegal to use this type of software without authorization, the app only functions if both the salesman and the client agree to record the session. However, the salesperson is unlikely to be required to reveal that the application is in use.
Uniphore claims that both the company’s and customers’ data is kept completely secret and that no client character profiles are created. If this all sounds a little too Black Mirror for you, it’s probably too late to change your mind. Zoom, one of the world’s most popular video conferencing apps, has launched Zoom IQ for Sales, a conversational analysis AI for sales.
The AI can aggregate data from sales conversations and score salespeople on their effectiveness, including how many “excellent questions” they asked during meetings. Employers can also use IQ for Sales to see whether their employees are talking too much. Zoom’s AI gives information after the call has been recorded, whereas Uniphore’s offering delivers real-time analysis. So, do you want AI to analyze your speech and emotions during teleconference sessions, or will you refuse to enable recording in the future?
