Sales representatives are known for finding the most efficient way to get something done, so it’s not surprising that, according to a recent McKinsey report, sales as a business function leads in AI adoption across all industries. 

At this point, most of my clients are heavily using AI tools in their sales processes, but I think there are particular benefits for print sales reps, whose sales cycles can be complex and who need to be able to differentiate on something other than price.

Here, I’ll share what I see as the AI opportunity for print sales reps. 

Your Main Takeaways

• B2B buying has changed, and sales reps need to evolve along with it.
• AI-enabled prospecting helps PSPs practice what they preach when it comes to personalization.
• AI is great for sales enablement, but where it really shines is buyer enablement: making print buyers less reliant on sales and freeing them up to make purchasing decisions independently. 

The New Reality of B2B Buying

Over the last decade, I have watched as more and more of the buyer’s journey has happened before the prospect even talks to sales. Buyers are more informed and have more tools at their disposal than ever before. First they were Googling, and now they’re asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude questions like: 

• “Who are the top commercial printers near me that specialize in short-run digital jobs?”
• “Which print vendors also provide fulfillment and mailing services?”
• “Which printers can help me integrate print with digital campaigns?”
• “What’s a reasonable price for 10,000 brochures with custom folding?”
• “What questions should I ask a printer before committing to a project?”

This upfront research that buyers are doing has totally disrupted the old way of doing sales, but the good news is that the same AI technology print buyers are using to help them find the right printer is also available to sales reps.

AI Prospecting: Finding Your ICP

At this point, most major CRMs have rolled out a bevy of AI tools for prospecting. These tools can make it faster and easier to: 

Research Companies

AI can quickly scan and summarize publicly available information and industry databases and surface possible target companies that match your ideal customer profile (ICP). 

Monitor Intent Signals

AI tools and agents can be set up to alert you when a company in your target audience demonstrates behavioral intent, such as researching particular solutions or services. 

Score Leads

AI can analyze and score a database of leads based on the criteria you give it. For example, if you want to prioritize prospects who have been on your website or opened an email from you recently, you can ask an AI assistant to generate the list. What used to require moderate CRM skills can now be done using natural language prompts. 

Execute Personalized Outreach

AI prospecting tools are not only helping with list building and lead scoring, but agentic AI can actually run your prospecting campaigns for you, generating your outreach emails or LinkedIn messages and tailoring them to the recipient based on key insights from your CRM. 

Leveraging AI for more personalized outreach is especially valuable for print service providers who are selling inkjet print using a variable data proposition; it shows you know how to practice what you preach. 

AI for Buyer Enablement

Let’s shift for a moment from a sales enablement perspective and talk about buyer enablement. If a larger percentage of the buyer’s journey is happening before prospects talk to a rep, how can we exert influence over that part of the journey? AI can help. 

First, consider implementing an AI chatbot on your website. This may be possible to do within your current website content management system, without investing in additional tools. AI chatbots can be trained on the resources you provide — for example, your internal knowledge base, customer service training manual, or sell sheets — to help buyers explore print formats, pricing scenarios, or campaign ideas before talking to sales.

Second, think about leveraging AI to build a pricing configurator tool. This could be an internal resource used by your estimators or reps, but it may be even more beneficial if you put it on your website and let prospects use it. Pricing configurators require a bigger investment of time and resources up front, but they’re also very good at getting prospects ready to talk to sales — and weeding out disqualified leads. 

Finally, don’t sleep on good old fashioned content marketing. AI answer engines like ChatGPT get their information from websites, so be sure to optimize your site for them by providing accurate company information, regular thought leadership, and compelling social proof. 

Where Sales Can See the Most Impact from AI

Yes, AI is revolutionary. But at the end of the day, it’s also just another tool, so let’s figure out how to use it strategically. The best use of AI in sales is to clear reps’ plates of any manual tasks that don’t add value so they can focus on honing their industry expertise and building relationships. 

Start small. Track improvements in lead conversion, deal velocity, deal size, and time to close. See what’s working and what’s not. Create space for reps to not only experiment but share best practices with each other. 

Most importantly: stay nimble; this landscape is changing every day. 

As Managing Director of Client Services at Trekk, Emilee Christianson works with clients to develop strategic marketing plans and craft measurable programs that span print, web, social, mobile, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. She leverages her expansive knowledge of marketing tactics to lead creative and technical teams and create communications programs that help B2B marketers meet their business objectives.