Humans are still needed to close deals... for now.

Here's another article I posted on LinkedIn a few years ago, this one is about artificial intelligence and chatbots and the impact they will have on the future of work, especially for inside sales and telemarketers. Link to the original is below.

"I've been researching AI applications for fun lately. Looking at all the job functions that AI and robots have been replacing in the last few decades, it occurred to me: How much longer do we salespeople have before we are replaced? Sure, some say sales is an art, which presumably gives humans some advantage (I'm not so sure about that... have they heard the radio lately?), but with the way most companies manage these days, those who claim you can't bottle this magic seem to be a dying breed. Companies like Dell, for instance, are infamous for their micromanaging practices.

In my search, I discovered this really cool company, Conversica. As their website intones, "Artificial Intelligence will help you find your next customer". The thing is, I've got people doing that for me now. I like those people. They are my very favorite people in my company. And if Conversica can replace them, I wanted to know, how close is it to replacing me? A quick jump to their website, and predictably, I was greeted with an invitation to chat. What follows is the transcript of that conversation, with apologies to both Alan Turing and Philip K. Dick. Kudos to "Alex" for playing along, and their reassuring message that in fact, for the time being, humans are still necessary.

"→Hi. I am a sales rep. Will Conversica replace me and my coworkers?

Alex: Hi no it will not

Alex: it acts as your sales assistant

Alex: it will do the follow up over email of inbound leads then notify you to take the call once the person responds

→So it will replace my sales assistants?

Alex: it will let them focus on the phone because we do email

Alex: so the email follow up of leads will be automated

→So then they become more efficient?

Alex: yes

→ok, so then we can meet our work demands with fewer people?

Alex: we help automate the inbound lead process

Alex: so your reps can then go ahead and focus on doing outbound

Alex: humans are still needed with our platform

→fewer humans, yes?

Alex: not necessarily

→but most likely

Alex: you can keep your current team and have them focus on reaching out to new propsects, so ultimately you are getting more sales

→so if the current team gets through the current workload twice as fast, we only need half the people

Alex: If you dont mind what company are you from?

→I am with Cyberdyne Systems

Alex: haha Arnold!

Alex: Essentially we help handle the inbound lead volume, so the team can focus on outbound

Alex: helps hire smarter down the line

→Say I'm a CEO, and I want to completely replace my salespeople; when will Conversica be able to do that for me?

Alex: it will never replace your sales people, but it will make them more efficient

Alex: just helps automate a lot of the entry level sales peoples job

→Do you know of a solution that will help me completely replace my salespeople? They cost too much and are hard to manage.

Alex: unfortunately, no

Alex: humans are still needed to close deals

Alex: we just help get people onto the phone and make sure no leads slip through the cracks

→does Conversica handle chat as well as email?

Alex: not yet

→Are you the beta?

Alex: no I am a real person haha

→All the robots are programmed to say that

Alex: I am real I promise

→I understand that you think that

→One last question

Alex: ask away

→Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother...""

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/humans-still-needed-close-deals-now-jason-mckenzie