3064: Beyond Automation: AI's Role in Enhancing Sales Productivity

[00:00:04] A lot of talk around AI at the moment, so a quick question to start today's episode.

[00:00:10] How do you see AI revolutionizing sales organizations and helping redefine the way businesses can drive revenue?

[00:00:18] Well, today I'm going to be joined by Arnab Mishra, CEO of a company called Exactly.

[00:00:25] And they're leading the charge in transforming the sales industry with their AI-driven solutions.

[00:00:30] And my guest has over two decades of leadership in the software industry, but I want to learn more about how he's introduced Exactly's generative AI engine.

[00:00:40] An engine that's designed to boost productivity, streamline workflows for revenue organizations, and with AI now positioned as a game changer in sales.

[00:00:51] I want to explore how exactly his co-pilot leverages the largest empirical sales performance data set to help businesses achieve unprecedented success.

[00:01:03] So my guest will share how AI is automating routine tasks, identifying high potential customers, and how it provides personalized sales coaching.

[00:01:13] All while enhancing decision-making through data aggregation and automated analytics.

[00:01:20] But I don't want to get carried away here.

[00:01:22] Despite the potential, AI adoption in sales is still in its early stages with less than a quarter of sales leaders currently using these AI tools.

[00:01:31] So what is holding companies back?

[00:01:34] How can they overcome these challenges?

[00:01:36] And what does the future hold for AI in sales performance management?

[00:01:41] Well, let's dive into these questions and uncover what lies ahead for the sales industry.

[00:01:47] So a massive warm welcome to the show.

[00:01:50] Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:01:54] Yeah, great.

[00:01:55] Well, it's great to be here.

[00:01:56] Thanks for having us on your show.

[00:01:59] My name is Arnav Mishra.

[00:02:00] I am the CEO of Exactly.

[00:02:03] Exactly is a provider of sales performance management software,

[00:02:06] and we help companies maximize the performance of their sales teams.

[00:02:10] We do that through a platform that we have and a number of applications that span sales planning to sales incentives to sales forecasting and pipeline management.

[00:02:19] I've been at the company now for seven years.

[00:02:22] I became the CEO of the company about a year ago.

[00:02:24] I had previously been our head of products and our chief operating officer.

[00:02:27] And then prior to that, I've spent more time than I care to admit in enterprise software.

[00:02:33] Brilliant.

[00:02:34] And one of the things I try and do on this podcast every single day is explore a different topic of how technology is impacting an industry.

[00:02:43] And everyone's talking about artificial intelligence right now.

[00:02:46] We have been for a few years, but I think understanding what it means to industries that you don't automatically associate with technology.

[00:02:53] That's one of the things I try to demystify.

[00:02:56] And when you mentioned sales performance there, I think people won't automatically jump to the conclusion of what can AI do for sales performance.

[00:03:04] So how do you envision AI transforming the sales industry and what kind of specific challenges do you see AI addressing within sales organizations?

[00:03:13] Yeah, it's a great question.

[00:03:15] I mean, we're definitely kind of in a new world with the pace of changes that are happening in AI.

[00:03:22] So, you know, I don't know that anyone has a crystal ball around kind of what's going to happen in the future.

[00:03:27] I think, you know, as we look at it today and I have the luxury of talking to a lot of sales leaders and folks running sales teams and organizations, I think there's two things that I continuously hear.

[00:03:37] One is there's a belief, and I think these are true, that AI is going to help salespeople be more productive on one side.

[00:03:46] And then the other thing that it's going to help us do is that it's going to help improve the customer experience that customers have with sales people.

[00:03:54] Right. So those are the two things that I think thematically we hear the most from a productivity perspective.

[00:04:01] You know, there's a lot of things that sort of I think are coming up everything from automating routine tasks like, you know, data entry and note taking and, you know, tracking follow up tasks.

[00:04:11] AI can be very good at that, especially if it's listening in on conversations and then capturing sort of the key next steps.

[00:04:18] I think AI can also be helpful to salespeople and helping them identify, you know, potential customers who have a higher likelihood of needing the solutions they're selling and having a need to buy.

[00:04:30] So I think there's a lot of data processing and predictive analytics and AI that goes into, you know, helping sales reps spend time with customers who are, you know, most likely to buy from them.

[00:04:42] And then I think the third area that we're seeing around productivity is improved sales training and coaching and really thinking about, you know, observing what a rep is doing and then saying,

[00:04:53] what is the specific training and coaching that rep needs based on, you know, munging through all the interactions that they've had and then using that to provide more bespoke training and coaching versus kind of one size fits all training and coaching, which tends to be, you know, the way we've had it in the past.

[00:05:10] So I think there's a lot of opportunity there on the sales productivity side.

[00:05:14] I think on the customer experience side, I think the biggest benefit is going to be personalization.

[00:05:19] You know, the beauty of AI is that obviously it could take large data sets, analyze those data sets, and then come up with sort of synthesized views of what's happening and what's needed.

[00:05:31] And so that I think will allow sales reps with tools and assistance that allow them to say, well, what do we know about these customers or the customer we're interacting with?

[00:05:40] And how can I tailor the things that I'm talking to them about, the product recommendations I give them, the, you know, the commercial offers I give them, you know, even maybe how I communicate with them.

[00:05:53] And I think that's going to yield just a lot of benefit in terms of that interaction between the customer and the salesperson.

[00:06:01] And one of the reasons I was excited to get you on the podcast today is despite those high expectations for AI in sales, I recently came across a report that found that less than a quarter of sales leaders are currently using AI tools.

[00:06:15] So I've got to ask, why do you think there is such a gap between AI's potential and its actual adoption in the industry?

[00:06:22] Is it that we're just too early yet?

[00:06:24] Or what are you seeing?

[00:06:25] You know, and it's a really good question.

[00:06:28] I mean, I think, you know, I go back to this, to, you know, the day and the day-to-day of salespeople and sales leaders.

[00:06:37] And I spend my job a lot of time talking to people in those roles.

[00:06:41] And I'll tell you, I have a lot of empathy for people in sales roles, right?

[00:06:45] It is a really challenging job.

[00:06:47] It's one where results are measured on a very frequent cadence, right?

[00:06:51] You know, there's a joke that, you know, sales leaders live on sort of a 90-day clock.

[00:06:57] And after every quarter, they, you know, either, you know, get to live another 90 days or not and live sort of using that word euphemistically here.

[00:07:05] But there's a very frequent measurement cadence in sales.

[00:07:08] And so, and whether it's quarterly, monthly, or sometimes even weekly.

[00:07:12] And so when you think about that context, you know, that structure does not leave a lot of time for sales leaders and sales reps to really think differently about their jobs.

[00:07:22] You know, they're frankly too busy just delivering results on a very frequent cadence.

[00:07:28] And then on top of that, the other thing that we see is that a lot of companies, frankly, lack the expertise to support rolling out new technologies and business processes to these salespeople.

[00:07:41] So on one end, you've got salespeople who are really busy and are just trying to, you know, prosecute the things that are in front of them.

[00:07:47] And on the other side, you've got, you know, companies that aren't necessarily equipped to sort of say, here's a new technology, you know, go adopt it and let me help you adopt it.

[00:07:57] Right. And so I think a lot of people sort of view that overall and say, hey, there's resistance to change.

[00:08:01] I just think there's structural things that are happening and structural things that exist in companies and in the way sales is measured in their cadences that just makes this type of adoption part.

[00:08:12] I think we had exactly have internalized a lot of that.

[00:08:16] And so we spent a lot of time thinking about adoption of technology and how can we use our software?

[00:08:22] How can we invest in supporting our customers through enablement and training?

[00:08:26] You know, one of the things we've done is we've built hundreds of like micro trainings that live in the skins of our product.

[00:08:32] And so as you're using our product, you're getting enabled.

[00:08:35] So if you can get someone to log in, they can start to sort of self-teach themselves through these micro trainings on how to use the product.

[00:08:42] And so I think there's a lot of work to be done in this area.

[00:08:44] I don't think it's an easy problem to solve because of the structural elements I mentioned.

[00:08:49] But I think, you know, we're putting our best foot forward and trying to help streamline some of those friction points.

[00:08:55] And one of the things that put you on my radar was exactly his AI co-pilot and how that's designed to boost productivity and streamline workflows for revenue organizations.

[00:09:06] So can you tell me a little bit more about that for anybody listening that's not heard about it?

[00:09:10] And also what it is that sets this tool apart from other AI tools in the market?

[00:09:15] Yeah. So, you know, we as a company, I think, have been on this AI journey for the last, you know, almost 20 years now.

[00:09:23] You know, one of the things that is really unique about exactly is that, and especially in our space, is that we've been partnering with our customers for since our beginning,

[00:09:31] you know, almost two decades now in collecting and then aggregating and anonymizing sales performance data.

[00:09:38] And through our efforts, we have created the largest empirical data set of sales performance data anywhere in the world.

[00:09:45] Over the years, we've leveraged that data to provide value back to our customers in the form of, you know, benchmark and KPIs, as well as advanced analytics.

[00:09:56] We are now leveraging that data to train our generative AI models.

[00:10:00] And I think, as we know, kind of in the world of AI, it's not necessarily the software that's sort of the thing that makes or breaks AI systems,

[00:10:07] but it's having the data to train the software so it's effective in the real world.

[00:10:12] And we're the only company in our space that has this large empirical, you know, data set on sales performance because of the decisions we made,

[00:10:21] business and technical decisions we made, you know, not going back 18 years ago.

[00:10:25] And so overall, we feel like we're in a really good position around AI, and we think that is sort of our secret sauce and our key differentiator.

[00:10:33] That has led us to delivering what you referenced, Neil, which is our Exactly AI co-pilot,

[00:10:38] which we've developed as a platform capability in our product portfolio so that our AI capabilities are available to all of our applications.

[00:10:46] So we have your standard platform with applications on top of it.

[00:10:50] And so AI co-pilot is a fundamental platform capability.

[00:10:53] So it enables us to leverage AI, you know, for sales professionals, as well as for the operational and finance professionals who use our products.

[00:11:01] Our initial AI related offerings are, you know, really rethinking the analytics experience, you know, you know, for folks who are familiar with traditional analytics,

[00:11:09] it's very much like a hunt and peck model of analytics, right?

[00:11:12] You go into a report, you drill down, and you're constantly looking for data to answer the question you have in your head.

[00:11:18] We think AI will fundamentally change that user experience where now you can have a conversation with the data and ask your questions and have AI give you responses back.

[00:11:27] I think that's going to be a game changer. And so our first iteration of the Exactly AI co-pilot is doing that work.

[00:11:33] Over time, we also think there's an opportunity to streamline workflows using AI.

[00:11:38] So instead of having users go through configuration screens in an application, they can now just talk to the application and say,

[00:11:44] hey, configure these things for me. And so we're excited about that.

[00:11:49] And we have a number of different new applications coming out that are sort of AI first applications.

[00:11:54] So we have this compensation planning application that we're going to be releasing at the end of this year.

[00:12:00] And we're leveraging AI sort of as core to that application.

[00:12:03] And so users will now have like an AI assistant to help them make compensation planning decisions, modeling decisions,

[00:12:10] which is very different than the way it's done historically.

[00:12:13] And it's all built because of that empirical data set that we've had to help us, you know,

[00:12:18] train the models and contextualize the work that our customers are doing.

[00:12:23] And it was around five years ago we started talking about a new future of work.

[00:12:28] Hybrid working and distributed teams and working from home have now become the norm.

[00:12:33] And it feels like we're entering a new phase now for a future of work.

[00:12:37] So how do you see AI helping in redefining that future of work within sales,

[00:12:42] particularly in terms of enhancing job satisfaction and creating what you've referred to as great jobs?

[00:12:48] Because it's not about replacing people. That's a message that often gets misunderstood.

[00:12:53] So how do you see that evolving?

[00:12:55] Yeah. You know, it's so interesting because if you talk to salespeople and you ask them,

[00:13:02] what do they love about their jobs?

[00:13:04] You know, obviously beyond sort of the ability to make, you know, a living and sort of the big commission checks,

[00:13:08] what they will typically say is they love the human part of their jobs, right?

[00:13:12] They love the ability to interact with customers and they really enjoy the ability to help customers

[00:13:18] and help make, you know, customers' lives better.

[00:13:21] And so every, you know, most, almost all salespeople sort of will gravitate around that human interaction

[00:13:26] and the ability to serve others.

[00:13:28] I think the reality is that, you know, if you talk to most salespeople and say,

[00:13:32] well, that's great, but how do you spend your time?

[00:13:34] They will all tell you that they spend a disproportionate amount of their time

[00:13:38] on things other than those things that I mentioned, right?

[00:13:41] They spend a lot of time on internal processes, on creating updates for management,

[00:13:47] on generating forecasts and pipeline reports, on consolidating notes.

[00:13:51] There's like a list of sort of hygiene things that they have to do.

[00:13:55] And so the way I think about it is that AI can, you know, effectively help increase

[00:14:00] the percentage of time salespeople get to spend doing what they love about their jobs,

[00:14:05] you know, interacting with customers and having technology take care of a lot of the hygiene

[00:14:12] things that they spend a lot of their time on today.

[00:14:15] And I think that is a path to really rethinking, you know, the sales role and the amount and

[00:14:23] the way time gets allocated to different tasks in sales.

[00:14:27] And I think it's really exciting because I think it will fundamentally help salespeople

[00:14:31] spend time on the things that they fundamentally like doing.

[00:14:35] And as we record this, 2025 is just around the corner.

[00:14:39] And as AI becomes more integrated into sales processes, what kind of strategies do you think

[00:14:45] companies should be adopting to ensure that their employees are equipped to work alongside

[00:14:50] these technologies effectively?

[00:14:52] It feels like there's somewhat of a learning curve, but we're getting more and more used

[00:14:55] to it.

[00:14:56] And that's only going to increase next year.

[00:14:58] So how do you, any advice around that?

[00:15:02] Yeah.

[00:15:02] I mean, I think, you know, obviously AI is a new technology and there's, you know, there's

[00:15:08] always going to be, you know, things you have to think about with regards to adoption.

[00:15:12] You know, I think if I broke it down for myself, I would say like, there's probably like three

[00:15:15] things if I was giving advice to someone who was trying to deploy AI in their companies

[00:15:21] and those strategies.

[00:15:22] The first thing that I would say is that you have to build at a certain level AI literacy

[00:15:27] in your organization.

[00:15:29] You know, obviously there's a lot of media attention being spent on AI, but I think for

[00:15:33] a lot of people, these concepts are still pretty abstract, right?

[00:15:37] Like, what is this?

[00:15:38] How do I use it?

[00:15:39] And so, you know, I recommend to folks that, you know, spending some time building AI awareness

[00:15:43] in your organizations, helping people understand its application to businesses, its application

[00:15:48] to sales, you know, how these tools can be leveraged effectively to make people more productive,

[00:15:54] to help them focus, you know, on the things that they love doing about their jobs and automating

[00:15:58] the things that they may not like.

[00:16:00] That is time very well spent for any organization.

[00:16:04] The second thing that, you know, we recommend or, you know, I recommend is around really investing

[00:16:09] in change management.

[00:16:10] You know, I think as I mentioned, you know, people are really busy.

[00:16:13] There's a lot going on.

[00:16:15] And, you know, I think investing in processes and structure to help people adopt AI and really,

[00:16:22] you know, holding their hands through this change management process is really important.

[00:16:26] As part of that, I think you can never spend enough time communicating the benefits of AI

[00:16:33] tools and how it's going to, you know, improve their work and the benefits that they will see

[00:16:38] and how this helps them do their jobs better and helps them spend more time doing the things

[00:16:42] that they want to do.

[00:16:43] So that change management piece is important.

[00:16:45] And then the third thing that I would say is that it's really important to measure the results,

[00:16:51] right?

[00:16:51] So, you know, once AI tools are deployed, you've gone through all the change management,

[00:16:55] you still have the challenge of making sure you have usage and adoption and all of that over time.

[00:17:02] And I think the best way to do that is to, one, upfront define the KPIs that are really

[00:17:07] important and that are going to quantify the benefits of adopting these solutions.

[00:17:11] And then measuring against those KPIs and then making those measurements visible for everyone.

[00:17:17] You know, we've done that internally.

[00:17:18] And, you know, we've seen that when you show people the benefits that the early adopters

[00:17:24] are receiving because of leveraging these AI tools, it kind of gets that flywheel spinning.

[00:17:29] And then everyone says, hey, that looks great.

[00:17:31] I want to be a part of that.

[00:17:32] And that helps build that momentum around adoption just through measurement and evaluation over time.

[00:17:39] And I'm curious, from your point of view, what role do you see exactly as AI-driven approach playing in helping some of these businesses

[00:17:47] that we're talking about reimagine their operations and achieve what should be unprecedented success,

[00:17:53] especially in a competitive sales environment, which must be incredibly attractive.

[00:17:57] So what role do you see yourselves playing in?

[00:18:00] Yeah.

[00:18:01] I mean, we, you know, we always think about this.

[00:18:03] We try to contextualize the role that we play vis-a-vis, you know, helping our customers.

[00:18:09] And the context in today's world is that we've definitely transitioned over the last, I'd say, two to three years

[00:18:17] from a world where we had 0% interest rates, capital was effectively free.

[00:18:23] And in that environment, growth was all that mattered for businesses, growth at all costs.

[00:18:28] And no one was really worrying about, you know, profitability and, you know, dividends back to shareholders and things of that nature.

[00:18:36] Well, that world has transitioned to now where we're not in a growth at all costs world.

[00:18:41] We're one in a world where today the highest valued companies out there are balancing growth with profitability.

[00:18:48] And so what that means is you obviously have to always grow your business, but you have to do it in an efficient way.

[00:18:53] And I think our AI approach is tailor-made for that curve world.

[00:18:57] And because, you know, our focus is, you know, some of the things that we've talked about.

[00:19:01] It's making sales reps more productive.

[00:19:03] It's improving the customer experience.

[00:19:06] It's streamlining operations.

[00:19:07] All of those things speak to efficient growth and profitable growth.

[00:19:12] And I think we're doing this by, you know, not only providing, you know, best-in-class software,

[00:19:17] but we're also doing this in our space by leveraging our two decades of subject matter expertise.

[00:19:23] You know, having seen this, you know, story play out across thousands of companies,

[00:19:28] across millions of sales reps, across, you know, all major industries to really help advise our customers

[00:19:33] on how to leverage these technologies for their benefit in delivering profitable growth.

[00:19:38] I should also say we're also nurturing a very robust partner ecosystem of like-minded partners

[00:19:45] who are focused in this domain space, who have this expertise,

[00:19:48] and we're partnering with them to share best practices and to share guidelines.

[00:19:52] So we can all be like one collective voice, helping customers drive profitable growth,

[00:19:58] you know, for their businesses.

[00:20:00] And I think the pace of technological change can be incredibly daunting, overwhelming,

[00:20:05] and make some business leaders nervous about how they make that first move

[00:20:10] and having that wait-and-see approach.

[00:20:12] With time running out there, especially with your extensive experience in leading global SaaS companies,

[00:20:18] any advice that you'd give to sales leaders who currently feel a little hesitant

[00:20:23] about embracing AI within their organizations?

[00:20:26] Anything you'd like to pass on to them people listening?

[00:20:29] Yeah.

[00:20:29] I mean, look, we're obviously biased.

[00:20:32] We're big believers in AI, and we're spending a lot of time investing in it.

[00:20:36] You know, I would say, you know, I kind of always go back to that.

[00:20:39] I think there's a famous Chinese proverb.

[00:20:40] It says, you know, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

[00:20:44] And that's how I think about AI.

[00:20:46] You know, it's really about, at a certain level, it's a big idea, but implementing it is about starting small.

[00:20:53] You know, and the way, you know, we advise our customers and partners is find a well-understood use case,

[00:20:59] a well-understood business problem, even if it's a narrow use case or a narrow business problem,

[00:21:04] and then implement against that use case, right?

[00:21:07] And start the momentum going that way.

[00:21:09] And so, you know, I know initially, like in our own company,

[00:21:12] it was something as simple as automating note-taking by leveraging call recordings to create transcripts

[00:21:18] and then having AI sort of synthesize those, right?

[00:21:20] That was like an easy first step.

[00:21:22] And, you know, we're increasingly increasing internally in our operations,

[00:21:26] more and more use of AI.

[00:21:27] You know, we've identified 70 use cases internally.

[00:21:31] We're implementing, I think, you know, two dozen at this point, leveraging AI.

[00:21:36] But they're all, it all started with a small sort of effort that now is beginning to build momentum on itself.

[00:21:43] And so, you know, it goes back to probably something that's a big cliché.

[00:21:46] You know, let's not try to solve for world hunger here and let's figure out very discreet,

[00:21:51] you know, things that will help our business and implement against those.

[00:21:55] And if I was to ask you to look into a virtual crystal ball and look further ahead, deeper into 2025,

[00:22:03] how do you see the role of AI evolving in the sales industry from everything you're seeing?

[00:22:08] And are there any other innovations or teasers we can expect from exactly to remain ahead of these changes?

[00:22:16] If you read and listen to the narratives around AI, they tend to be like in a couple of different areas.

[00:22:21] One is, oh, AI is going to replace humans and you're not going to need humans to do certain jobs.

[00:22:26] That's sort of one narrative.

[00:22:28] The other narrative is, oh, AI is going to make humans more efficient,

[00:22:31] which we've talked about sort of in this conversation and make them more productive.

[00:22:35] And so we can debate, you know, which one of these is going to be more prevalent

[00:22:38] or how it's going to play out in different spaces.

[00:22:41] I think the one narrative that isn't getting a lot of attention

[00:22:43] and one that we think is actually very powerful and valuable

[00:22:46] is the opportunity to leverage AI to help humans make better decisions.

[00:22:52] You know, you know, I think in a lot of companies,

[00:22:55] you know, human beings end up making suboptimal decisions,

[00:22:59] you know, in various parts of the company,

[00:23:00] not because, you know, they couldn't make a better decision,

[00:23:03] but they didn't have access to the data that they needed

[00:23:07] and they didn't have time to do the analytics that are necessary on the data

[00:23:11] to make a better decision.

[00:23:13] And I think AI can be a really powerful tool for human beings

[00:23:19] to make these better decisions

[00:23:20] because you can aggregate all of the data across the organization

[00:23:23] and across, you know, the context you're working in

[00:23:26] and you can dramatically accelerate and automate the analytics, right?

[00:23:30] It's not, I got to pull all this data,

[00:23:32] spend weeks analyzing it.

[00:23:33] All of this can happen very quickly.

[00:23:35] And so our view is,

[00:23:38] and a lot of our product development is centered around

[00:23:40] how can we leverage the data sets that we have?

[00:23:44] How can we leverage the software that we're building

[00:23:46] really to help human beings make better decisions?

[00:23:50] And by helping them make better decisions,

[00:23:52] you end up getting all of the benefits

[00:23:54] that we've talked about around, you know,

[00:23:56] growing faster, greater profitability,

[00:23:58] better business performance.

[00:23:59] And so that's the thing that I see in the future.

[00:24:01] And I'm hopeful that we're going to hear companies

[00:24:04] talking more about AI for better decision-making,

[00:24:08] you know, into the future.

[00:24:10] A hundred percent with you on that.

[00:24:12] And again, for those leaders that are struggling

[00:24:14] to keep up with the pace of technological change

[00:24:17] and feeling that pressure of being in a state

[00:24:19] of continuous learning,

[00:24:22] you're someone that seems to have mastered this.

[00:24:24] So maybe you've got some tips here,

[00:24:25] but where or how do you self-educate

[00:24:28] and keep up to speed with all these trends?

[00:24:30] Anything you can pass on?

[00:24:32] Yeah.

[00:24:33] I mean, I think it's,

[00:24:34] I think a lot of it comes from,

[00:24:36] you know, one just inherently being curious

[00:24:38] and in my personal life and professional life,

[00:24:42] my curiosity is a blessing and a curse.

[00:24:44] Like I, you know, I know here you're asking me questions,

[00:24:46] but I would love to, you know,

[00:24:48] one day turn the tables

[00:24:48] and I have a million questions for you.

[00:24:51] And so one is being curious

[00:24:53] and always questioning kind of

[00:24:54] what we're seeing out in the world.

[00:24:55] I personally spend a lot of time

[00:24:57] just consuming content, reading.

[00:24:58] I listen to podcasts all the time,

[00:25:01] you know, like yours.

[00:25:02] I'm always kind of keying into current events

[00:25:05] and things that are happening.

[00:25:06] And then the other piece

[00:25:07] is taking the time to talk to people.

[00:25:10] So I spend a lot of time within our company,

[00:25:13] you know, talking to people throughout the company.

[00:25:15] You know, I talked to,

[00:25:16] I probably touch, you know,

[00:25:18] you know, a meaningful percentage of employees

[00:25:19] at exactly every quarter

[00:25:20] through skip level conversations

[00:25:22] and town hall meetings.

[00:25:23] And it's amazing what you learn from people,

[00:25:26] you know, by just engaging them in conversations.

[00:25:28] And I learn a lot from those.

[00:25:29] I also spend a lot of time

[00:25:30] talking to people outside of the organization.

[00:25:32] I obviously talk to a lot of our customers,

[00:25:34] but I'm also, I'd make time,

[00:25:36] talk to, you know, other business leaders,

[00:25:38] thought leaders in our space.

[00:25:39] And really, in addition to being curious,

[00:25:42] it's having a willingness to sort of reflect

[00:25:44] on all these conversations and this content

[00:25:46] and synthesizing sort of a bit of a,

[00:25:48] of your own worldview.

[00:25:49] And I find that that exercise

[00:25:51] leads to being able to kind of stay up to date

[00:25:54] on what's happening.

[00:25:56] 100% with you on that too.

[00:25:58] And I must admit,

[00:25:59] that's one of the reasons

[00:26:00] I record this podcast every day.

[00:26:02] People say,

[00:26:02] how do you manage to record a podcast every day?

[00:26:05] I do it for the same reasons

[00:26:06] as you've just mentioned there.

[00:26:07] I'm curious.

[00:26:08] I like learning and talking from people,

[00:26:10] talking to people.

[00:26:11] And if I can learn something

[00:26:13] from a person every day

[00:26:15] from somewhere in the world,

[00:26:16] that's one of the reasons

[00:26:17] I jump out of bed in the morning.

[00:26:18] So I echo everything you just said there.

[00:26:22] And for anyone listening

[00:26:23] that maybe wants to find out

[00:26:25] a little bit more information

[00:26:26] about exactly,

[00:26:27] about your AI-driven approach,

[00:26:29] connect with you or your team,

[00:26:30] where would you like to point everyone listening?

[00:26:33] So, you know,

[00:26:33] the easiest thing to do

[00:26:34] is obviously to go to our website.

[00:26:36] So that's www.exactlycorp.com.

[00:26:39] You can read about all of our offerings on there.

[00:26:44] And there's also the ability to interact

[00:26:46] with one of our salespeople

[00:26:48] right there on the site.

[00:26:49] So I think that's one.

[00:26:50] I'm always available.

[00:26:51] So people can find me,

[00:26:53] you know,

[00:26:53] my email address is

[00:26:56] amishra at exactlycorp.com.

[00:26:58] Always feel free to email me.

[00:26:59] I'm also on LinkedIn.

[00:27:00] So you can go find me there.

[00:27:02] But, you know,

[00:27:03] we're here in the business

[00:27:04] of helping companies maximize

[00:27:06] the performance of their sales teams.

[00:27:07] And so if we can be of assistance,

[00:27:09] you know,

[00:27:10] we're always available.

[00:27:12] Well, so many big takeaways

[00:27:13] from our conversation today.

[00:27:15] How AI will impact sales organizations.

[00:27:18] But a narrative that we don't hear enough

[00:27:21] is a big takeaway for me.

[00:27:22] And that is redefining the future of work,

[00:27:25] transforming jobs into great jobs,

[00:27:28] really embracing or leveraging employees' passion

[00:27:32] for their work,

[00:27:33] unlocking that passion.

[00:27:34] So many big takeaways.

[00:27:35] But just thank you for shining a light

[00:27:37] on it today and sharing your story.

[00:27:40] Thanks again.

[00:27:41] Yeah.

[00:27:41] Well, thank you, Neil.

[00:27:42] It's been great spending this time with you.

[00:27:44] And we'll look forward to future discussions.

[00:27:47] And that wraps up today's episode.

[00:27:50] Huge thank you to Arnab there,

[00:27:51] the CEO of Exactly,

[00:27:53] for discussing the transformative potential

[00:27:55] of AI in sales

[00:27:56] and exploring how their co-pilot

[00:27:58] is enhancing productivity

[00:28:00] and decision making.

[00:28:02] And it seems clear

[00:28:03] that the future of sales

[00:28:04] is being reshaped by intelligent technology.

[00:28:07] But my guest's insight

[00:28:08] into the challenges

[00:28:09] and opportunities of AI adoption

[00:28:11] have certainly provided a glimpse

[00:28:13] into how businesses

[00:28:14] can not only improve efficiencies,

[00:28:17] but also create more fulfilling roles

[00:28:19] for their teams

[00:28:20] by automating tasks

[00:28:22] and allowing sales professionals

[00:28:23] to focus on what they do best,

[00:28:27] building human relationships.

[00:28:30] And I think this is a timely message.

[00:28:32] And as we move forward

[00:28:34] in this AI-driven era,

[00:28:36] how do you see the role of AI

[00:28:38] in sales evolving?

[00:28:39] Is it the key to unlocking

[00:28:41] new levels of performance?

[00:28:44] Or are there still hurdles

[00:28:45] to overcome in adoption?

[00:28:47] I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[00:28:49] So email me,

[00:28:50] techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:28:51] Connect with me on LinkedIn

[00:28:52] at Neil C. Hughes.

[00:28:53] Let me know your thoughts on that.

[00:28:54] And together,

[00:28:55] we can continue to explore

[00:28:57] how technology is transforming

[00:28:59] the sales and overall business landscape.

[00:29:02] But that's it from me today.

[00:29:04] I'm going to prepare

[00:29:05] for tomorrow's guest now.

[00:29:07] Look forward to speaking with you all

[00:29:09] bright and early tomorrow.

[00:29:10] So hopefully,

[00:29:11] you will join me again then.

[00:29:12] See you then.