How I Use AI to Run a Better Sales Process

TL;DR 

• Success breeds complacency. AI creates the accountability structure that catches it before it costs you a deal. 
• AI has cut my pre-call research from 30 to 45 minutes down to 5 to 10, with better output. 
• AI-enabled game tape review scores every call against my documented sales process. My average is around 75 out of 100. That 25-point gap keeps me sharp. 
• Knowing the audit is coming changes how you show up. That is the discipline AI builds that willpower alone does not. 
• AI surfaces patterns across your full pipeline that no human can find by sorting through deals manually. 
• None of this works without a documented sales process to audit against. Start there. 

Success Has a Way of Making You Sloppy 

I get asked a lot how I am using AI sales tools in my sales process. Before I answer that, here is some context. 

Throughout my career, there has been a pattern. Close rates hold steady. Results are good. And somewhere in that stretch, I start cutting corners: 

• The formal quote presentation gets skipped.  
• I stop explaining return on investment clearly.  
• I get looser on qualifying budget, authority, and timelines. 

And what happens when you cut corners?  

You lose the deal.  

And the harder truth is that you do not learn by winning. When you close deals while skipping steps, you are not proving the shortcuts work; you are just getting lucky. 

The discipline erodes quietly, and eventually the results follow. 

This is a human problem. What AI has done is give me an objective coach that does not let me get away with it. 

How Can AI Help with Sales Prep Before a Meeting? 

Every sales process starts with research. This is one of the first places AI tools for business has changed how I work. 

Before a meeting, I want to understand the prospect's business, their likely gaps, and which of our services make sense for where they are. That used to take 30 to 45 minutes. Now it takes 5 to 10, and the output is sharper. 

Here is what that prep looks like using a combination of AI sales tools: 

• I use Humanic AI to profile prospects who have a strong LinkedIn presence. 
• I take the company website and any available information and run it through Claude to analyze what they likely need. 
• If a prospect sent an inbound email, I drop that in too and ask Claude to identify the best-fit services and where the gaps appear to be. 

I walk into that first conversation already knowing what I am looking for. The research is faster, and the output is better. 

Sales Stages, Methodology, and What Happens After the Meeting 

A sales process is the structure. The stages a deal moves through from first contact to close. 

A methodology is how you sell within those stages. The questions you ask, the problems you uncover, and the way you connect your solution to the buyer's situation. 

AI supports both.  

At every stage, it can support how you prepare, how you run the conversation, and how you follow up. 

One of the most consistent places I see it pay off is in the post-call recap. 

After every call, before the recap goes to the prospect, I run the transcript through my AI audit skill and address the gaps I find. The recap reflects what happened, what I missed, and how I am addressing it. 

A note-taker alone cannot produce that. 

How Do You Use AI to Review Sales Calls? 

I have been doing game tape review on my own calls and client calls for over 15 years. Before AI, a five-minute call took 30 minutes to audit properly. I listened, took notes, and reflected on what I missed. It is a discipline I have always built into how I work. 

AI made the same process faster, more consistent, and more accurate. 

Here is how it works now: 

• I run the call transcript through an AI skill that audits it against my documented sales process and methodology. 
• The skill scores the call and identifies what was missed, what was handled well, and what could have been stronger. 
• My highest score is 82 out of 100. My average sits around 75. There is almost always a 25-point gap of things I could have done better. 
• Before I send the recap, I use those findings to address the gaps in writing. 

AI Builds Accountability Into Your Sales Process 

Knowing every call is going to be scored changes how you show up. The audit is coming, which means you cannot talk yourself into skipping a step and moving on. 

A structured system holds you accountable on every call, every time. 

Most salespeople are competitive by nature. Sales is a competitive sport and salespeople keep score with money. Getting a score at the end of every call becomes a further driver, not a chore. 

I have spent decades on this craft. I am even a certified member of the Canadian Professional Sales Association — or I was, before they shut down. You would think that kind of pedigree would make me immune to missing things on a call.  

It does not.  

AI catches what I miss, because we are all human, and we can drift towards “good enough,” and good is the enemy of great, which is often the difference between winning and losing a deal. No credential fixes that (or at least not for me), it takes discipline which AI can provide. 

Pipeline: Seeing the Patterns You Cannot Find Yourself 

Individual call review is one level of analysis. Pipeline review is another. 

Today's AI sales tools can analyze your full pipeline and surface patterns across hundreds of deals that no human can replicate manually. The questions it can answer: 

• Why are deals closing, and why are they not? 
• Where is deal velocity slowing down? 
• Which stages are seeing the most drop-off? 
• Are there consistent gaps in touches or follow-up? 

These patterns exist whether or not you can see them. AI makes them visible so you can act on them rather than guess. That is the difference between reacting to problems and managing ahead of them. 

The Playbook Gets Better Too 

Game tape review does not just improve individual calls. Over time, it improves the playbook itself. 

I have revised my own talking tracks based on what AI consistently flagged as missed.  

When the same gap shows up call after call, that is a signal the playbook needs updating, not just the rep. 

We recently did this with a client. We combined their call transcripts with an interview with their sales manager, who had over a decade of experience with their customers.  

The result was a playbook built from those conversations, including language that worked and phrases that did not. 

That client looked at the new playbook and said it was exactly what they needed.  

It worked because it came directly from real calls and their team's experience, not a generic framework. 

What Do You Need in Place Before Using AI in Your Sales Process? 

Like most AI tools for business, AI audits what it is fed. 

Without a documented sales process, the output is generic. The tool will not be auditing against your methodology, your stages, or your standards. 

Document your process first. It does not have to be perfect. It has to exist. Get your stages defined, your key questions captured, and your methodology clear. 

Then start running calls through it. The process improves. The playbook gets sharper. The scores tell you exactly where you need to focus next. 

Give AI Some Grace 

In the past, when I did game tape review manually and presented my findings to my teams and clients, I got challenged. Reps pushed back. They disagreed with my read of the call. 

So, why should AI be any different?  

It is not perfect.  

But it makes fewer mistakes than I make doing this work without it. Holding AI to a standard of perfect accuracy that human reviewers can never meet is not a fair test. 

Review the output and apply judgment. Keep training it. Refine the inputs. Give it time to get closer to your standards. 

The reflection is automatic, and the feedback is immediate, which means the improvement compounds with every call. 

Where to Start 

Document your sales process. 

Even the best AI sales tools cannot audit against a standard that does not exist. Your playbook cannot improve if it has not been written down. Your team cannot be coached consistently against something that lives only in your head. 

Write it down. Start running calls through it. See what the scores tell you. 

And once you have a score, you are actually playing the great game of sales. 

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Want to know where your sales process and Go-To-Market System stand today?

If you want to pressure-test your sales process and Go-To-Market system, the GTM Readiness Index is the place to start. It takes about 20 minutes and shows you exactly where the gaps are. The interview also includes an AI Use and Readiness Assessment!