John Smith, CEO of Solo Brands, and Ariel Kelman, President and CMO of Salesforce, recently discussed how AI transforms marketing and sales at Salesforce’s Connections conference. The discussion, moderated by Lisa Harkness, focused on the impact of generative AI (gen AI) on customer experience and engagement. Kelman explained that while marketing was an early adopter of predictive AI, gen AI significantly impacts service and sales.
He advised companies to use gen AI features in their SaaS applications and ensure their customer data is well-organized. Posner shared how Solo Brands launched a gen AI chatbot for customer service, which reduced workload by 30% and resolved over 40% of cases independently. This allowed customer service representatives to focus on more complex issues requiring human intervention.
Kelman emphasized that AI is a tool to enhance productivity, not replace human judgment. He noted that most current implementations involve a “human in the loop,” where AI accelerates productivity, but human judgment is still applied.
Insights on AI-driven customer engagement
Posner highlighted how Solo Brands’ SEO coordinators use AI tools like Pixera.ai to analyze and adjust content and metadata, making their jobs more efficient and valuable. Kelman mentioned Salesforce’s Prompt Builder, which simplifies the complexity of prompt engineering by providing intuitive templates for different scenarios. Posner stressed the importance of diversifying promotional approaches and using AI-driven products like those from Session AI to personalize promotions efficiently while maintaining brand value.
When asked about advice for leaders driving the next generation of marketing, Posner encouraged looking within existing tech stacks, optimizing AI usage, measuring added value, and communicating benefits to teams. She emphasized the importance of testing, partnering, and pushing boundaries. Kelman attributed some companies’ hesitation to deploying gen AI to a lack of understanding of how to apply it effectively and integrate it within their business processes.
He emphasized the importance of education and demonstrating clear use cases. The discussion highlighted the transformative potential of AI in marketing and sales, with companies like Salesforce and Solo Brands leading the way in showing how AI can augment human capabilities, drive efficiency, and enhance customer engagement.
