Worryingly, sales reps in Ireland spend an average of just 29% of the work-week connecting with customers.
The vast majority (83%) of sales teams in Ireland have fully implemented or are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI), according to the latest State of Sales report from Salesforce.
The study of 5,500 sales professionals across 27 countries, including 100 from Ireland, found that a further 14% of sales professionals in Ireland are experimenting with AI.
“AI has quickly gone from a talking point to an action point that is transforming Irish business”
Those that are making use of the technology say that the top sales benefit from AI is understanding customer needs.
The State of Sales
Security concerns, however, are the biggest obstacles that sales teams encounter while implementing the technology.
While using AI to understand customer needs is cited as a primary benefit, sales professionals spend on average just 29% of the working week connecting with customers.
“AI has quickly gone from a talking point to an action point that is transforming Irish business,” said Salesforce country manager Carolan Lennon.
“As customer expectations rapidly evolve, sales teams who embrace AI can free up time to focus on what really matters – building strong relationships with customers to help them achieve their goals.”
The study also looked at employee retention which it claims is rising globally as labour markets tighten.
As a result sales employees are largely staying putting.
Globally, teams report 18% average staff turnover over the last 12 months — down from 25% in 2022. However, employee retention trends vary by region.
17% is the average estimated staff turnover rate in Ireland over the past year.
Only 4% of sales professionals in Ireland are currently looking to change jobs.
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