How to Use ChatGPT as an Account Executive

If you – like most of us – are surrounded by conversations, marketing emails, and social media posts about using ChatGPT to improve sales, you might be interested in how you can use it in your role specifically.

So, for all the sales account executives out there – this one’s for you.

It’s our go-to guide on how to use ChatGPT as an account exec, to help your productivity and efficiency in your role.

FYI: please note the phrase “help”. Automated platforms and tools fall short on some key aspects of the sales process that actually win the deals. We’ll get to that in a second.

ChatGPT for Account Executives

Most sales processes start with an SDR prospecting, generating, and qualifying leads before handing them over to an account executive who will lock them  down.

But we know closing a deal is not as simple as that.

These days, the gift of the gab isn’t where it’s at; in fact, that seller stereotype is – or should be – in the trash. It just doesn’t work for you or your clients in this competitive and money-conscious world we live in.

Instead, it’s all about consultative selling, being equipped with relevant and fresh data to back what you’re saying, and building genuine rapport with your prospects as a result.*

So wait, how can an emotionless robot help you there? That’s just there to speed up some of the boring parts, so you can focus on the human (and more fun) tasks.

And with that, coming up: the 6 ways to use ChatGPT as an account executive.

*Pssst… if you want to know more about shifting this stereotype, here are the dos and (definitely) don’ts of consultative selling.

How to use ChatGPT as an account exec

1) The lead handover

Streamline the transition of your leads between SDRs and account executives by using ChatGPT to provide context and information about the lead’s behavior, interests, and needs that the SDR may have discovered.

But ChatGPT can’t do the job alone, and will need as much input from the SDR as possible to get the best summary for the account executive to read over.

Don’t like the format? You can copy and paste what the SDR has sent you, and ask for it in a way you’d prefer it to be documented, eg. bullet points – because we all love bullet points.

Spoiler alert: The combination of human touch and automation is a common theme when it comes to using ChatGPT, but also efficient consultative selling as a whole.

2) Qualifying leads

We know that this is something that the SDR has already done for you, but with slightly more experience in lead qualification, you might spot something’s missing or might need some clarification.

If you’re after more detail or expansion in certain areas of information about a lead, you can use ChatGPT to make sure that this lead is truly the right fit for your business before progressing with lead nurture.

Below is just one example of what you can ask the AI tool, but hint hint: Similarweb actually tells you the key insights and information you want as a salesperson in a more digestible (and visual) format, and you can download all the data straight to your CSM.

ChatGPT does have its benefits for quick context that businesses might not want you to see though, because it gathers both positive and negative (or biased) news and information from the internet.

Let’s take one of the top fastest-growing ecommerce companies in the world as an example:

With Similarweb Sales Intelligence, you can get a company overview, including company description, HQ location, annual revenue and company size, as well as detailed website performance. That (fake) bounce rate problem? We saw it before Shein even saw it.

Oh, and if you want to make sure you’re cued up for all your comms with (good but also potentially bad) relevant news about your client, Sales Signals can help you there too.

In fact, this is all information that can be plugged into ChatGPT to fuel its information and get you better results – perhaps even helping with how you relay or present the data in your outreach and sales emails.

Repeat after us: “The more information you give ChatGPT, the more help it gives YOU.”

3) Nurturing leads

Nurturing leads towards that closed deal is a big part of what it takes to be a successful account executive, and guess what? ChatGPT can help with that.

Okay, so the idea of nurture does take a little thing called emotional intelligence and awareness. And let’s get this straight:

So, how can ChatGPT help? Here are a few examples of the help ChatGPT can provide account execs:

• General strategies for lead nurture
• Personalization ideas for your communications
• Content recommendations for your clients, based on user behavior and interactions
• Additional information and answers to common questions

This helps you AEs to save time and focus on the human stuff: building a good foundation in your professional relationship, solving your prospects’ pain points, and moving them down the sales funnel.

4) Sales enablement and training

Speaking of recommended content, ChatGPT can help you out here too.

If you feel you have some areas to improve in or want to become an expert in, you can use everyone’s new favorite little robot to support you.

You can ask it about pretty much anything – and we mean anything. It’s as simple as asking the question…

And asking more questions…

5) Prioritizing leads

When you’ve only got so many days in a month, and so many hours in a day, you want to work effectively – and prioritization is a big part of that.

If you’re close to the end of the month, it’s time to focus on those at the end of the funnel that look like they’re going to say yes. Saying that, it’s also important to not let deals slide because your attention is elsewhere. This can be overwhelming.

For when your manager’s calendar is jam-packed, ChatGPT can offer quick and thorough advice on how to break it all up and see this through in the best way possible.

These tips are pretty surface level, but you can go much deeper than that by inserting detail about the prospects in each. ChatGPT is able to recognize sentiment behind what your prospects are saying, helping you to prioritize accordingly and handle your communications accordingly.

6) Managing your deals

Not only can you use ChatGPT to help you prioritize your prospects and their sales journeys, you can even use it to manage your deals effectively too.

From deal progress to deal size and velocity, you can keep tabs on how your sales quota is looking, and how close you are to hitting those targets.

Would you look at that? Enter whatever detail you have, in whatever order you want it, and ChatGPT will eat it all up and present it in the most organized way. Minimal effort from you.

7) Closing a deal

And all these points lead up to the big task: closing a deal. Let’s run through the basics of how ChatGPT can help you close deals as an account executive:

Sales strategy: Gain insights into developing an effective sales strategy that can help you close deals, which might involve target customers, understanding their needs, delivering a sales pitch, and creating a plan for follow up communication.

Sales training: Get basic training and coaching on how you can improve your sales skills, like how to build rapport with key roles, how to handle sales objections, or how to negotiate effectively.

Market research: Learn about the markets or industries you’re selling too (at a broad level) to help you tailor your sales approach to each of your prospects.*

Customer relationship management: Manage and prioritize your prospect list effectively, by using ChatGPT to understand more about customer stereotypes, customer behavior, their needs and pain points, and communication preferences.

*If you want to go one step further (at no extra effort for you), Similarweb’s competitor analysis tool is pretty sweet.

Similarweb X ChatGPT: Your new favorite collab

What did we tell you earlier?

“The more information you give ChatGPT, the more help it gives YOU.” – and you’ve been repeating that ever since, haven’t you?

And it’s true. Whether you’re inputting information from your CRM, from a data platform (oh, hello) or – ideally – both, ChatGPT will take it all in and spit it all out in the most beautiful format – or simply however you want it.

In short:

1) Include as much detail and information as possible

2) Perfect your prompting

3) Keep prompting until the result is perfect too

Using Similarweb Sales Intelligence for your insights and data will not only bring ChatGPT up to date with the freshest and most accurate data out there (Rand Fishkin knows), but also power up your conversations with prospects leading to more engagement and more closed deals.

On top of unmatchable insights for your sales emails and outreach, we’ve got several features to help you sell more efficiently:

• Insights generator: Highlighting pain points and areas of opportunity for your prospect
• Contacts: Making sure you’re speaking to the decision makers
• Account overview: Helping you monitor and track your prospect’s website performance
• Sales signals: Finding upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and reducing churn with account alerts

If saving time and winning more deals sounds up your street, get in touch today:

• The Ultimate Guide to ChatGPT for Sales
• How to Use ChatGPT as an Account Manager
• How to Use ChatGPT as an SDR
• How to Use ChatGPT for SEM

FAQs

Can ChatGPT replace the role of a sales account executive?

No, ChatGPT cannot replace the role of a sales account executive entirely. ChatGPT is designed to assist AEs in their tasks, providing them with context, data, and insights that can help them make informed decisions and improve their productivity. However, the human touch and emotional intelligence that AEs bring to their work cannot be replicated by an AI tool.

How can ChatGPT help with lead nurturing?

ChatGPT can help with lead nurturing by providing AEs with personalized communication strategies, content recommendations based on user behavior, and answers to common questions. By having this information readily available, AEs can focus on building relationships with their prospects, solving their pain points, and moving them down the sales funnel.

Is there any specific training required to use ChatGPT as an AE?

No, there is no specific training required to use ChatGPT as an AE. The AI tool is designed to be user-friendly, and its natural language processing capabilities mean that users can interact with it in a conversational way. However, it’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the platform’s features and capabilities before using it in your sales process.