A new survey by global CRM leader Salesforce reveals a dramatic increase in hiring for sales teams that use AI compared to those who don’t. The new State of Sales report shows that 68% of sales teams with AI added headcount in the past year — versus 47% of teams without AI. Equally significantly, 6% of those using AI reduced headcount, compared to 18% of those not using AI.
The report, available here, shares insights from 5,500 sales professionals across 27 countries — including South Africa. It highlights how sales teams are balancing technological advancements and building trusted customer relationships as they seek growth in a crowded marketplace.
Key insights from the research include:
● Reps struggle finding time to meet customer expectations
Changing customer expectations is the #1 sales challenge worldwide, but it’s hard finding the time to connect.
○ Sales reps in South Africa spend an average of just 28% of the work-week connecting with customers.
○ 52% of sales professionals in South Africa say changing customer expectations are more of a challenge than last year; only 18% say it’s less of a challenge
● AI adoption surges, but trust and data gaps linger
Sales adoption of AI is climbing as teams push for productivity and personalisation, but concern regarding integration, security, and customer distrust mean the technology’s full potential for the profession has yet to be seen.
○ 85% of sales teams in South Africa have fully implemented or are experimenting with AI. An additional 11% of teams are evaluating the technology.
○ The top sales benefit from AI in South Africa is data quality.
○ Top obstacle sales teams in South Africa encounter while implementing AI is customer distrust of the technology.
- Employee retention is rising globally
As labour markets tighten, sales employees are largely staying put. Globally, teams report 18% average staff turnover over the last 12 months — down from 25% in 2022. However, employee retention trends vary by region.
○ 20% is the average estimated staff turnover rate in South Africa over the past year.
○ 2% of sales professionals in South Africa are currently looking to change jobs.
Other highlights of the report include:
- 80% of reps at orgs with AI say it’s easy to get the customer insights they need to close deals (vs 54% at orgs without AI)
- On sales teams with AI, 82% of reps feel confident about the future of their role — versus 67% of reps on teams without AI.
- 83% of sales teams with AI saw revenue growth in the past year — versus 66% of teams without AI.
“Deep relationships with customers are the difference-makers when it comes to challenging sales environments,” says Zuko Mdwaba, vice president for Africa and South Africa country MD. “B2B buyers are more likely to purchase when reps act as trusted advisors.
“However, too often, deep knowledge of customer need and opportunity is lacking or not effectively communicated. That makes it difficult to build trust, derailing deals.”