Adoption of AI calls for new kind of communication competence from sales managers

“Sales team members need encouragement in using artificial intelligence and support in their self-direction. The contribution of sales managers is also critical to adapting to constant digital changes and maintaining trust within the team,” said Jonna Koponen, associate professor at the school. University of Eastern Finland.

The longitudinal study is based on interviews with 35 experts over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024, as well as secondary data collected from one of Scandinavia’s largest financial groups. The findings suggest that in addition to traditional managerial interpersonal communication skills, considerations of ethical perspectives and adaptability are important when integrating artificial intelligence into the work of sales teams.

Sales managers play a vital role in leading teams, managing day-to-day operations and implementing strategic changes. Artificial intelligence is now playing a major role in the digital transformation of sales teams, requiring new skills among sales managers and team members.

The study highlights the benefits, concerns and communication challenges associated with the integration of AI, requiring both traditional communication skills and new AI-related skills. In addition to day-to-day tasks, more advanced AI can collaborate with humans to perform tasks that require learning and adaptation, such as customer interactions.

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Effective sales force management in an evolving technology environment requires sales managers to combine traditional interpersonal communication skills with new artificial intelligence-related skills. The traditional interpersonal communication skills of sales managers consist of four parts. The first involves motivation to interact with people and willingness to be a team leader. The second part involves knowledge and understanding: Sales managers need knowledge in communication and leadership, as well as understanding how to use data generated by artificial intelligence in sales and team management.

The third component relates to communication skills, including empathy, listening skills, argumentation skills, the ability to share information openly and the ability to support co-management within a team. Additionally, the study highlights the ability to issue effective prompts to the AI ​​and speak in a polite manner, just like the AI. The fourth component is adaptability. The study found that in the work of a sales manager, it is very important to be able to adapt to different environments, different employees, and their different communication needs and adjust interpersonal communication behaviors.

“Our findings show that the introduction of AI into sales teams also requires sales managers to focus more on the management of people rather than the management of things. Furthermore, with the introduction of AI, ethical perspectives and understanding of the role of AI as team members Status also becomes central.

Research shows that a sales manager’s interpersonal communication skills have a significant impact on team relationships and tasks such as building trust, maintaining a sense of community, supporting employee engagement and increasing job satisfaction.

“Sales managers have good interpersonal communication skills to ensure the achievement of work goals. Good interpersonal communication skills can also promote decision-making and convey the meaning of human work in the era of artificial intelligence.”