10 Ways AI Will Change Sales Forever. It's Already Happening, In Fact.

"Despite claims that "people want to talk to people," the data shows otherwise"

What's Changing in Sales: The AI Revolution is Here -- and Coming Fast

After analyzing 130,000+ conversations through SaaStr's new AI, Jason Lemkin is convinced: AI is about to fundamentally transform B2B sales. This isn't some distant future—it's happening right now.

SaaStr launched their AI about 5 weeks ago, trained on 17.785 million words of SaaStr content spanning 12 years, including 1,000+ podcast and speaker sessions. It knows what every SaaS leader ever featured on SaaStr thought about critical business challenges at every stage of growth.

If you're skeptical about AI in sales because of hallucinations or poor experiences, Lemkin suggests it's likely because you haven't seen a well-trained AI. Training takes work, but the results are game-changing.

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Top 5 Takeaways

1. AI will join your sales calls - Within 12-18 months, your AI will be on every call, knowing your product cold and eliminating "I'll get back to you" moments

2. AI can already be the best BDR in the world - AI works 24/7, is unfailingly polite, and knows your product better than 95% of humans

3. Up to 50% of routine sales will be AI-handled - For transactional deals under $10K, AI will increasingly close deals without human intervention

4. AI will merge sales, support, and success - Traditional silos will disappear as AI creates one seamless customer experience across all touchpoints

5. Customer experience expectations will drastically increase - Once customers experience great AI interactions, they won't tolerate slow, vendor-centric sales processes

What's Changing in Sales: The AI Revolution is Here

After analyzing 139,000+ conversations through SaaStr's AI, Jason Lemkin is convinced: AI is about to fundamentally transform B2B sales.

This isn't some potential future—it's happening right now.

AI and the Future of Sales: Where We're Headed

Top 5 Takeaways

1. AI will join your sales calls - Within 12-18 months, your AI will be on every call, knowing your product cold and eliminating "I'll get back to you" moments

2. AI can already be the best BDR in the world - AI works 24/7, is unfailingly polite, and knows your product better than 95% of humans

3. Up to 50% of routine sales will be AI-handled - For transactional deals under $10K, AI will increasingly close deals without human intervention

4. AI will merge sales, support, and success - Traditional silos will disappear as AI creates one seamless customer experience across all touchpoints

5. Customer experience expectations will drastically increase - Once customers experience great AI interactions, they won't tolerate slow, vendor-centric sales processes

What's Changing in Sales: The AI Revolution is Here

After analyzing 32,000+ conversations through SaaStr's AI, Jason Lemkin is convinced: AI is about to fundamentally transform B2B sales. This isn't some distant future—it's happening right now.

SaaStr launched their AI about 5 weeks ago, trained on 17.785 million words of SaaStr content spanning 12 years, including 1,000+ podcast and speaker sessions. It knows what every SaaS leader ever featured on SaaStr thought about critical business challenges at every stage of growth.

If you're skeptical about AI in sales because of hallucinations or poor experiences, Lemkin suggests it's likely because you haven't seen a well-trained AI. Training takes work, but the results are game-changing.

Here's what's happening now and what's coming in the next 12-18 months:

1. Your AI Will Join Every Sales Call

Soon, your digital twin will join you on every sales call. This isn't just a note-taker—it's an AI that knows your product cold. If a prospect asks about integrations, pricing details, or implementation requirements that you're unsure about, you'll simply ask your AI, and it will provide the perfect answer in real-time.

Products like Deli are already enabling this functionality where an AI version of yourself can join meetings. While not fully ready yet, it's just months away from being production-ready. The AI won't merely listen and take notes—it will actively participate by hearing questions and providing answers without human intervention.

Imagine running a complex sales call with an enterprise prospect asking about specific integrations or implementation details. Instead of saying "I'll check and get back to you," you'll simply ask, "Digital Jason, can you explain how our API connects with Salesforce?" and your AI will deliver a perfect technical answer instantly.

This will transform the quality of sales calls. Instead of the typical "I'll get back to you" responses that plague sales interactions, 95% of calls will be productive because your AI will know every spec, integration, and use case. The digital version will operate in full duplex, hearing questions in real-time and responding naturally within the flow of conversation.

2. AI Already Makes the Best BDR

AI can qualify leads better than most humans because it:

• Works 24/7

• Is unfailingly polite

• Knows your product cold

• Provides instant, accurate responses

At SaaStr, their AI has already answered hundreds of sponsor questions with detailed specifications on booth sizes, speaking opportunities, lead scanning processes, and team passes—all without human intervention. The classic BDR function of qualifying and scoring leads is becoming extinct because the AI can provide consistent, accurate information instantly rather than making prospects wait days for basic information.

While SDR outbound functions remain more complex, the inbound qualification process is already being dramatically improved by AI. For companies with high volumes of leads, the transformation is most noticeable—customers get immediate, accurate responses rather than waiting for human follow-up that may take days.

3. AI Will Handle Most One-Call Closes

For routine sales with transactional deals (typically under $10K), AI will soon handle 80% of the process. The SaaStr AI is already one release away from being able to automatically send contracts for simple sponsorship deals rather than just connecting prospects with sales reps.

The AI knows every product detail, never oversells, tailors recommendations to company size, and can instantly close simple deals. It can handle pricing questions, objections, and proposals without emotional baggage or commission pressure.

This will be particularly transformative for SMB-focused businesses doing high-volume, transactional deals. A company selling $2-5K software packages won't need humans for standard implementations—the AI will qualify, demo, answer questions, negotiate within parameters, and close deals automatically.

The data from support shows that well-trained AI agents consistently perform in the top 10% of all agents for customer satisfaction. While not replacing the absolute best humans, they're better than 90% of the team. This same pattern will emerge in sales, with AI handling 25-45% of routine sales completely autonomously.

4. People Actually Prefer Great AI Over Mediocre Humans

Despite claims that "people want to talk to people," the data shows otherwise. Across 100,000+ chats, users consistently express gratitude and satisfaction with AI interactions, with numerous examples of customers explicitly thanking the AI for its help.

The reality is that a great AI provides a better experience than a mediocre human rep. The AI doesn't make you wait, doesn't have a bad day, doesn't push unnecessary upsells to hit quota, and knows the product comprehensively.

While everyone would prefer to talk to the absolute best sales rep, that person isn't available 24/7. The AI is always there, always knowledgeable, and always patient. As more customers experience these high-quality AI interactions, they'll increasingly choose AI over waiting for humans—particularly for routine inquiries and transactions.

5. AI Will Merge Sales, Support, and Success

The traditional siloed approach to customer interactions is crumbling. Soon, there won't be separate paths for sales, support, and success—just one intelligent AI that handles all customer needs.

This is already happening in e-commerce, where multiple contact options (sales, support, returns, etc.) are being consolidated into a single AI touchpoint that can answer questions, provide support, make recommendations, and close sales.

In B2B, the transformation will eliminate the frustrating experience of being bounced between departments. When a customer asks about a feature, gets implementation help, then wants to upgrade, they won't need to speak with three different teams. The AI will seamlessly transition between support, success, and sales functions without forcing the customer to repeat information.

This consolidation will change org structures, eliminating the territorial battles between teams about who owns which customer interaction. Companies will be organized around customer outcomes rather than internal functions, with AI handling the coordination between specialized human experts when needed.

6. QBRs and Check-ins Will Be AI-Driven

AI will take over the quarterly business review and regular check-in calls. Current QBRs are often thinly disguised upsell attempts by reps who barely know the product. An AI can conduct these more effectively, remembering all previous interactions and providing genuine value rather than just pushing for more revenue.

SaaStr is already implementing a "weekly progress check-in" feature for their AI. Unlike cadenced emails that feel robotic, the AI remembers every past conversation and can follow up intelligently on specific issues discussed. If you mentioned a problematic integration three weeks ago, the AI will specifically ask about progress on that issue rather than sending generic check-in messages.

The AI is uniquely positioned to handle these interactions because:

• It remembers every conversation in perfect detail

• It doesn't have quota pressure forcing premature upsells

• It can set regular follow-ups without feeling like it's bothering customers

• It's honest about product limitations rather than overpromising

This transition will happen quickly, with 80% of routine QBR-type interactions being AI-driven within 12 months. Customers will prefer this approach because they'll get genuine help rather than thinly-disguised sales pressure.

7. Product Will Need to Be More Self-Serve

As AI handles more of the sales and onboarding process, there will be increased pressure to make products truly self-deployable. Customers won't want to wait for human implementation teams after an AI has efficiently closed the deal.

This will accelerate the PLG (Product-Led Growth) trend even for complex enterprise software. Companies will need to invest more in seamless onboarding, intuitive UX, and automated implementation to match the efficiency of their AI sales process.

The days of closing a deal quickly but then waiting weeks for implementation teams will feel increasingly disconnected. When an AI can close a deal in minutes, customers will expect to be using the product within hours, not weeks.

What's Coming Next: Deeper Predictions

AI Will Force Greater Pricing Transparency

Traditional sales often relies on hiding pricing information, creating artificial scarcity around discounts, and complex negotiations. As AI begins to close more deals, these tactics become harder to maintain.

The AI needs clear rules about what it can offer. While you can program some negotiation tactics, the endless "hide the ball" games that sales teams play will be less effective. Companies will need to develop clearer pricing tiers, transparent discount structures, and simplified proposals.

This doesn't mean custom enterprise deals will disappear, but for the majority of transactions, pricing will become more transparent and accessible. The AI will have parameters for offering discounts (like SaaStr's "JASON20" code that gives 20% off), but won't be able to play the complex psychological games human reps use.

This transparency will likely increase conversion rates overall by reducing friction, even if it means slightly less optimization on individual deals.

Customer-Centric Terms Will Replace Vendor-Centric Contracts

When an AI is closing deals autonomously, companies will need to offer terms that customers feel comfortable accepting without extensive human negotiation. This means:

• More monthly contracts instead of annual or multi-year commitments

• Clearer opt-out provisions instead of complicated auto-renewals

• Simplified pilots with clear success criteria

• More standardized agreements with fewer custom terms

While sales teams traditionally resist these customer-friendly terms, they'll become necessary to enable AI-driven closing. The math still works out for companies—even if individual contract values appear lower, the efficiency of AI-driven sales and higher conversion rates will increase overall revenue.

AI Will Fill Gaps You Never Knew Existed

One of the most surprising aspects of SaaStr's AI deployment was discovering unexpected use cases. The AI began:

• Reviewing speaker submissions for events

• Analyzing VC pitch decks

• Automatically promoting relevant case studies to prospects in similar industries

• Connecting similar customers to each other for peer learning

The AI doesn't just automate existing processes—it identifies and fills gaps in customer experience that humans never had time to address. These unexpected capabilities often deliver some of the highest value.

Companies should deploy AI with clear primary use cases but remain open to discovering these "gap-filling" opportunities that emerge organically from customer interactions.

The Future Sales Team: Mech-AEs vs. Obsolescence

For sales professionals, AI creates a bifurcated future:

The best reps will become "mech-AEs"—augmented by AI that handles product knowledge, follow-up, and administrative tasks. These superhuman sellers will focus entirely on relationship building, complex negotiation, and strategic guidance while their AI handles everything else. Their productivity and earnings will increase dramatically.

Meanwhile, mediocre reps who neither master the technology nor offer exceptional relationship skills will become obsolete. The bar for human sales performance will rise significantly—those who can't offer value beyond what the AI provides will be replaced.

This dynamic is already emerging in the support space, where companies like Gorgeous have seen 30-40% reductions in support staff after AI deployment, but the remaining staff deliver much higher value.

AI Will Dramatically Raise Customer Expectations

Once customers experience exceptional AI-driven interactions, they'll no longer tolerate the traditional B2B sales process with its delays, knowledge gaps, and friction.

This represents perhaps the most profound change: customer expectations will fundamentally reset. In 2025-2026, customers simply won't accept:

• Waiting days for basic information

• Sales reps who don't know their own product

• Complex procurement processes for simple purchases

• Being forced into unnecessary live conversations for transactional deals

Just as consumers now expect Amazon-like experiences in all retail interactions, B2B buyers will expect AI-level efficiency, knowledge, and convenience in all sales processes. Companies that cling to outdated, high-friction sales models will find themselves at a severe competitive disadvantage.

Custom Enterprise Selling Will Be Transformed, Not Eliminated

While transactional sales will be most dramatically changed, even complex enterprise selling will be transformed by AI. The AI won't replace the strategic relationship aspects, but it will:

• Handle all technical questions during complex sales processes

• Automate customized proposals based on specific requirements

• Manage complex procurement processes

• Coordinate between stakeholders

• Maintain momentum between human interactions

Enterprise AEs will spend nearly all their time on relationship building, strategic guidance, and complex negotiations rather than the administrative and informational aspects that consume so much time today.

4 Unexpected Learnings

1. AI requires more pricing transparency - When AI is closing deals, you need clearer pricing structures with less room for games, forcing companies to simplify their offerings and be more upfront about costs and discounts

2. Sales terms will become more customer-centric - Monthly deals and easier opt-outs will likely replace long-term contracts with auto-renewals as customers expect more flexibility when buying through AI

3. AI fills gaps you didn't know existed - SaaStr discovered their AI could review speaker submissions and VC decks—use cases they hadn't anticipated, showing how AI doesn't just improve existing processes but creates entirely new value streams

4. AI might make some sales reps better while making others obsolete - The best reps will leverage AI as "mech-AEs" while underperformers may be replaced entirely, creating a bifurcated future where top performers thrive and mediocre ones disappear

The bottom line: AI is already changing sales fundamentally. Companies that embrace these changes will thrive, while those clinging to traditional, friction-filled sales processes will struggle to compete in this new world where customers expect better.