5 Ways AI Has Already Changed B2B Sales Forever with Perplexity's CBO Dmitry Shevelenko and Sam Blond

"Perplexity: 5,000+ enterprise clients ... with just 5 salespeople."

We’ve been saying for months that speed is the new moat in SaaS Sales with the advent of AI, and yeah, that’s still 100% true.

But after digging into the conversation with Perplexity’s CBO Dmitry Shevelenko and host of the SaaStr CRO Confidential series (and former CRO at Brex), Sam Blond at SaaStr Annual, it’s clear we’re now quickly blown past the theoretical stage. AI hasn’t just changed how we prep for sales calls or conduct discovery. It’s fundamentally rewired how SaaS sales works, period.

These aren’t just predictions anymore. These are the 5 ways AI has already changed SaaS sales forever. And if you’re not doing these things yet, unfortunately, you’re already behind.

#1. AI Turned Every Rep Into A Domain Expert (The 80% Rule)

Here’s what Dmitry believes: “You can get to 80% of an expert level in a lot of fields that are not your profession with AI.”

His real-world example is that when he gets a contract to review as the CBO of Perplexity in a buying role, he doesn’t immediately send it straight to legal anymore. Instead, he runs it through Perplexity first, identifies any potential issues, and then approaches counsel with focused questions rather than a more general Q&A with legal. The result? His and his lawyer’s time is 10x more productive on these calls.

Why This Changes Everything: Your entire organization just became a whole lot smarter and better equipped. Product managers who understand legal. Engineers who grasp marketing. Sales teams that comprehend the technical architecture of any buyer. For Dmitry, he believes that not only does this turn your team into domain experts, but it also has effectively killed the sales discovery call.

Why shouldn’t your team be able to run any prospective company through AI and have a working 80% understanding of what they do, and more importantly, how your product can help them specifically?

The SaaStr Reality Check: This is already a reality at Perplexity and is quickly becoming the working trend for SaaS sales teams. If your team isn’t operating at 80% expertise across domains, your competitors’ teams are. And they’re moving faster because of it.

What You Should Do This Week: Pick one domain outside your expertise that impacts your role. Spend 30 minutes with AI getting to 80% proficiency. Feel the difference? Now scale that across your sales team.

#2. AI is Killing Transactional Sales (And Good Riddance)

Sam’s frustration echoes every modern B2B buyer: “There have been several instances where it was sort of like a commodity transactional sale, and the sales rep adds unnecessary negative friction. I have to wait on them to respond, and they want to take a call, and sometimes I just want to buy the product.”

Meanwhile, look at the numbers:

• Perplexity: 5,000+ enterprise clients with just 5 salespeople

• SaaStr’s AI: Providing real-time sales recommendations for event sponsorships

The Trust Factor: When Sam asked SaaStr’s AI about sponsorships, it down-sold him to a package that would make more sense given the tight timeline (It was 3 weeks to SaaStr Annual at the time). “That just built a lot of trust with the AI that I was speaking to. It’s the type of experience that I just can’t imagine a sales rep would be recommending, because of course they want to maximize revenue and their commission.”

What Survives: Complex, consultative sales where human judgment and relationship-building matter. Think enterprise security, custom integrations, and multi-year strategic partnerships.

What Dies: Commodity sales where buyers know what they want and just need to purchase.

The Action Item: Audit your sales process. Where are you forcing buyers to talk to humans when they’d prefer AI?

#3. Pipeline Reviews Became Data-Driven (Finally)

This one hit us hard. How many pipeline reviews have you sat through where the Salesforce forecast was “entirely wrong” because it was based on sales rep subjectivity?

Now imagine this: “You should have a model reading all communication with the buyer, the opportunity, and the customer. And you also should have an AI that is joining all of your calls, and the AI should be the one that is preparing for that meeting and scoring the probable outcome.”

Instead of: “The rep thinks the deal will close,” Your AI gets: “Based on all email communication and recorded calls, here are the actual risks, probability, revenue predications and suggested next steps.”

The SaaStr Truth: If you’re still doing subjective pipeline reviews in 2025, you’re flying blind. Your AI can process a lot more data and can know more about your deals than your reps do.

Implementation: Start today. Have AI analyze every customer communication and call recording. Use that for next week’s pipeline review. Watch the quality of your forecasting become more accurate.

#4. Meeting Prep Went From 90 Minutes to 90 Seconds

The original post covered this, but here’s the deeper implication: “Every question you would typically ask during a discovery call should now be asked of AI before the meeting.”

But it’s not just about speed. It’s about showing up as a strategic advisor, not an order-taker.

The Old Way: Spend the first 15 minutes of a 30-minute call learning basic info about their company The AI Way: Show up knowing their challenges and ask strategic questions that move deals forward

The Power Move: Share your screen during the meeting and ask AI questions about their company live. “What are the biggest challenges Company X is facing right now? How have they tried to solve them?”

Why This Works: Authenticity through transparency. They see the discovery happening organically, not from a script.

#5. Sales Intelligence Became Proactive (Not Reactive)

Stop waiting for prospects to tell you what’s happening. AI should surface insights before they become obvious.

As Dmitry put it: “Instead of you having to always ask for the update of what’s happening with this account, we’re able to detect those changes that are meaningful and surface that to you.”

Today’s Reality: Your AI should know when:

• A prospect’s company announces layoffs (time to emphasize ROI)

• They hire a new CTO (new buying committee dynamics)

• A competitor just lost a deal (opportunity to strike)

• Their quarterly earnings call mentions your problem area (perfect timing)

The Execution Gap: Most companies still use AI reactively by asking questions after problems arise. Winners use AI proactively, getting alerts before anyone else knows there’s an opportunity.

The Bottom Line: It’s Not About the Tools, It’s About the Transformation

Here’s what most people miss: this isn’t just about adding AI tools to your existing stack. It’s about fundamentally rethinking how sales works.

The companies winning right now:

• Use AI to compress research time from hours to minutes

• Build trust through authentic, unbiased recommendations

• Focus human interactions on strategic value, not information gathering

• Make every team member an expert across multiple domains

• Get proactive intelligence, not reactive reports

The companies falling behind:

• Still doing 90-minute meeting prep

• Forcing buyers through human gatekeepers for commodity purchases

• Running pipeline reviews based on rep opinions

• Treating AI as a nice-to-have instead of a business transformation

What You Should Do This Week

1. Audit one sales process: Where are you adding friction instead of value?

2. Test the 80% rule: Pick a domain outside your expertise and use AI to get competent fast

3. Upgrade one pipeline review: Have AI analyze all deal communications before your next forecast meeting

4. Set up proactive alerts: What changes about your prospects should you know immediately?

5. Time your meeting prep: If it takes more than 10 minutes to prep for a sales call, you’re doing it wrong

The transformation isn’t coming. It’s here. The question is whether you’re leading it or getting left behind.

And honestly? Your prospects are already experiencing this new reality with companies like Perplexity. They expect it from you, too.