Can AI cold calling platforms match the nuance of a human seller?

Whether you think cold calling is dead or consider it the only truly AI-proof sales discipline, a plethora of AI tools claim to help refine a task dreaded by many. But can AI cold calling tools ever really match the nuance or talent of a human seller? Revenue Brew spoke with two sales leaders on the current landscape.

A changing discipline

AI for cold calling tends to fall into two distinct categories, the first being conversational AI agents that simulate humans on a live call. According to a February 2024 FCC ruling, such calls are legally classified as “artificial,” making unsolicited outbound AI calls illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) without prior express written consent. To comply, a cold call needs to be initiated manually by a human being or after a prospect signs an online form.

The second category is an AI tool that helps prep a salesperson to perform well on a cold call through specific coaching techniques; these kinds of tools will engage in anything from objection handling, to active listening and role-plays.

Emotions matter

“There’s so much judgment and emotional attunement that needs to happen when it comes to all parts of the sales cycle, even in the earliest part with qualifications and things like that,” said Angela Garinger Bennett, VP of AI GTM transformation at revenue orchestration platform Outreach. She says that it would be difficult for AI to understand the nuance of the human experience.

Andy Springer, chief client officer at global sales training platform RAIN group, thinks these tools are still in their infancy, meaning they’re not skilled enough to replicate a human seller on a cold call. As AI proliferates through daily life, he also believes that prospects are becoming aware of when they’re speaking to a robot, which can ultimately hurt the sales process.

“I would think the platform providers are going to try and weaponize minor success to say it works, but I don’t think their data would stand up to independent forensic review at the moment,” he said.

Garinger Bennett believes part of a sales rep’s job is to foster relationships with prospects and clients, and that AI can be a foundational component in that process; as ever, there is a balance to strike.

“If getting in front of people is where the secret sauce is for the seller, then AI helps ensure that we’re in front of the people as quickly as possible, and that we’re prepared to do it. So that’s how I think about them working together,” she said.

Human 🤝 AI

Garinger Bennett and Springer agree that sales reps should leverage these AI tools to their advantage, encouraging the use of AI cold calling tools for more administrative tasks, like booking or confirming meetings. Springer also thinks sellers should use AI tools to help research prospects and practice their selling skills so they come to cold calls more prepared.

“If sellers spent time perfecting their skills, doing their research, doing their homework, leveraging AI to get to know buyers better before they turn up and engage with them on a call or in a sales interaction, that partnership would enable a significant step change in buyer behavior responding more favorably to sellers and sellers showing up in a much more informed way,” he said.

Garinger Bennett stressed that organizations solely relying on AI cold calling tools to do outreach will see an immediate impact on their revenue engine.

“If a sales organization or a company leans too heavily on outsourcing—what essentially is the human connection part of problem-solving that is often so fundamental to sales—they’re going to see a drop-off in their success because that’s really the law of diminishing return,” she said.

Horses for courses

At our recent Revenue Rewired IRL event in NYC, we spent a great deal of time discussing the right type of AI deployment based on organizational AI maturity. Sam McKenna of #samsales and Kenny Scannell, CRO of Otter.ai, assessed specific AI use cases—using the all-important sales discovery call as an example. Rather simply using the tech because it exists, they identified parts of the sales process that might actually benefit from automation.

This logic also applies to AI for cold calling: training platforms for reps could serve an organization with a heavy focus on outbound, whereas those inbound-heavy orgs could outsource limited cold calls to an AI agent. As with most sales tech deployments, cost, compliance, and consensus will remain key to overcome.