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People buy from people. This isn’t just about a self-directed experience or a ‘spray and pray’ approach. If we’re going to succeed, we need to bring humans back into the equation.
While AI has undeniably brought efficiencies to sales outreach, it has also led to diminishing returns for sales teams fighting for visibility and relationships. Experts are pointing to a growing "trust gap" created by AI, and say restoring human connection in the sales process is the only way to regain buyer sentiment.
To explore these issues, we spoke with Noah Sturm, SVP of Sales & Revenue at Augment, a startup specializing in transforming and supporting B2B sales through AI technology. Sturm believes that while AI has undoubtedly streamlined certain aspects of the sales process, its downsides could create a near-permanent disconnect with buyers.
Falling off the AI cliff: According to Sturm, the real issue with AI lies in the sheer volume of automated sales outreach. "We're facing a 'sales spam effect,'" he explains. "We went from a world of tee times and martinis, replaced it with Google research, and now we've reached what we're calling the 'AI cliff.' That cliff is where we find ourselves today: 44% of buyers ignore sales outreach altogether." He notes that these changes have led to drastically lower connection and email response rates, leaving many salespeople frustrated and overwhelmed.
The human touch: Sturm's own inbox is a testament to the current state of sales outreach. "I get 40 to 50 messages a day from companies claiming they can solve my outreach chaos," he shares. "It's all generic messages from large language model prompts. I don't even bother looking at my inbox anymore." For Sturm, the crux of the problem is a lack of authentic human connection in sales. "People buy from people," he asserts. "This isn't just about a self-directed experience or a 'spray and pray' approach. If we're going to succeed, we need to bring humans back into the equation."
AI may help with some operational tasks, but at the end of the day, buyers still want to connect with people they trust. My Rolodex is full of people I’ve helped in the past. When I reach out to them now, they’re willing to help me in return because of the genuine relationships we’ve built.
Sales automation is failing: Sturm emphasizes that 75% of buyers today prefer not to have any sales interaction at all. "The trust gap is real," he says. "Buyers are being driven away from engaging with salespeople due to the overwhelming automation and impersonal technology." He points to a Gartner study showing an alarming trend: buyers interact with sales representatives only 5% of the time during their decision-making process. "There's a $38 billion market focused on sales assist technology, but it impacts only 5% of that decision-making process," Sturm says. "There's nowhere else in the tech world where companies would invest in something that only has a 5% impact on their business."
Power of the Rolodex: While Sturm acknowledges that AI can help improve activity rates and streamline certain processes, he's firm in his belief that it cannot replace the deep, trust-based relationships that drive sales. "AI may help with some operational tasks, but at the end of the day, buyers still want to connect with people they trust," he explains. "My Rolodex is full of people I’ve helped in the past. When I reach out to them now, they're willing to help me in return because of the genuine relationships we've built."