Microsoft plans to start using AI tech to write emails for salespeople, and it's not hard to see why
- Microsoft plans to use artificial intelligence from ChatGPT maker OpenAI to write emails for people.
- The company says its research shows that 66% of a seller's day is spent managing emails.
Microsoft is working on using artificial intelligence similar to ChatGPT to write professional emails for people, the company said on Thursday.
The tech giant is using text-based software from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to help people draft emails with personalized details for their recipients, such as pricing, promotions, and deadlines.
This new tech is to be deployed in Viva Sales, Microsoft's sales app launched in October, that manages customer information and uses AI to scan calls and emails with clients.
The app writes the email by first sifting through data it has on the customer, then prompting salespeople with suggestions like: "make a proposal," "reply to an inquiry," or "suggest your own," said Microsoft.
After making their choice, the salesperson can review and edit the AI-generated email before hitting send.
"For sales teams, the adage 'time is money' is more relevant than ever before," wrote Lori Lamkin, a corporate vice president in Microsoft's Dynamics 365 department.
Citing Microsoft's own commissioned research, Lamkin said a typical seller spends 66% of their day managing emails.
While Insider doesn't have access to Viva Sales' new AI, we tested ChatGPT to see how it deals with several situations that salespeople and customer relations workers may find themselves in. We simulated three common scenarios:
- How does Chat GPT respond to sales inquires?
- How does Chat GPT respond to irate customers?
- How does Chat GPT respond to sales proposals?
ChatGPT generated most of its responses below in 10 seconds or less.
Sales Inquiry
We gave the AI a few basic details before prompting it with a query from a potential (and of course, non-existent) client:
ChatGPT responded like so:
We had "Jerry" respond by adding a few more details and a request for a suggestion.
ChatGPT furnished this reply, although it cryptically re-thanked Jerry for reaching out in his first inquiry.
Irate Customer
Next, we tested how ChatGPT could help a salesperson handle an angry client.
ChatGPT wrote this:
Sales Proposal
We also asked ChatGPT to write us a sales proposal to unknown clients with this prompt:
Within 15 seconds, ChatGPT crafted this:
From this brief experiment, we found that while it can't make critical decisions for salespeople or companies, OpenAI's tech is sophisticated enough to independently strike up a personable sales conversation and help users communicate with professionalism.
That's a worthwhile skill that needs to be trained in many humans, and it's not hard to see why companies might start outsourcing part of sales conversations — or at least the first step — to a machine.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.