B2B leaders are accustomed to using technology to help them achieve profitable growth. Lately they’ve been looking at a technology that has the potential to accelerate sales transformations across the entire seller journey—gen AI. Gen AI can help drive outsized, profitable growth by boosting revenue generation, increasing sales productivity, and streamlining internal processes. These leaders believe the potential is great. According to McKinsey’s latest B2B Pulse Survey of B2B decision-makers, 19 percent of respondents are already implementing gen AI use cases for B2B buying and selling, and another 23 percent are in the process of doing so.

That’s promising. However, the flip side is that most B2B leaders have yet to embrace gen AI or even engage with it. A few leaders tell us they are unsure where the benefits would come from and whether the business impact justifies the investment. Some feel overwhelmed by the abundance of ideas and seek advice on what to prioritize.

Seven Compelling Use Cases Across the Deal Cycle

B2B sellers often struggle with oversimplified rules, manual customer research, a lack of data integration, or inadequate training on sales tools. AI can help lead them to their “next-best opportunity.” It can process multiple disparate data sources to prioritize possibilities. Gen AI can parse significant amounts of unstructured data (for example, PDFs, flat files, or photographs) to provide advanced recommendations and instructions. Gen AI can also synthesize relevant information about leads onto a consolidated battlecard, allowing sellers to chase their next-best opportunity based on clear, critical information.

Conclusion

While many B2B sales organizations are still in the early stages of technological development, leading companies are already scaling their gen AI capabilities. Commercial leaders whose companies are experiencing higher growth tend to be more enthusiastic about gen AI and are implementing multiple use cases to transform their growth strategies and seller journeys. Gen AI can empower teams by providing better insights, driving higher conversion rates, and boosting productivity. Autonomous agents may deliver even more impact. With the right growth strategy and go-to-market model in mind, and the willingness to turn interest in gen AI into action, B2B leaders can unlock a future with enormous potential.