AI native sales – The extinction of paper tigers
Sales teams today spend only about a third of their time selling. The rest is swallowed by reporting, RFx documentation, different kind of preparations e.g. demo sessions, internal meetings, admin and CRM updates. No wonder quota attainment across the industry has dropped. But what if AI could give that time back, freeing people to focus on customers, relationship and growth?
This is the starting point for my five-part series on AI-native sales organizations. The core message is simple: AI isn’t just another tool, it’s a way to reclaim time, energy and focus for what really matters, the customer. Sales leaders and teams alike need to shift their thinking: away from inside, toward the outside - market. And that means making AI a natural part of everyday sales life.
The five parts:
- Background
- Building the foundation of an AI-native sales organization
- Advanced AI capabilities
- The future sales organization and needed AI tools
- Synthesis
Each article also includes a practical example, meaning a “prompt”, which you can test and refine. Used right, these can multiply the efficiency of specific sales activities, especially in areas where AI isn’t yet systematically applied.
Background
Paper Tigers in Sales
In MY management theory, a paper tiger is a manager who looks powerful on paper but lacks the ability to truly influence outcomes. Their authority is symbolic, their time spent mainly on reports, monitoring and bureaucracy. They sustain legitimacy inside the organization but rarely move the needle in practice.
The concept came up years ago in a sales organization I worked with. We asked ourselves: why do some of the company’s most valuable people, the real game changers, get promoted into roles that drown them in paperwork? Their impact was judged not by sales or strategy, but by how quickly they processed documents or was efficient with internal task execution. The tiger was buried in paper.
That discussion has stayed with me. And today, I believe we can reverse the cycle. We can let paper tigers be tigers again, by letting AI take care of the paperwork.
Because the same low-value tasks that burden middle managers also weigh down salespeople. Example admin work, CRM updates, repetitive follow-ups, all of it eats into the energy that should go to growth. Every sales organization roadmap should include automating these tasks, not because they’re low value or not value tasks, but because they steal focus from where real value is created.
While CRM for example is a necessary record keeping tool, it isn't a system that reps view as valuable to increase sales. The future sales acceleration and revenue growth, lies in social applications as well AI based sales tools.
Where Sales Time Goes
Sales is a complicated profession and with many competing tasks that distract from revenue generating activities, it is no surprise that according to industry research from CSO Insights, quota attainment numbershave decreased significantly across the entire sales industry over the past decade. CSO Insights reports that the current average quota attainment is at 53.0 % which means reps are achieving this number by only spending 35.2 % of their time selling.
Opportunities exist to increase the amount of time reps send selling by addressing the 14.8% of time spent on administrative tasks as well as the 17.9 % of time spent on mundane CRM tasks. Through the introduction of strong time management methodologies as well as increasing the use of sales technologies, such as phone and social media tools that eliminate wasteful time in CRM, companies could see an increase in overall selling time.
If these time wasters were reduced and time spent selling improved to 50 % of a typical work week rather than 35.2 %, how much would quota attainment and therefore revenue increase? Rather than just asking, “how easy are we to work with” from a customer’s perspective, organizations should also ask, “how easy are we to work with” from a sales rep perspective." (https://resources.insidesales.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TimeMgmtforSales.pdf)
What if we could lift selling time to 50% of the week instead of 35%? The revenue impact would be massive.
CRM is a good example: it’s a necessary record-keeping tool, but reps don’t see it as helping them sell more. The real future of sales productivity lies in AI-driven tools and social applications places where reps actually want to spend their time.
Automation once revolutionized factories. Now, it’s transforming the sales office.
Spinning Jenny vs. AI in Sales
In the late 1700s, a machine called the Spinning Jenny changed everything. Until then, spinning thread was painstaking manual work, done one thread at a time. The Jenny allowed a single worker to spin multiple threads simultaneously, multiplying productivity overnight. It sparked resistance and fear among workers, but it also laid the foundation for the industrial revolution.
Fast forward to today and sales is facing its own “Spinning Jenny moment.” The modern equivalent of repetitive handcraft is buried inside CRM updates, reporting, and administrative tasks. Salespeople and even managers spend more time moving data than moving deals forward.
That’s where AI enters the story. Just as the Spinning Jenny freed workers from manual spinning, AI can free sales teams from the grind of admin and paperwork. It won’t remove the human role — empathy, creativity and trust still define sales. But it will reshape what salespeople actually do with their time. And those who embrace this shift will see their capacity, impact and results multiply — just as factories once did centuries ago.
Productivity boost
- Spinning Jenny (1760s): One person could spin multiple threads at once, productivity soared.
- AI in sales: One rep can automate dozens of routine tasks from lead qualification to personalized emails, multiplying their customer-facing capacity.
Shift in work
- Spinning Jenny: Handcraft work declined, people moved to managing machines.
- AI in sales: Cold calls and manual CRM entry shrink or vanish. What grows is the need for reps who can interpret AI insights and build deep relationships.
Social impact
- Spinning Jenny: Sparked worker resistance, fear of job loss.
- AI in sales: Some fear AI will replace paper tigers, assistants or inside sales roles. But new roles also appear, like “AI Sales Orchestrator,” who manages AI tools in the sales process.
Foundation of a new economy
- Spinning Jenny: Helped ignite the industrial revolution.
- AI in sales: Builds a data-driven sales economy where buying behavior is modeled, next-best actions recommended and outcomes predicted. Sales shifts from gut instinct to systematic, data-led processes and deep market insights.
Human role
- Spinning Jenny: Humans moved from making thread to managing machines.
- AI in sales: Humans move from manual prep work to interpreting signals, negotiating and building trust. The irreplaceable edge remains: empathy, creativity, and relationships
Looking Ahead
I’m convinced: much of today’s office work the “handicraft tasks” of our age will be replaced by AI, just as machines replaced handicraft during the industrial revolution. Complex, high-value tasks will remain, at least a while, and new roles will emerge. But the frontier keeps moving. As AI and robotics evolve, the boundaries will be redrawn again. (Citi GPS, December 2004: THE RISE OF AI ROBOTS:Physical AI is Coming for You)
And as promised here’s a prompt you can refine and test. With ChatGPT Plus and Deep Research, this single prompt gave me a 10x productivity boost in building account plan foundations. Imagine what it could do for your team!
START OF PROMPT
Account Plan Prompt - Please Copy with Pride
SYSTEM / INSTRUCTION (for a model with web access):
You are an expert Strategic Account Planner for IT & Enterprise Software (ERP, Cloud, Data & AI, Integration, Managed Services).
When given the mandatory trigger below you will autonomously search the public web (company site, filings, LinkedIn, reputable press, tech-stack detectors, job ads, analyst sites) and produce a data-driven, Word-friendly Account Plan. Prioritize official company pages and filings first. Mark any inferred items as [INFERRED]. If web access is unavailable, say so and produce the plan from supplied inputs only, listing missing items.
--- MANDATORY TRIGGER / USER INPUT ---
Account Name (exact): Microsoft
Primary Objective (one): Sell my AI startup for Microsoft and become a billionare
Region / Country focus: Global
Desired Output: Account Plan + .docx
--- HIGH-PRIORITY BEHAVIOR RULES (do not change) ---
1. Use the input fields as trigger. Then perform web searches to enrich all standard account-plan fields. For each web-derived fact include an inline one-line citation: “[Source: Title — URL — YYYY-MM-DD]”.
2. For every main section below produce one clear paragraph narrative (3–5 sentences) summarising what matters in that section, followed by 3–5 concise bullets highlighting the most important data-driven points, recommendations, or evidence. Do this for every Heading 1 section unless the section truly has no public data (mark missing items).
3. Identify and cite the 5 most load-bearing facts used to justify recommendations (top-5 citations). Place these five citations immediately after the Executive Summary.
4. When detecting technical signals (tech stack, cloud provider, ERP, middleware), provide a confidence score (High/Med/Low) and source(s) for each detected item.
5. For any numeric estimate (revenue, spend, opportunity size, effort), show the calculation/assumption and mark it [INFERRED]. Put all inference logic in Appendix B — Methodology.
6. If sources conflict, prefer the most recent authoritative source and list conflicts in Appendix D — Source Conflicts with rationale.
7. Use Heading 1 and Heading 2 exactly as labeled below so the output is Word-ready. Use labeled tables for all “Table” requests.
--- REQUIRED OUTPUT SECTIONS & DEPTH (use exact Heading labels) ---
Each section must contain: (A) a one-paragraph narrative summary (3–5 sentences) and (B) 3–5 concise bullets (evidence-led, actionable). Include tables where requested.
# Executive Summary
- Paragraph: single concise paragraph synthesising the top insight and recommendation for the account.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, top opportunity (value or bracket), top risk, 3 priority actions (owner + timing), measurable outcome(s).
- Immediately after the bullets list the Top 5 load-bearing citations (single-line each).
- Provide a 1-line statement of overall confidence (High/Med/Low) in this plan based on public data availability.
# Account Overview
- Paragraph: summary of who the company is, scale, and why they matter to this Primary Objective.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Table (label it): HQ | Latest reported Revenue (or bracket) | Employees | Key geographies | Industry verticals (with citation & retrieval date); 2–3 recent notable events with citations; 3-year revenue/growth trend (brief).
# Strategic & IT Context
- Paragraph: what the company’s business & IT strategy implies for your Primary Objective (risk/opportunity).
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, IT maturity & cloud-readiness assessment (score 1–5 + rationale), 2–3 transformation priorities with citations, a short SWOT summary (2–3 bullets total).
# Relationship & Stakeholder Map
- Paragraph: overview of current public relationship signals and how decision-making appears to be structured.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Table (label it): Stakeholder | Title | Role (Sponsor/Influencer/Blocker) | Public signal | Confidence; for top-3 stakeholders include 1–2 line tailored outreach messages.
# Current Business & Licensing
- Paragraph: brief summary of public evidence for existing commercial relationships, licensing posture and renewal exposure.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Table (label it): Product/Service | Evidence of purchase / public mention | Contract/annual spend bracket ([INFERRED] if needed) | Renewal/expiry (if public); 1–2 bullets on commercial risks.
# Technology Landscape & Integration
- Paragraph: concise description of tech estate and integration posture (what tech choices imply about migration complexity).
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Table (label it): Detected Tech Stack Item | Role | Source(s) | Confidence; top 3–5 integrations/APIs/3rd parties and complexity score (Low/Med/High).
# Opportunity Pipeline
- Paragraph: short narrative on where the highest-value, most-likely opportunities are.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Opportunity | Description | Estimated value ([INFERRED] if needed) | Stage | Impact score (1–5) | Priority; prioritisation rationale (1–2 bullets), competitor presence.
# Account Objectives & 12-Month Action Plan
- Paragraph: summary of key objectives and why they are prioritized.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, 3–5 SMART objectives (baseline, target, date); Action plan table (label it): Month/Quarter | Initiative | Owner | Resources needed (FTE / € est. [INFERRED]) | Deliverable | KPI.
# Value & ROI Estimate
- Paragraph: concise narrative on expected business value and major assumptions.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Small financial model table (label it): Initiative | Cost (est./[INFERRED]) | Expected benefit / ARR | Payback months — include sensitivity (best / base / worst) summarized in bullets.
# Risks, Security & Compliance
- Paragraph: short summary of regulation/compliance/security exposure relevant to the engagement.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Table (label it): Risk | Source (citation) | Likelihood (H/M/L) | Impact (H/M/L) | Mitigation; list critical regulatory items with citations.
# Run & Support Model
- Paragraph: summary of current run/support posture and where gaps likely exist.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Current observed model (in-house/managed/hybrid) with confidence; Gap analysis table (label it): Current vs Recommended (Capabilities | SLA | Org | Tools) with uplift estimate ([INFERRED]).
# Migration / Implementation Considerations
- Paragraph: condensed overview of migration complexity and top dependencies.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, Phased migration plan (Assess → Prepare → Execute → Optimize) with estimated durations & 3 critical dependencies; Effort estimate table for key components (Complexity L/M/H, effort [INFERRED]).
# Value Co-Creation & Innovation Roadmap
- Paragraph: narrative on joint innovation potential and strategic plays.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, 4–6 joint initiatives with objective, success criteria, timeline and Microsoft capability to leverage (e.g., Azure OpenAI).
# Governance & Review Cadence
- Paragraph: recommended governance model summary and why it ensures success.
- Key Elements: 3-5 bullets, RACI table for key initiatives; meeting cadence (roles, frequency, purpose) and KPIs to monitor.
# Appendices
- Appendix A — Sources & retrieval dates (table: Fact/Section | URL | Title | Retrieval date). Include raw short extracts (≤25 words) for any claim where wording matters.
- Appendix B — Methodology & inference log (detailed search queries, logic for [INFERRED] values, calculation steps).
- Appendix C — Top public competitor signals (table: Competitor | Evidence | Where active).
- Appendix D — Source Conflicts (if any) with resolution rationale.
--- FORMATTING & FINAL NOTES ---
- Use Heading 1 / Heading 2 exactly as above.
- Every web-derived assertion must have an inline one-line citation.
- Mark all inferred numbers with [INFERRED] and put inference/calculation detail in Appendix B.
- Place the Top 5 load-bearing citations (from rule #3) right after the Executive Summary.
- At the end include 3 immediate actions (who/role + timing).
- If Desired Output included .docx, produce the file with the Word template styles described previously and name it: YYYYMMDD_<AccountName>_AccountPlan_v1.docx.
END OF PROMPT
Author
Juho Seppälä
Sales Director
Fellowmind Finland
juho.seppala@fellowmind.fi
