AI has become a constant topic in sales conversations and I have it pretty well baked into my workflow. I didn’t want shortcuts that made me lazy, and I definitely didn’t want to show up to calls sounding like I copied and pasted a summary I didn’t fully understand.
What I’ve landed on is this: AI is incredibly useful for call research if you’re disciplined about how you use it. I don’t use it to replace preparation or judgment. I use it to speed up the parts of research that slow me down, so I can spend more time actually thinking.
Here’s how I’m using AI today to prepare for calls and how I make sure I’m still doing the critical thinking myself.
1. Use AI to Get Context Fast, Not Conclusions
Before a call, I’ll often ask AI to summarize:
- The company’s business model
- Their target customers
- Recent news or announcements
- Industry trends they’re likely facing
The key is what I don’t ask for: opinions or strategies.
AI gives me a fast baseline so I’m not starting from zero. From there, I decide what matters. I highlight what seems relevant and discard what doesn’t. The thinking still happens in my head — AI just clears the runway.
2. Ask AI to Help Identify Possible Pains — Then Validate Them Yourself
I’ll sometimes ask AI:
“Based on this company and their industry, what challenges might they be facing?”
I treat the output as a hypothesis list, not truth.
From there, I cross-check:
- Do these align with what the salesperson heard?
- Do they match what similar customers have said?
- Do they connect to why the prospect took the meeting?
This helps me walk into calls with sharper questions, not premature answers.
3. Turn Research Into Better Questions, Not Better Slides
One mistake I see is people using AI to script what they’re going to say.
Instead, I use it to sharpen the questions I plan to ask.
For example:
- “What questions would a CFO ask about this initiative?”
- “What risks might a technical leader worry about here?”
I’ll take those prompts and rewrite them in my own voice. If I can’t explain the question naturally, I don’t use it. The goal is curiosity, not performance.
4. Use AI to Map Stakeholders — Then Plan the Conversation Yourself
AI can help identify likely stakeholders involved in a deal:
- Economic buyers
- Technical influencers
- Operational users
That’s useful context. But deciding who to focus on in this call is still a human judgment.
I use AI to avoid blind spots, then I prioritize based on deal stage, politics, and what the salesperson already knows. AI gives me coverage; I decide direction.
5. Sanity-Check Your Prep, Don’t Outsource It
One of my favorite uses of AI is asking:
“What am I missing in my preparation for this type of call?”
This often surfaces things I forgot to consider, not things I should blindly adopt.
If I can’t explain why something matters to the customer, it doesn’t make it into the meeting. AI helps me stress-test my prep, not replace it.
The biggest mistake sellers make with AI is letting it think for them instead of thinking with them.
Customers can tell when you understand their world and they can tell when you don’t. AI won’t save you in that moment. Your judgment will.
Used correctly, AI doesn’t make you less thoughtful. It gives you more time to be thoughtful where it actually matters: in the conversation, in the questions you ask, and in how you respond in real time.
That’s where the great calls are won.
