AI Sales Training: What Most Teams Get Wrong

Let’s Get Real About AI Adoption in Sales

Most sales teams are rolling out AI like it’s the latest productivity app.

✅ Installed❌ Actually used

The tools are there. The platforms are paid for. But when it comes to adoption? Crickets.

We’ve seen this play out repeatedly—organisations invest in AI tools for their revenue teams, but usage is surface-level at best. Why? Because most sellers aren’t trained to use AI. They’re told to figure it out.

And in a high-pressure, target-driven environment, guess what happens? AI gets ignored. Or worse, it becomes another tab that gathers digital dust.

The 3 Big Mistakes in AI Sales Training

Let’s break down where most teams go wrong (and what you can do instead):

1. It’s too tool-focused: Most AI training is a glorified product demo. Walkthroughs of features, dashboards, and workflows. But let’s be honest—features don’t drive behaviour. Outcomes do.

2. There are no real use-case examples: If sellers can’t connect the tool to their target, they won’t use it. Telling someone they can summarise a call transcript means nothing if they don’t see how that speeds up pipeline progression.

3. There’s zero hands-on practice: You wouldn’t train a team to sell through slides alone—so why roll out AI training without letting them test, tweak, and iterate? AI adoption happens through experimentation, not explanation.

What High-Impact AI Sales Enablement Actually Looks Like

The best-performing sales teams we’ve worked with approach AI enablement differently. It’s not about the tool—it’s about the transformation.

Here’s what good AI sales enablement includes:

Scenario-based learning: We build prompts around real deals, not hypothetical ones. Think: “Use AI to prep for your next Tier 1 meeting” or “Generate a follow-up email for a prospect who’s ghosted since demo.”

Sprint-style training: Forget the 3-hour PowerPoint marathons. We run 20-minute challenges. Micro-sprints. Prompt experiments. These fit into a seller’s rhythm—and don’t derail their day.

Peer-to-peer sharing: Sellers share what worked. They refine each other’s prompts. It’s not just top-down training—it’s community-driven innovation.

KPIs tied to enablement: We measure AI adoption through deal velocity, proposal turnaround time, and pipeline progression. Because if it’s not improving sales performance, it’s not working.

According to LinkedIn Sales Lab 2025, sellers who consistently use AI to prep, follow up, and personalise outreach close 23% more deals than their peers.

Here’s the Truth: The AI Gap Is a Human One

You don’t have an AI tools problem. You have an AI enablement problem.

The tech is ready. The team is eager. But without the right mindset, methods and reinforcement, it’ll never embed.

If your FY26 strategy includes AI (and it should), your enablement needs to keep up.

Ready to Get AI Off the Shelf and Into the Sales Process?

If you're planning your FY26 kick-off, strategy day or enablement event, and want a keynote that gets your team using AI by Monday—let’s talk.

Book a discovery call here to bring the “AI in Sales” keynote to your team