Artificial intelligence (AI) won’t replace human salespeople. But it will make good sellers better, and those who don’t learn to use AI will quickly find themselves left behind, says Stefanie Boyer, Ph.D., professor of Marketing and head of the Bryant University Sales Institute.
“When I began teaching AI in sales, most people assumed it would replace the salesperson,” says Boyer, co-founder of RNMKRS, an AI platform for training and assessing sales talent. “The reality is the opposite. The best sellers use AI to research faster, write sharper, and prepare better.”
Unfortunately, she says, many people are racing to use AI without learning how to talk to AI. “The gap between those who can guide AI and those who can’t is growing wider by the day,” she says.
“Every seller today holds two conversations before the close,” explains Boyer. “One is with the customer, and the other with AI. If that second conversation goes wrong and AI gives weak research, clumsy writing, or an off-target proposal, then everything downstream suffers.”
Turning AI into a competitive advantage
Students, as well as salespeople attending workshops and trainings in Bryant’s Hauck Sales Performance Lab, can learn how to craft AI prompts that deliver the best results, and test-drive their sales pitches through role-playing with AI “buyers” using RNMKRS tools. The lab, which features private role-play rooms equipped with sound bars, speakers, cameras, and intercom-CCTV systems for instructors to monitor and coach in real time, “helps people master both conversations – the one with buyers and the one with AI,” Boyer says.
“Every seller today holds two conversations before the close. One is with the customer, and the other with AI. If that second conversation goes wrong and AI gives weak research, clumsy writing, or an off-target proposal, then everything downstream suffers.”
“We use the same tools that power today’s top sales teams [to] record, coach, and analyze conversations, turning practice into measurable performance,” she says. “When companies bring their sales teams to train here, the results are immediate. Reps who hadn’t closed a deal in months suddenly walk out of a session ready to put new business on the table.”
When sellers are shocked at how great the outcomes are when integrating sales strategy with AI, Boyer says, “It’s not because the AI got better, it’s because they did.”
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“Once people learn how to guide AI effectively instead of how they normally talk to their favorite large language model like ChatGPT or Perplexity, they get motivated and start moving deals faster through their pipeline and growing current accounts,” adds Boyer.
Learning the language of AI
Whether teaching Sales students or salespeople, Boyer uses a framework called FBI (Format, Background, Instructions) to teach AI communication skills: “Structure your request clearly, give context, and tell AI exactly what you want,” she explains.
“Most people are vague and rush when they are talking to AI, the way they might shout a question across a noisy room. Then they wonder why the answer doesn’t make sense,” says Boyer. “The secret isn’t coding. It’s learning to speak a new language. Once students, sellers, and executives learn the FBI approach, they stop treating AI like a novelty and start managing it like a teammate.”
Educating in the boardroom and the classroom
Building fluency in the language of AI is part of the curriculum in Bryant’s new “AI in Sales” course, which Boyer teaches, as well as the workshops for faculty, staff, and corporate partners conducted in the Sales Performance Lab.
“Fluency means knowing when AI helps and when it hurts, how to combine human judgment with machine speed, and how to stay authentic while using technology that can sound like anyone but you,” says Boyer, adding that AI fluency is now a competitive necessity.
“Companies want sellers who can use technology without losing the human touch,” she says. “The students who train here know how to prompt AI, interpret its output, and still connect with real people. They’re faster in research, more precise in messaging, and more confident in complex conversations.”
“Fluency means knowing when AI helps and when it hurts, how to combine human judgment with machine speed, and how to stay authentic while using technology that can sound like anyone but you."
Boyer says nearly everyone who trains on AI in the sales lab “experiences that moment when AI stops being mysterious or frustrating and starts being useful.”
“They learn to guide it, challenge it, and use it to think better,” she says, adding: “Sales isn’t changing because of AI. It’s evolving because of people who know how to use it well.”
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The goal is not to replace humans with machines, Boyer reiterates.
“We’re creating additive intelligence, with people and AI working together to achieve more than either could alone,” she says.