As AI percolates into the enterprise, sales organizations have distinguished themselves as early adopters – using AI, for example, to improve forecasting and pipeline analytics, and to manage inbound leads. Gartner estimates that by 2020, 30% of all B2B companies will employ AI to augment at least one of their primary sales processes.1

Yet the technology previously has held untapped potential in the realm of sales readiness – with Brainshark now introducing a solution that creates an engaging practice environment for sellers, and helps managers streamline and prioritize feedback.

Brainshark's Machine Analysis analyzes videos that reps submit through Brainshark's sales coaching solution – often videos of the rep pitching a new product, handling common objections, etc. Machine Analysis transcribes the videos and auto-generates an analysis and score for each submission, factoring in whether sellers adhere to manager-defined parameters, including coverage of key topics, speaking rate, low level of filler words ("um," "uh," etc.) and more.

Managers have the option to sort video submissions by the machine score, before providing their own manual reviews and feedback through Brainshark's coaching solution. Machine Analysis also provides unique, automated insights on rep videos, including:

• Emotion analysis – Every second of the video, Machine Analysis analyzes the seller's facial expression for eight emotions – happiness, surprise, sadness, contempt, etc. – noting their frequency within a submission (e.g., 95% happiness, 2% sadness, 3% contempt, etc.). Managers and reps can replay the video from within Brainshark's platform, viewing the exact moments when emotion changes are noted.
• Personality insights – Measuring the frequency of certain categories of words, the engine detects how often the participant displays traits such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and an emotional range, to show how sellers could be perceived by buyers.

"AI has an important role to play in the future of sales. For organizations to adopt and embrace it, it's critical to show how AI can augment what sales managers and professionals do – making them even more valuable to buyers," said Jim Dickie in the recent announcement.

Brainshark CEO Greg Flynn also said: "Machine Analysis is the next step for video coaching. With our new technology, sales managers and leaders can create more precise coaching activities and make better, data-driven decisions. Salespeople, in turn, get consistent feedback on important and, sometimes, intangible aspects of their presentations. These are powerful advances in the Brainshark platform, and we remain committed to continuous innovation – helping organizations foster a culture of perpetual sales readiness and greater sales performance."

I invited Sandeep Soman, VP Product and Design at Brainshark onto the show to find out more.