Agentic Sales
Agentic sales refers to the use of autonomous AI agents on the sales side in B2B and B2C sales, which independently perform tasks along the entire sales funnel - from lead identification, qualification and nurturing through to preparing offers and supporting the closing process. In contrast to traditional marketing and sales automation, agentic sales solutions are able to make independent decisions, set priorities and select personalized communication strategies based on company goals, CRM data and interaction histories.
Core competencies in Agentic Sales
- Autonomous lead processing: identification and qualification of leads, control of outreach campaigns (email, chat, in-app) and continuous nurturing based on behavior, engagement signals or ideal customer profiles (ICP).
- Dynamic qualification: Agents conduct complex dialogs to clarify requirements and budgets before a human sales employee is involved. I.e. prioritization of opportunities, prediction of closing probabilities and proactive suggestions for next steps in the sales process.
- Infrastructure connection: By integrating with CRM systems and utilizing protocols such as Google UCP, sales agents can create quotes and check inventory in real time.
- Increased sales team productivity: Automated creation of emails, quotes, call summaries and CRM entries so that human sales reps can focus on complex negotiations and strategic accounts.
Differentiation and connection to Agentic Commerce
Agentic sales and agentic commerce are two sides of the same coin within the machine-to-machine (M2M) economy.
Agentic sales looks at agentic AI primarily from the perspective of the supplying company (seller perspective), with the aim of increasing turnover, conversion rates and efficiency in sales.
Agentic commerce, on the other hand, addresses the demand side (buyer perspective), in which shopping or procurement agents act in the interests of consumers or companies.
| Characteristic | Agentic Sales | Agentic Commerce |
| perspective | Supplier side (push) | Customer side (pull) |
| Primary goal | Sell, generate leads, increase sales. | Purchasing, covering needs, efficiency in purchasing. |
| Actor | The agent of the company (seller). | The consumer's agent (purchasing assistant). |
| Focus | Outreach, persuasion, closing the sale. | Search, comparison, autonomous checkout. |
In an advanced agent economy, sales agents and commerce/shopping agents interact directly with each other, exchanging offers, prices, availability and orders via standardized protocols (e.g. Google's Universal Commerce Protocol). Human interaction often only takes place during the initial strategy definition or the final confirmation.
Sources:
- Salesforce - "AI Sales Agents: Types, Examples, & Benefits"
- Salesforce - "AI Agents: Definition, Types, Examples"
- Salesforce - Product pages for Agentforce / AI Sales Agent
- HubSpot Blog - "I Took a Deep Dive Into AI Sales Agents"
- HubSpot Blog - "OpenAI secretly launched a sales agent - here are the details"