If you are engaged in production – packaging, furniture, metal structures, industrial equipment, building materials, household chemicals – anything at all, then you know very well: sales in this area are not about "sending KP and waiting." There is a long cycle of the transaction, severe competition, complex ToR, tenders, logistics, marginality on the knife blade and customers who have been going "to think" for years. And in this mess you have to somehow predict revenue, scale sales and at the same time not burn all managers in the fire of deadlines and cold calls.
I'm not a theorist. As someone who has been building sales departments for manufacturing companies for 10 years and has 200 + cases in different industries, I see everyone stumbling in the same place:
- Weak control at the stage of communication with the client;
- loss of leads due to untracked status;
- a long cycle of deal with permanent "where did we stop?";
- mistakes of managers that cost hundreds of thousands of rubles (or dollars);
- inadequate margin-killing rebates;
- constant swing: then "orders blockage," then "everything got up."
And against this background, someone says: "AI? Well that's cool, hype... " Don't care if it's a hype or not. The main thing is that AI is finally giving production what was missing: transparency, man-age-a-bil-i-ty, scalability and control.
And, in fact, it turns into a new Head of Sales - only smart, impartial, with access to all data 24/7.
1. From chaos to system
Have you tried building a sales department in production? If so, you know that this is not just "call, agree, send KP." This is a funnel in which suppliers, designers, SCLs, and logisticians participate. These are scripts that depend on the industry and on each segment. These are miscalculations, TK, approvals, measurements, negotiations - fucked.
AI helps sellers avoid drowning in details:
- fixes communication stages,
- stores the terms of reference and the version that the client has agreed,
- analyses where deals are lost,
- prompts if an important step is missed (for example, they did not specify the dimensions, did not discuss the packaging, did not agree on the logistics).
This is especially critical if you work on 223-FZ or 44-FZ, participate in tenders, or work with large B2B - there the account goes to reputation.
2. Analysis of calls and correspondence - seven days a week
ROP can be strong. But he can't listen to 100% of calls. But it is in a conversation with the client that everything is decided. One wrong intonation - and the client leaves. One unverified discount - and all the margin flies into the pipe. One forgotten detail - and the party goes into marriage.
Your managers call, write, send out KP, bargain, convince - but you don't even know what they are saying. Will they present well? Do they keep margins? Do objections work out? Or just "threw off the price" and sit?
AI listens to all calls, analyzes all correspondence (yes, including in instant messengers and mail). It reports on each stage of the dialogue: whether the script is followed, whether the upsale attempt was made, whether the client priority is set correctly. AI is neither tired nor wrong. And for the first time you understand which of the managers does not pull, and who can grow.
3. Removes the human factor from quality
In production, reputation decides. One jamb - and you are on the black list at the networks, at the suppliers, at all. AI monitors the quality of communication. He does not allow managers to lie, dumb, forget, rude. It fixes all points of contact so you know where the deviation occurred. And most importantly, he teaches employees to make better calls. Each next call is a cut above the previous one.
4. Customizes training for your product
Do you produce a complex product? Great. AI easily adapts and builds training based on the best calls, the best scripts and taking into account frequent errors. Indeed, in production you cannot pour in a new salesman in a week - there are too many nuances: cost, equipment, warehouse, timing, logistics, scrap, GOST, packaging, delivery, tax risks, etc. And now AI trains it in a week, because the newcomer does not just "teach the product," but really learns to sell your product. In 10-15 days he will be ready for field calls, without mumbling and "well, I'm not sure yet."
5. Funnel control becomes predictable
In production B2B sales, the funnel is long: 1-3 months, or even more. AI easily integrates with CRM, ERP and other systems and shows at what stage each client is stopped. Who is waiting for the CP, who has forgotten where the shipment hovered, who went to the competitor. You see:
- at what stage is the production cycle,
- where are the logistics delays,
- what has been agreed with the customer,
- what supply obligations are taken,
- what touch points were (and were there at all).
This is especially useful when one client is managed by different managers or if one manager is conducting 40-50 transactions at the same time.
Important: AI knows how to work with non-standard deals.
For example:
- When you need to start an individual calculation through a technologist;
- When a batch is divided into stages (prototype, test, circulation);
- When packaging quality or ISO requirements are important to the client;
- When the client has several legal entities and a long coordination chain.
This is no longer a CRM bucket, where everything is thrown, but a really manageable system.
6. AI won’t let you fuck up the margin
I had a client - a packaging manufacturer. His managers were friends with clients, "gave a little discount," "moved a little at the price" - and that's it, minus 10% per year. And then they complain: "we work hard, we earn little."
AI sees where managers trade the wrong way when they give a discount simply because the customer has asked. It records violations of price policy and issues reports on where and how you lose money.
Production is often an individual approach. One client is millions, but with another you will go into the red. AI helps not just sell, but choose the right customers, more precisely set priorities, complete deals faster, make personalized offers and keep margins under control. He sees when the manager dumps. Or when the customer is actually willing to pay more.
7. Prepares to scale
Do you want to scale? Build a second plant? Search for distributors? Go online? Without an automated sales system, it will be a disaster. AI gives you the skeleton and brain of the sales department: clear scripts, understandable funnels, dashboards, quality control, training new managers anywhere in the world. It's like a franchise, only in sales. A new region - and you already have a team ready that knows what to say, how to sell and how to fulfill KPIs.
AI really lets you scale fast.
What do you get in the end?
- Honest data on where you really lose money
- Clear sales system
- Transparent and controllable funnel
- Objective control of each manager
- Increase conversion while maintaining margin
- Lower hiring and adaptation costs
- Transparency and manageability
- Ability to scale without nerves
- Sales department that works like a clock - harmoniously and efficiently
Production is numbers, metal, material, logistics. Now it's also AI that actually sells. It's time to sell as systemically as you produce. Leave a request for a demo - we will show how your sales department can work as a CNC workshop: stable, predictable, accurate.