BC Startup Sales Podcast – Data and AI In Sales with Stephen D’Angelo (Aviso)

This week, the Bowery Capital team hosted Stephen D’Angelo, President of Worldwide Field Operations at Aviso, to discuss “Data and AI In Sales.” Aviso is the only AI-driven platform on the market purpose-built to drive accurate sales forecasting and improve pipeline management. With Aviso Sales Vision, sales executives and CFOs deliver accurate forecasts, sales managers move deals through the pipeline faster, and reps close more deals with AI-driven smart selling signals.

Stephen has been in the software industry for three decades and has worked with many talented professionals around the world. His passion is building high performance global organizations focusing on blending the goals/objectives of the company with that of the individual. He is passionate about implementing world class practices to best serve clients as well as to help employees reach their maximum potential. AI, Machine Learning and Big Data are transforming many industries and he is excited to be part of that transformation.

When we think about sales, we typically focus on the 3 main stages of a deal: top of the funnel, deal execution and closing. Stephen walks us through the ways that AI is now enabling sales teams to increase top of the funnel in a quality way by utilizing lead scoring. He then explains how high preforming teams are now applying AI and data to deals as they enter the pipeline, and are steering away from the more traditional “gut instinct” or reliance on a seller’s talent. He emphasizes the importance of deal scoring and activity scoring and explains his focus on the “moveable middle” when evaluating a pipeline.

We discuss the importance of measuring all parts of the sales funnel, the most important metrics to track in the early days (especially the time it takes for deals to move from stage to stage), what AI is and what it is not, and how large sales teams should be before a company invests in tools like Aviso. We end the conversation by Stephen reiterating the importance of driving analytics in your business from the very beginning.

If you liked “Data and AI In Sales” and want to read more content from the Bowery Capital Team, check out other relevant posts from the Bowery Capital Blog. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the podcast to get all our new content each week!