I talked to ChatGPT three times yesterday before I even got out of bed.
First, to help me draft a tricky client email. Then, to summarize a dense research report. Finally, to suggest what I should make for dinner with the random ingredients in my fridge.
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AI has become my second brain. And I'm not alone, especially among AI-powered buyers who are fundamentally changing how B2B purchasing happens. According to HubSpot's 2025 State of Sales report, which surveyed 1,477 sales professionals worldwide, buyers are now using AI to research solutions, compare vendors, and even draft their own RFPs before they ever talk to a sales rep.
We‘ve officially entered what I call the Age of the AI-Powered Buyer. In this post, we’ll dig into the data to help you prepare for one of the most disruptive shifts we've seen in years.
HubSpot's 2025 Sales Trends Report
This in-depth report includes sections, covering:
- How buyers are becoming more self-informed
- How sales teams are using AI and automation
- Adapting to tighter budgets
- And more!
Download Free
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How AI-Powered Buyers Will Change Sales
The numbers tell a story that most sales teams are still waking up to.
74% of sellers now say AI tools are making it easier for buyers to research products. That's happening right now.
But here's what caught me off guard in the data: this shift is actually improving sales relationships.
Sales pros using AI are seeing shorter cycles, more productive conversations, and stronger buyer confidence. Meanwhile, buyers armed with AI are coming to the table more informed and ready to make decisions faster.
The question isn‘t whether AI will change how buyers and sellers work together. It’s whether your team will adapt fast enough to benefit from it.
Here are the four biggest shifts you need to understand.
1. Value has replaced information as the currency of sales.
Buyers are looking for proof that your solution will deliver measurable results in their specific context.
When sales pros were asked why deals fall through, the top two reasons both came down to perceived value:
- 37% said buyers don't see product fit
- 35% said buyers don't see value for money
Notice what‘s missing? "They didn’t understand the product." That gap doesn't exist anymore because buyers have already educated themselves before they reach out.
Sales teams have responded by changing how they sell. 40% have expanded self-serve tools like free trials and pricing pages in the past year. Another 35% have shifted toward solution-based selling.
Both approaches let buyers experience or understand value on their own terms before committing.
The impact is evident in the upsell data. The strategies that work best all center on proving real outcomes:
- Understanding customer goals (42%)
- Providing consistent value (39%)
- Timing upsells right after meeting client goals (37%)
That last one is particularly telling. The most effective moment to expand a relationship is right after you've proven the value you promised.
2. AI is redefining what sales reps do.
Only 8% of sales professionals say they don't use AI at all. Which means 92% have already integrated it into their workflow in some way.
They‘re not using it to automate themselves out of a job. They’re using it to spend more time having actual conversations with prospects and less time buried in spreadsheets and CRM updates.
The ROI shows up clearly in the numbers. 31% of reps ranked AI tools as delivering the highest return on investment compared to any other sales tool. The impact spreads across multiple areas:
AI isn't closing deals, though. Sales reps still believe humans are essential for that final step.
What's changing is everything that leads up to it. AI handles research, data analysis, and repetitive tasks, allowing reps to focus on relationship-building, navigating internal buy-in, and helping buyers feel confident enough to sign deals.
3. Buyers are using AI to research — and it's making your job easier.
74% of sellers say AI tools are making it easier for buyers to research products.
That means by the time a prospect reaches out to you, they've likely already compared features, read reviews, and understood your basic value proposition.
This shift changes what buyers actually need from you.
When sales pros were asked about their most important role in an AI-assisted environment, the answers had nothing to do with product education:
- 36% said helping buyers feel confident in their decisions
- 33% said navigating internal buy-in
Buyers don‘t need you to walk them through a feature list. They need you to help them feel certain they’re making the right choice and to figure out how to get their team on board.
This is why 79% of sales pros say AI makes the sales cycle more productive. When you're not spending half your time on education, you can focus entirely on the parts that actually move deals forward—addressing concerns, building confidence, and clearing internal roadblocks.
The buyers who reach out are already interested. Your job is to help them get to yes.
4. AI gives you the communication edge buyers expect.
Buyers armed with AI are raising the bar for what they expect from sales conversations. They‘ve done their homework, and they’re looking for sellers who've done the same.
The good news is that AI gives you the tools to meet that expectation:
- 80% of sales pros say AI helps them communicate more effectively with prospects
- 79% say it helps them pull actionable insights from conversations with buyers
- 83% report that AI helps them personalize interactions
This plays out in practical ways. AI can analyze a prospect's recent company announcements, identify challenges specific to their industry, and surface relevant talking points before you ever get on a call.
It can also help you spot patterns in how prospects respond, flag key concerns they raise, and suggest ways to address objections based on what's worked with similar buyers.
When a buyer shows up prepared because they've used AI to research, they expect you to be equally prepared. The technology makes it possible to show up to every conversation with context and relevance rather than generic talking points.
Buyers can tell the difference between sellers who‘ve put in the work to understand their situation and those who haven’t. AI just makes it faster to do that work well.
5. Sales reps are using AI to create content buyers actually want to read.
AI-powered buyers have seen every generic cold email and templated pitch deck. They can spot copy-paste outreach instantly because they've likely used AI themselves to filter through dozens of similar messages.
Sales reps have caught on since the top use of AI in sales isn‘t data crunching or lead scoring. It’s content creation for communicating with leads and crafting prospect outreach.
This shift makes sense when you consider what AI-informed buyers respond to: they're looking for sellers who understand their specific situation and can speak directly to their challenges.
AI helps reps create that level of relevance at scale.
Instead of spending an hour researching a prospect and creating a personalized email from scratch, reps can use AI to analyze publicly available information about a company, identify relevant pain points, and draft messaging that actually resonates—all in a fraction of the time.
Buyers get messages that acknowledge their context, sellers get higher response rates, and both sides spend less time wading through irrelevant conversations.
AI creates better experience for buyers and sellers.
Both buyers and sellers utilizing AI create a better experience for all through stronger relationships, more productive conversations, and a shorter sales cycle.
While these insights are forward-looking, AI adoption is happening in real time. To stay ahead of the pack, check out our 2025 Sales Trends Report below.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
HubSpot's 2025 Sales Trends Report
This in-depth report includes sections, covering:
- How buyers are becoming more self-informed
- How sales teams are using AI and automation
- Adapting to tighter budgets
- And more!
Download Free
All fields are required.
Artificial Intelligence
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