The software sales playbook hasn't fundamentally changed in decades. Despite the explosion of sales technology and automation, we're still running the same plays: marketing generates awareness and demand, SDRs conduct outbound prospecting at scale, and account executives drive deals to close through high-touch engagement.

This model worked well in a world where buyers had limited access to information and relied heavily on sales relationships to evaluate solutions. But that world no longer exists.

The current state of SaaS sales

Today's GTM organizations are caught in a challenging position. Buyers increasingly prefer to self-educate and actively resist traditional outbound prospecting, yet companies continue to double down on volume-based sales activities. The result? Declining effectiveness of traditional sales motions despite rising costs.

This disconnect has driven massive investment in AI-powered sales automation, with much of it focused on automating prospecting, list building, and outreach. While AI excels at these volume-based tasks, simply doing more of the same activities faster isn't solving the fundamental misalignment with modern buyer preferences. GenAI is introducing additional noise which only encourages buyers to become more dismissive of outbound.

Looking to marketing

Progressive companies recognize this reality and are shifting resources toward inbound marketing. SaaS companies now routinely spend 20-30% of revenue on marketing, with 44% of those budgets allocated to inbound programs. This represents a major strategic pivot toward meeting buyers where they are – conducting independent research and evaluation.
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However, current inbound approaches aren't fundamentally changing the outcome. After only 1-3% of inbound traffic converts to a lead, only 1 in 5 of these high-intent leads will become a buyer in the sales process (through high-touch, human-interaction). 

AI will transform MarTech

This is where we see the opportunity for fundamental disruption. While sales automation focuses on doing existing activities faster, we believe the real breakthrough will come from shifting the marketing funnel to meet where today’s buyers are, in other words, moving the most critical current mid-funnel activities to top-of-funnel.

Traditional marketing hasn't been able to build individual relationships with prospects – it simply hasn't been technically feasible. This explains why marketing teams focus so heavily on getting prospects to talk to sales: it's been the only way to provide customized information and answers to specific questions.
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But AI is changing this equation. We're entering an era where marketing technology can:

• Generate completely personalized content in real-time based on a prospect's specific context and needs
• Create interactive experiences that adapt dynamically to buyer signals and questions
• Deliver product demonstrations and technical deep-dives customized to individual use cases
• Scale genuine one-to-one engagement across the entire buyer journey

The implications are profound. Rather than using marketing to drive prospects to sales conversations, companies can now provide fully personalized buying experiences directly with low-touch. This aligns perfectly with modern buyer preferences for self-directed research and evaluation.

Why we’re bullish on AI in MarTech

We're standing at the beginning of a fundamental shift in how software is sold. The traditional linear progression from marketing-qualified lead to sales-qualified opportunity will give way to fluid, buyer-directed journeys powered by intelligent marketing systems. 

This doesn't eliminate the need for human sales involvement. Rather, it means sales teams can focus their energy on high-value strategic activities instead of basic education and qualification. When prospects do engage with sales, they'll be better informed and further along in their decision process.

The companies that win in this new paradigm will be those that successfully leverage AI to meet buyers where they are, provide the exact information needed at each stage of research, and make it possible to progress through the buying journey without forcing unnecessary human touchpoints.

The time for change is now

The SaaS landscape is ripe for disruption. As buyer preferences continue to evolve, so too must the way we sell. It’s time to shift from a seller-led approach to one that prioritizes the buyer experience, leveraging AI to create meaningful, personalized interactions that drive conversion.

To learn more about MVL, read our manifesto and let’s build a company together.