AI is not coming for the jobs of high-performing salespeople. Instead, it's replacing the roles people don't want and displacing mediocre or mid-pack performers. The best sales professionals will gain superpowers from AI, while the rest will find their jobs at risk.

OneMind's CEO believes Account Executives are safest from AI due to the need for relationship-building and navigating politics. However, roles focused on information transfer, like lead qualification (SDRs) and product demos (Solutions Engineers), will likely be outperformed by AI.

The narrative of AI causing widespread sales layoffs is misleading. The more significant, subtle shift is that when a salesperson quits, companies will increasingly replace that function with an AI agent rather than hiring another person. This non-backfill approach is the real force of change.

Chad Peets predicts that AI will automate the top-of-funnel tasks currently performed by Sales and Business Development Representatives, making most of those roles obsolete within five years. He sees this as the most obvious and immediate impact of AI on the structure of sales teams.

AI won't eliminate sales roles but will automate the tasks of lazy, transactional reps, making them obsolete. Conversely, top performers who merge AI-powered insights with human empathy will become unstoppable, creating a more pronounced divide in sales team performance.

Traditional "value-based selling" is obsolete. In an AI-driven market, customers demand tangible, immediate results, not buzzwords. A sales rep's only true value is their deep product expertise—the ability to deploy the tool, troubleshoot, and demonstrate ROI firsthand. Reps who lack this are being bypassed in favor of those who can actually deliver.

Don't let fear of pushback from your sales team delay AI implementation. The transition will naturally filter your organization; reps who resist are likely underperformers you should let go, while top performers will embrace the tools to exceed their quotas.

Relying on relationships is an insufficient defense against AI in sales. Salespeople who can't answer tough technical objections and lack deep product knowledge are becoming obsolete. Expertise, not just charm, is the new requirement to provide value that an AI cannot.

The productivity gains from individual AI use will become so significant that a wide performance gap will emerge in the workplace. The most talented employees will become hyper-productive and will refuse to work for organizations that don't support these new workflows, leading to a significant talent drain.