AI's Impact on Sales Conversion Rates? Nothing yet.

Longer sales cycles, new pricing models #MastersofAI

Theory Ventures General Partner Tomasz Tunguz shares observations from a GTM survey Theory Ventures did with hundreds of startups, 68% of them early-stage, well-funded, mostly mid-market ACV, and 25% remote.

Here's what they found:

• AI today has no impact on conversion rate

• AI does not impact ARR growth, even though people who buy AI perceive it as meaningfully contributing to overall efficiency gains

• If you’re considering changing your pricing model, consider creating a hybrid or matrix pricing model (seat + usage). You’ll have six percentage points more of net dollar retention.

• Selling to mid-market is much harder now

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5+1 Big ideas from the talk

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1. AI's Impact on Sales Conversion Rates: No Statistical Difference Yet

Despite the widespread adoption of AI tools in sales, current data indicates no significant difference in ultimate conversion rates between companies that use AI and those that don't. While AI is generating excitement and perceived efficiency gains, it has yet to demonstrably impact bottom-line sales performance.

"If we... ran the statistical test, there’s actually no difference in performance if you look at ultimate bookings of a company or their ultimate lead conversion rate irrespective of whether or not [they] use AI. It doesn't matter."