The AI Revolution in B2B Sales is Here: Lessons from SaaStr on Why You Can't Afford to Wait

"You're cooked, you're cooked. You're cooked." 

Kyle Norton, CRO of Owner, repeated this three times when describing companies whose sales leaders aren't AI-native. It wasn't a slip of the tongue—it was the one of the many urgent warnings delivered at this year's SaaStr conference. 

SaaStr, the world's largest community for B2B software executives, has long been the place where the future of SaaS is revealed. I couldn't make it this year, so I was eager to catch up on the Youtube videos to see what I'd missed. What struck me immediately was how AI dominated the conversation—not as a future possibility, but as a present reality reshaping everything we know about B2B sales. 

Two presentations in particular blew my mind: the keynote from Saastr founder Jason Lemkin, and Kyle Norton's case study from Owner. These sessions weren’t about AI theory, they shared hard data that painted a stark picture: AI usage in sales nearly doubled from 24% in 2023 to 43% in 2024[1]. The leaders are pulling away from the pack at an alarming rate. 

Why This Time Is Different

We've heard transformation promises before. CRM was going to change everything. Social selling was the future. So why believe the AI hype? 

Because this time, it's not hype—it's happening. SaaStr's own AI handled 130,000 customer service chats in less than eight weeks. Owner is operating at 3-4x the efficiency of their competitors. Companies investing in AI report revenue uplifts of 10-15%[8]. 

More tellingly, Lemkin revealed that every portfolio company over $100M is seeing growth slow to 10-20% if they're not adapting fast enough. The cost of inaction has never been clearer. 

"If you're running at the 2024 pace, if you're running a 2023 playbook... everyone that's crushing today is moving faster." - Jason Lemkin 

The New Reality: AI-Native or Left Behind

Norton's message was blunt: "In any leadership role there's a component of the interview that's now “what are you doing with AI? What do you know about it? How are you using it today…,” I don't care how good this person is if they're not in the tools and what I consider to be AI native, we can't hire them." 

This isn't a nice-to-have. At Owner, if you're not actively using AI tools daily, you don't get hired into leadership. Period. 

The 25-30% Revolution: Shift and Lift at Scale

The data point that most stopped me in my tracks was Owner reporting a 25-30% increase in revenue-generating activity time for their reps - with ambitions to reach 70-80%. It’s safe to say that this is the holy grail of sales optimization, an elusive one that’s befuddled sales leaders since the start of time (or at least, since the CRM and admin became a greater part of sales). If Owner’s experience is true, this would be huge news.  

Here’s why: One of my mentors once taught me the concept of "shift and lift"—shift administrative tasks off your sellers' plates and lift them up to do more customer-facing activities. Your seller should excel at talking to customers, not writing beautiful notes and tracking every activity in Salesforce. Owner's AI implementation is this principle at scale. 

Norton detailed their approach: "Everything is on Salesforce is the foundation then on top of that we use Momentum for automated CRM enrichment and you can basically do whatever you want with Momentum it can look at call transcripts run custom prompts fill in the Salesforce field run an automation ping somebody in Slack you said the wrong thing on a deal..." 

In practice, it looks like this: 

• Before: Rep spends 30 minutes after each call updating Salesforce, writing follow-up emails, scheduling next steps 

• After: AI handles all updates automatically, drafts personalized follow-ups, rep reviews and sends in 2 minutes 

• Before: Manager spends hours reviewing calls and pipeline to identify coaching opportunities 

• After: AI flags deals at risk and coaching moments in real-time, manager focuses on high-impact interventions 

"25-30% more selling time sounds incremental until you do the math: that's 780 additional customer conversations per rep per year." 

How to Start: The Recording Revolution

While early adopters like Owner are leading the way in AI, others might wonder where to start? Norton and Lemkin were clear: Start recording every sales interaction today. 

Why? Because Owner's entire AI transformation is built on a foundation of call data. Their AI analyzes transcripts to: 

• Score calls and identify successful patterns 

• Automatically update CRM fields based on what was discussed 

• Flag when reps deviate from proven talk tracks 

• Surface coaching opportunities for managers 

• Generate personalized follow-up communications 

Without recorded calls, you have no data. Without data, you have no AI transformation. It's that simple. 

The Compound Effect 

When reps spend more time selling, compounding effects emerge: 

Volume: A rep making 50 calls per week can now make 65—that's 780 additional conversations per year. 

Quality: AI handles research and prep, making each interaction more valuable. Sellers using AI-driven personalization see 28% better response rates[6]. 

Velocity: 69% of sellers using AI cut sales cycles by an average of one week[6]. 

Competition: Owner operates at 3-4x the efficiency of competitors. This gap compounds daily. 

The Harsh Truth 

Lemkin's prediction should terrify any sales leader: "AI at least by next year is going to be better than 80% of sales reps." 

Norton was equally direct about resistant reps: "I don't think they have a job next year." 

The truth stings, but here's the opportunity: sales professionals who embrace AI won't just survive—they'll thrive. The "shift and lift" philosophy means they'll focus on high-value activities AI can't replicate: complex problem-solving, relationship building, and creative deal-making. 

Your 30-Day Action Plan

1. Start Recording Everything: Use Gong, Fathom, or even native Google Meet, Teams or Zoom recording. No data = no AI transformation. 
    

2. Audit Your Time: Document where reps actually spend their time. Target the biggest time wasters first. 
    

3. Run AI Experiments: Start with one use case—email follow-ups or CRM updates. Use tools like Momentum, Attention or similar. 
    

4. Secure AI Leadership: Whether internal or external, you need someone who understands both AI and sales transformation. You need someone to map workflows, build and customize AI prompts and tools, train your teams and lead change management. AI cannot be like your other tools, with limited adoption. The stakes are too big.  
    

5. Set Aggressive Targets: Owner's 25-30% gain should be your starting point, not your endpoint. 

   
    "Over the next three years, 92 percent of companies plan to increase their AI investment." - McKinsey  

The Bottom Line 

The age of Superintelligent Sales is here. While many debate AI's potential, companies like Owner are already living in the future—with 25-30% more selling time, dramatically happier reps, and an insurmountable competitive advantage. 

The choice is binary. As Norton made crystal clear with his triple emphasis: embrace AI now or be among the cooked. 

Which will you choose? 

Sources 

[1] AI in B2B Marketing: 2025 Statistics Every CMO Needs to Know 
[5] 50+ AI Marketing Statistics in 2025: AI Marketing Trends & Insights 
[6] The ROI of AI: New research on how AI is transforming B2B sales 
[8] How AI Is Impacting Sales In 2025 - QuotaPath