Transforming Sales with AI: A Conversation Starter with EY’s Keith Mescha

This special episode features highlights from a fast-paced conversation between Polaris I/O’s Dave Irwin and EY’s Keith Mescha on how AI is reshaping the future of sales.

Rather than a linear discussion, this “best of” format pulls together the most compelling ideas from their wide-ranging talk,- including how AI can personalize outreach, streamline seller workflows, and spark change across complex sales organizations.

Keith shares practical insights from his work at EY, emphasizing the real-world shifts already happening inside sales teams. This is the first in what will be a deeper ongoing conversation about modernizing sales with AI, so think of this as a powerful intro, not the final word.
 
Takeaways:
- AI isn’t just automating tasks, it’s unlocking smarter selling
- Personalization is now table stakes
- Cross-team collaboration is critical to getting value from AI
- Early adopters inside companies can lead big change
- Strategic leadership buy-in is what makes or breaks AI efforts
- Culture matters: innovation has to be nurtured, not forced
- The best AI tools surface the right signals at the right time
- Sellers don’t need more dashboards, they need better context
- Data without access is a dead end
- AI can bridge insight gaps that sellers don’t even know exist