By

Simon Hazeldine

In today’s fast-paced, high-stakes selling environment, preparation isn’t just important, it’s essential. But traditional methods of preparing for a sales pitch such as studying notes, rehearsing solo, or role plays with colleagues are no longer enough. Enter the game-changing power of artificial intelligence.

Salespeople now have access to one of the most powerful tools ever created: AI-powered custom simulations. With a small investment (just the cost of a ChatGPT Plus subscription), you can create an intelligent, customized sales role play assistant that helps you prepare, rehearse, and fine-tune your pitch for maximum impact.

Why Traditional Role Play Falls Short

Let’s be honest: most salespeople dread role plays. They feel artificial, overly scripted, and often turn into either toothless simulations or brutal interrogations. While role play has its place, it’s rarely realistic enough to reflect what actually happens in the room with a customer. That’s where AI offers a significant upgrade.

AI doesn’t replace human intelligence, it enhances it. By training a custom GPT model with relevant information (details about your customer, their company, their industry, and even their personality) you can generate a dynamic practice environment that mirrors the real world more closely than a colleague ever could.

Building Your Custom AI Sales Coach

All you need is a ChatGPT Plus account (currently around $20/month), and you can start creating your own Custom GPT. This involves feeding the model key data such as:

• Company background and goals
• Individual decision-makers’ roles and personality insights (e.g. from LinkedIn profiles)
• Regulatory context (e.g. pharmaceutical, finance, automotive sectors)
• Common objections, competitive threats, and internal documents

By layering this information into your custom GPT, you create an intelligent simulation that can role play as the decision-maker. It will ask tough questions, challenge your assumptions, and test your confidence—just like a real sales meeting.

Practice Makes Professional

Actors rehearse. Athletes train for game day. Yet many salespeople show up to critical pitches having barely practiced out loud. AI lets you change that. With a trained GPT, you can rehearse repeatedly until the pitch is in your muscle memory, freeing you up to read the room, react to real-time cues, and build trust.

Here’s how it works in practice:

• Upload relevant documents and background info
• Simulate conversations based on anticipated objections
• Ask your GPT questions like “How should I sell this product to this person?”
• Use the AI to summarize key talking points or generate an executive-level one-pager
• Share the custom GPT with teammates to prepare as a unit

The goal? Reduce cognitive load during the pitch so your full focus is on the customer—not on remembering what you were supposed to say next.

Team Practice, Not Just Solo

AI-assisted pitch practice isn’t just a solo tool. In high-stakes enterprise sales, multiple people from your side are often presenting. You can use your custom GPT to rehearse transitions between speakers, define who handles which objection, and coordinate the pitch flow, like a dress rehearsal before opening night.

It’s the business equivalent of staging a play in the actual theatre where the performance will happen, rather than in a random office.

Human Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence

The most effective sellers know it’s not AI or human insight – it’s both. Feed the AI with your own past experiences, team insights, and real-life anecdotes. Use it as an amplifier of good preparation, not a replacement. Ask colleagues who’ve sold to the same client for inside tips. Use your own knowledge to shape better prompts and more relevant simulations.

AI can accelerate your preparation, but it’s your emotional intelligence, adaptability, and presence in the room that close the deal.

Competitive Edge: Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore This

Let’s be brutally clear: if you’re not using AI to prep for pitches, your competitors probably are. And if your customer is using AI to prep for you, anticipating your pitch and planning objections then you’re playing catch-up before the meeting even starts.

This isn’t about replacing what’s worked for decades in sales. It’s about staying ahead. Augment your preparation with AI and you’ll:

• Anticipate objections faster
• Practice more effectively
• Present more confidently
• Win more deals

Final Thoughts

The AI revolution is already changing how elite salespeople prepare. It’s not a gimmick or a trend—it’s a tool. One that allows you to raise your game without raising your stress.

It won’t replace great selling. But it will give great sellers the edge they need.

So, next time you’ve got a big pitch looming, don’t wing it. Build it. Feed your AI coach. Rehearse like a pro. And walk into that room knowing you’ve already practiced for that room—not just a generic scenario.

Let AI help you deliver your best pitch yet.

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About the author

Simon Hazeldine works internationally as a revenue growth and sales performance speaker, consultant, and coach. He empowers his clients to get more sales, more often with more margin.

He has spoken in over thirty countries and his client list includes some of the world’s largest and most successful companies.

Simon has a master’s degree in psychology, is the bestselling author of ten books that have been endorsed by a host of business leaders including multi-billionaire business legend Michael Dell and is co-founder of leading sales podcast “The Sales Chat Show”.

He is the creator of the neuroscience based “Brain Friendly Selling”® methodology.

Simon Hazeldine’s books:

• Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success
• Bare Knuckle Selling
• Bare Knuckle Negotiating
• Bare Knuckle Customer Service
• The Inner Winner
• How To Lead Your Sales Team – Virtually and in Person
• Virtual Selling Success
• How To Manage Your People’s Performance
• How To Create Effective Employee Development Plans
• Virtual Negotiation Success