Sales teams in Australia and New Zealand are rapidly adopting AI agents. New Salesforce research found that more than half of sellers in both markets now use the technology, and many more expect to adopt it within the next two years.

The survey drew on responses from more than 4,000 sales professionals globally, including 250 in Australia and 100 in New Zealand. It points to administrative workload and limited capacity as key drivers of adoption, and suggests high-performing sellers are more likely to use AI agents than struggling teams.

Across New Zealand sales organisations, 92% report using some form of AI for tasks such as prospecting, forecasting, lead scoring, or drafting emails. The figure is 88% in Australia. Use of AI agents specifically sits at 54% in both markets. In New Zealand, 44% of sales professionals said they plan to use agents by 2027; in Australia, the figure is nearly four in 10.

Growth tactic

Sales teams ranked AI and AI agents as their leading tactic for company growth in 2026. The study linked that result to rising customer expectations and pressure on sales staff to maintain engagement and pipeline volumes while managing a growing load of non-selling tasks.

In Australia, 90% of sellers said AI deepens customer understanding and 91% said it makes their job less stressful. In New Zealand, the figures were 90% and 93% respectively. The study also estimated time savings once agents are fully implemented: Australian sellers expect agent technology to cut prospect research time by 36% and email drafting by 37%.

Salesforce described the shift as a response to a “grunt work tax” that reduces time spent directly on selling.

“The data shows it’s not a lack of hustle or skill holding sales teams back – it’s the ‘grunt work tax’ that’s a real drag on productivity across Australia and New Zealand,” said Kevin Doyle, RVP for Agentforce & Data Cloud ANZ at Salesforce.

“We need to get these administrative roadblocks out of the way so sellers of all levels can focus on what they were hired to do: build relationships. AI agents are making that possible, and organisations across Australia and New Zealand are seeing the impact already,” Doyle said.

Prospecting pressure

The research highlighted outbound activity and prospecting as the areas where sellers feel the strain most acutely. In Australia, 42% of sales representatives said cold calling is the worst part of the job; in New Zealand, 34% said the same. Australian sellers devote nearly one full day of their workweek to prospecting, yet 42% said they still lack bandwidth for adequate cold outreach.

Against that backdrop, 54% of Australian sales professionals already use AI for prospecting and 44% plan to do so in future. In New Zealand, 60% use AI for prospecting and 36% plan to adopt it. Globally, 92% of sellers with AI agents said agents benefit prospecting efforts.

High performers who substantially increased year-on-year revenue were 1.7 times more likely to use AI agents for prospecting than underperformers whose revenue was flat or declined.

Local examples

Geocon, an Australian property development company, is exploring agentic AI for lead qualification and nurturing from organic channels. The approach includes building a lead profile before passing a sales-ready prospect to a human sales representative.

“In the world of property development and off-plan sales, time to engage matters,” said Andy Magee, CIO at Geocon.

“A potential purchaser rarely enquires on a single property at a time. This will often mean that the first developer to engage with the client in a meaningful way will win the race.”

“By deploying Agentforce, we will be able to strike while the iron is hot, using autonomous agents to engage with leads and gather purchase details before handing a sales-ready prospect to a human rep. For us, this technology isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about creating a personalised buying journey that ensures we don’t miss an opportunity,” Magee said.

Salesforce executives also pointed to internal use cases for agents in sales operations and delivery. “AI agents have changed how we operate,” said Adam Alfano, EVP of Sales at Salesforce. “They help us onboard reps and quote complex deals faster and personalise outreach with better intel. Plus, they’re prospecting 24/7. It’s not just efficiency gains in one department – agents are reshaping our entire sales engine,” Alfano said.

Data foundation

The research also pointed to data quality and systems integration as constraints on AI outcomes. Half of Australian sales leaders using AI said disconnected systems slow down AI initiatives; in New Zealand, 37% said the same. It found 78% of Australian sales professionals and 71% in New Zealand are focusing on data cleansing work such as removing duplicates, correcting errors, and standardising formats across systems.

“You can’t just bolt an agent onto a mess and expect it to work,” Doyle said. “The ‘secret sauce’ is unified data. If your agent doesn’t have the full customer context, it’s going to give you garbage output. High-performing teams in ANZ get this – they’re prioritising data hygiene now so their AI actually delivers results later.”

“We’re seeing that those who fix their data foundation first are the ones seeing the biggest ROI now, demonstrating how local organisations can cover the ‘last mile’ of AI and derive real value from it,” Doyle said.