Tag Archives: AI

How to Use an AI Application to Actually Solve a Real – and Huge – Sales Problem

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I got an email this week that made me sit up straight.

A territory manager at a scientific equipment manufacturer read my article on aggressive transparency as a competitive weapon – you know, the one where I argue that publishing your pricing openly makes competitors look like they’re hiding something. He asked a hell of a good question: “How would we show pricing to customers when our equipment can vary by thousands of dollars for small accessories, and we have so many configurations it would be impossible to create a pricing list for every one?” In the past, I would have told him that aggressive transparency has its limits. That some businesses are just too complex for public pricing. But I had a lightbulb moment. This isn’t a limitation of transparency. This is the perfect application for AI – and it could change everything about how complex B2B sales actually work.

The Pricing Problem Most B2B Companies Actually Face

Here’s the thing. A lot of B2B companies – maybe most – have genuinely complex pricing. Not “we want to hide our pricing” complex. Actually complex.

You’ve got custom configurations, variable components, different installation requirements, regional factors, volume considerations, and integration with existing systems. There are a thousand legitimate variables that make “here’s our price” impossible to answer without knowing the specifics of what the customer actually needs.

So what happens? The salesperson says “let me get back to you with a quote.” They go back to the office – or the Batcave, as I like to call it – spend hours building a proposal, send it over, and then wait. Maybe the buyer has follow-up questions. Maybe they want to see what it costs if they change one component. Back to the Batcave.

The whole process takes days or weeks. The buyer can’t comparison shop efficiently. The salesperson can’t adjust on the fly during the conversation. And both sides are frustrated.  I’ve been that salesperson, and I’ve been that frustrated.

The traditional “solution” has been to either simplify your offering (which might kill your competitive advantage), accept that you can’t be transparent (which kills trust), or create massive pricing matrices that nobody can actually use. None of those are good options.

What If AI Could Configure and Quote in Real Time?

Here’s what hit me when I read that email.

What if you built an AI configurator – using Claude, ChatGPT, or whatever tool works best for your business – that had all your pricing variables loaded into it? Not as a replacement for your salespeople, but as a tool for them.

Picture this: The salesperson is on a call with a prospect. The prospect describes what they need. The salesperson opens the AI app on their phone (or laptop, or tablet), inputs the variables as the prospect is talking, and gets an accurate quote right there during the conversation.

“Okay, so you need the Model X with the enhanced sensor package, configured for a high-temperature environment, with installation in your Denver facility. Let me check that for you.” Ten seconds later: “That configuration runs $47,300, and we can have it installed within six weeks.”

No going to the Batcave. No “let me get back to you.” No waiting three days for a proposal that might be obsolete by the time it arrives because the prospect’s requirements changed during a meeting you weren’t in. Quote and propose on the spot.

“How Much?” “This Is How Much.”

I’ve been saying for twenty-two years that when a customer asks “how much?” it’s a buying sign. And the best response is simply: “This is how much.”

Not “Well, let me tell you about all the value you’re getting first.” Not “It depends on several factors, let me explain.” Not “Great question – we should schedule a follow-up call to go over pricing.” Just: “This is how much.”

When salespeople use lots of words in between – attempting to ‘build value’ before quoting price – it tells the customer that the salesperson is afraid of their price. And that fear invites negotiation.

For years, the objection I’ve heard is: “But Troy, we can’t quote price on the spot. It’s too complex.”

Now it doesn’t have to be.

An AI configurator doesn’t just solve the complexity problem. It actually discourages negotiation in a way that benefits both sides. When you quote on the spot, the customer sees that you’re not sitting down with your boss trying to figure out “how much we can get them to pay.” It feels cut and dried. Transparent. Fair.

And here’s what most salespeople don’t realize: most people don’t like to negotiate. Millennials and Gen Z – who now represent 71% of B2B buyers – like it even less. They want clear, upfront pricing. They want to make informed decisions without playing games.

When you can say “this is how much” immediately, you’re giving them exactly what they want. And you’re differentiating yourself from every competitor who’s still making them wait.

This Changes the Sales Conversation

Think about what this does for the sales conversation.

For the buyer, they can actually explore options in real time. “What if we went with the standard sensor package instead of enhanced?” “What if we delayed installation until next quarter?” “What about if we ordered two units instead of one?” Each question gets answered immediately, which means they can actually make an informed decision during the conversation instead of playing email tag for two weeks.

For the salesperson, you’re not leaving the conversation to build a proposal. You’re having an actual consultative conversation where you can test different configurations, show value trade-offs, and help the buyer understand what they actually need – all while the buyer is engaged and focused. You’re solving problems together instead of throwing proposals over the wall.  And you’re setting a standard that your competitors can’t match while truly earning your spot in the Buyer’s Journey.

For aggressive transparency, you can actually put this configurator on your website. Public-facing. “Configure your solution and see pricing instantly.” That’s aggressive transparency for complex B2B products. Nobody else in your market is doing that. And if your competitors complain that “our pricing is too complex for that,” you can just point to your website and say “ours is too – and we figured it out.”

Yes, But What About…

I know what you’re thinking.

“Troy, that sounds great, but what about all the variables we can’t predict?”

Fair question. And the answer is: you build in ranges for the things you can’t quote precisely, and you make those contingencies explicit.

“The equipment itself is $47,300. Installation will depend on your facility’s electrical configuration, which we’ll need to assess on-site. Based on typical installations, that runs between $8,000 and $12,000. If there are any unusual requirements, we’ll quote those separately before we start work.”

See? Still transparent. Still immediate. Still way better than “we’ll get back to you with a full proposal in a week.”

“But what if the AI makes a mistake?”

Then you test it. Extensively. Before you let salespeople use it with customers, and definitely before you put it on your website. You run hundreds of scenarios. You compare the AI quotes to what your pricing team would build manually. You refine the prompts and the data until it’s reliable. This isn’t “throw AI at the problem and hope.” This is “use AI to solve a specific business problem that humans are currently solving slowly and expensively.”

“Won’t this replace our salespeople?”

No. It replaces the part of their job that sucks – going back to the office to build proposals that the buyer isn’t even sure they want yet. It gives them back time to actually sell. To ask better questions. To understand what the buyer actually needs. To build relationships.

The salespeople who are afraid this will replace them are the same ones who think their job is being the gatekeeper of information. They’re already being replaced – by buyers who would rather research online than talk to someone who won’t give them straight answers. The salespeople who see this as a tool to make them more effective? They’re going to dominate their markets.

This Is New Ground for Everyone, Including Me

This is genuinely new territory. Not just for that equipment manufacturer who emailed me, but for most B2B companies with complex pricing. For me. For the companies I work with. But that’s what makes it exciting.

The companies that figure this out first – that build AI configurators that actually work, that train their salespeople to use them effectively, that maybe even put them on their websites for prospects to use – those companies are going to have a massive competitive advantage. Not because they have better AI, but because they’ve solved the tension between complexity and transparency that their competitors are still using as an excuse to hide pricing.

Start Out By Thinking About Your Variables

If you sell anything with complex, variable pricing, start thinking about this now.

What are all the variables that go into your pricing? Can you list them? Can you define how they interact with each other? Can you build decision trees that handle the most common scenarios?

If you can answer those questions, you can build an AI configurator. Maybe not today. Maybe not next month. But sooner than you think.

And when you do, you’re not just implementing a cool AI tool. You’re changing how your entire market thinks about transparency, speed, and what buyers should expect from salespeople. The competitors who are still making buyers wait three days for a quote are going to look like they’re operating in a different century. Because they are.

Navigating the AI Future in Sales – It’s Not Easy

I’ve written before that AI isn’t everything, and ignoring it is just as dumb. This is what I mean.

AI doesn’t replace sales fundamentals. It doesn’t replace genuine discovery. It doesn’t replace relationship-building or consultative selling. But it can absolutely replace the parts of the sales process that are slow, manual, and frustrating for everyone involved.

Complex pricing configuration is one of those parts. If you’re in a business where “let me get back to you with a quote” is a regular part of your sales vocabulary, you should be thinking about this.

Because somewhere, one of your competitors is. And when they launch their configurator – whether it’s internal for their sales team or public-facing on their website – every conversation you have afterward is going to start with “Well, your competitor showed me pricing immediately…”

You can either be the company that figures this out first, or the company that’s scrambling to catch up.

I know which one I’d rather be.

AI Isn’t Everything – And Ignoring It Is Just as Dumb

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I had a presentation last week that didn’t go like I wanted it to. Not because the content was bad – the concepts are solid and the program works and usually helps a lot of people in the room. But because I was in a room where people had decided that if I wasn’t talking about AI in every sentence, I wasn’t worth listening to.

Twenty minutes into a two-hour program, two people literally told me they were tuning me out because I wasn’t incorporating AI into everything I was discussing. Never mind that the program was about fundamental sales principles, sales organization methodology, and sales strategy. Never mind that they’d booked me knowing exactly what I was teaching. Never mind that their own self-analysis scores showed they had serious fundamental problems to address.

They wanted AI. Everything AI. AI as the answer to every question, the solution to every problem, the future of every business function.

And here’s what made it even crazier: Last year, I worked with a different group where the leader banned me from talking about AI at all. AI was the boogeyman. The thing that was going to destroy jobs, eliminate human connection, and ruin everything good about business.

Both approaches are wrong. And if you’re in either camp, you’re losing real money and real competitive advantage.

The AI-Is-Everything Crowd

By now, you probably know how I think. AI is a powerful tool. I use it constantly. Claude and Perplexity have revolutionized how I do research, prepare for client meetings, and develop content. I’ve written about how salespeople should use AI to research prospects, competitors, and their own companies. I’m not anti-AI.  I think AI is a productivity tool, a force multiplier, and a field-leveler between small companies and big ones.

But AI isn’t magic. And it’s not a substitute for knowing what you’re doing.

The group I presented to last week had fundamental sales problems. I’d opened the session with a diagnostic assessment – a simple 9-question health check that scores companies on their sales fundamentals out of 45 points. The best score in the room was 29. The worst was 16. To put that in perspective, anything below 30 indicates significant gaps in sales process, accountability, training, pipeline management, and basic business development discipline.

These companies needed to fix fundamentals. But they didn’t want to hear about fundamentals. They wanted to hear about AI.

No amount of AI is going to fix those problems. AI can make a good sales process more efficient. It can’t create a sales process where none exists. It can help salespeople research faster. It can’t teach them how to ask good questions or conduct thorough Investigation. It can automate follow-up sequences. It can’t build genuine customer relationships.

But they didn’t want to hear that, because AI is hip and trendy. Because talking about AI makes them feel like they’re on the cutting edge. Because it’s more comfortable to focus on shiny new tools than to confront the reality that their basics are broken. And because talking about the basics meant they would have had to make themselves vulnerable.

Here’s the truth – if your sales fundamentals are weak, AI will just help you fail faster and at greater scale. You’ll send more bad emails. You’ll research more prospects you’re not equipped to serve. You’ll automate more processes that don’t work.

Unless your business is actually building AI, developing AI-driven technology, or constructing data centers for AI infrastructure (one guy in the room was building data centers – and he was one of the most engaged participants), AI should not be everything. It should be a tool that enhances what you’re already doing well.

The AI-Is-The-Boogeyman Crowd

On the other end of the spectrum are the leaders who won’t let anyone mention AI. Who think it’s a fad. Who believe that “real salespeople” don’t need technology. Who are convinced that AI is going to eliminate the human element from business relationships.

This is just as wrong, and just as costly.

AI has already changed how buyers research vendors, how they make decisions, and what they expect from salespeople. Your prospects are using AI to research you before they ever take your call. They’re using it to compare alternatives, analyze reviews, and pull together information from multiple sources.

If your salespeople aren’t using the same tools, they’re operating at an information disadvantage. They’re going into calls less prepared than their buyers. They’re competing against salespeople who are leveraging AI to research more thoroughly, prepare more effectively, and operate more efficiently.

Ignoring AI because you’re philosophically opposed to it or scared of it is like refusing to use email in 2005 because you preferred phone calls. The technology isn’t going away. Your competitors are using it. Your buyers are using it. Refusing to engage with it doesn’t make you principled – it makes you obsolete.

There’s a Middle Ground, But Navigating It is Hard

Both extremes miss the real issue. AI is a tool. Not a strategy. Not a replacement for fundamentals. Not optional.

A tool.  Just like my favorite 3/8” drive ratchet in my garage.  I reach for it all the time, but it’s my knowledge and hands that guide it.

The right question isn’t “How do we make everything about AI?” or “How do we avoid AI entirely?” The right question is “Where does AI genuinely enhance what we’re already doing well?”

For sales, that means:

  • Using AI to research prospects before calls so salespeople show up informed and relevant
  • Using AI to track competitors and market trends so salespeople understand the landscape
  • Using AI to analyze your own company’s online presence so you know what buyers are seeing
  • Using AI to draft initial outreach that salespeople then customize and personalize
  • Using AI to help salespeople prepare better questions based on what they’ve learned about a prospect

What it doesn’t mean:

  • Replacing genuine discovery conversations with AI-generated scripts
  • Automating relationship-building
  • Using AI to blast out generic messages at scale
  • Letting AI make strategic decisions about which accounts to pursue
  • Assuming AI can fix fundamental problems with sales process, training, or accountability

The fundamentals still matter. Probably more than ever, because AI has raised the bar for what “adequate” looks like. A salesperson using AI poorly is competing against a salesperson using AI well. The one using it well has better research, better preparation, more relevant outreach, and more efficient processes.

But you still need to know how to sell. You still need to understand the Buyer’s Journey. You still need to conduct thorough Investigation. You still need to build genuine relationships.

AI amplifies what you’re already doing. If you’re doing the right things, AI makes you more effective. If you’re doing the wrong things, AI makes you more efficiently wrong.

Why the Middle Ground Is Hard

I think both extremes exist because the middle ground is uncomfortable. It requires nuance. It requires actually understanding both the fundamentals and the tools. It requires making judgment calls about where AI adds value and where it doesn’t.

It’s easier to declare “AI is everything!” and outsource your thinking to the shiny new tool. It’s easier to declare “AI is nothing!” and dismiss the whole thing as a fad.

What’s harder – but necessary – is saying: “AI is a powerful tool that we need to incorporate thoughtfully into solid fundamentals that we’re already executing well.”

That requires admitting you may have fundamentals to fix. It requires learning new tools. It requires constant evaluation of what’s working and what isn’t. It requires intellectual humility about both traditional approaches and new technologies.

Most people don’t want to do that work. They want simple answers. “Use AI for everything” is simple. “Ignore AI completely” is simple.

“Use AI strategically to enhance solid fundamentals” is complicated. But it’s the only approach that actually works.

What This Means for You

If you’re in the “AI is everything” camp, step back. Ask yourself: Are my fundamentals solid? Do my salespeople know how to conduct discovery? Do we have a real sales process? Do we hold people accountable? Do we train consistently?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, fix that first. Then use AI to make those solid fundamentals more efficient.

If you’re in the “AI is the boogeyman” camp, wake up. Your competitors are using these tools. Your buyers are using these tools. You’re operating at a disadvantage, and that disadvantage is growing every day.

Start small. Have your salespeople use AI to research prospects before calls. Use it to monitor competitors. Use it to understand your own online reputation. Learn what it can do well and what it can’t.

And if you’re trying to navigate the middle ground, keep going. It’s hard. It’s nuanced. It requires constant adjustment. But it’s the only sustainable approach to operating in a market where AI exists and fundamentals still matter.

That’s not sexy. That’s not simple. That’s not a soundbite that fits on a LinkedIn post.

But it’s what actually works.

An Example of AI Gone Wrong

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AI is one hell of a tool. I use it a lot myself. But I’ve also talked a lot about avoiding Chat Crap in your work, because AI can sound inauthentic, and that’s where “Good AI” becomes “AI Gone Wrong.” As Amazon stated:  “Roughly 57% of all web-based text has been AI generated or translated through an AI algorithm, according to a separate study from a team of Amazon Web Services researchers published in June.” I’m not sure I completely buy that 57% number – it seems like an awfully high number, considering how short a time AI has been in play – but even if the number is half that, it’s huge.

I also think that AI can be handy for prospect research, as well as content generation.  But you have to be VERY careful. The linked article below is one great example of AI gone wrong. Here’s the opening paragraph:

Tony’s KC:  The Heart of Kansas City’s Barbecue Scene

“Tony’s Kansas City has a rich history dating back several decades in Kansas City. Tony, a BBQ aficionado with a love for crafting the ideal smoked meats, opened the restaurant and soon won over many devoted patrons. The early going was modest, with a limited menu that concentrated on honing the fundamentals. Tony’s KC grew in popularity and offers throughout time, earning a slot on the local and tourist calendar that is not to be missed.”

Sounds like a great place to eat, right? There’s only one problem. Tony’s Kansas City is NOT a restaurant. It’s a local news blog that keeps people up to date on what’s really happening in my fair city, and only every now and then does he even talk about barbecue.

Now, think about this. This piece of terrible, lazy “writing” is on the Washington Post Magazine‘s website. That’s a national outlet. With one quick fact-check – a visit to Tony’s Kansas City blog – whoever prompted the AI could have figured out that the article was junk. Nobody did.

This happens because people think that AI is magic and infallible.  They’re using AI the wrong way because they don’t understand it, and they don’t know how to treat it.  You should treat AI like the best intern you’ve ever had:  It has a higher IQ than you, it has 20 Ph.D’s, and it has absolutely no street smarts whatsoever.  My favorite platform at the moment is Claude; I did a back to back video comparison on Claude vs. ChatGPT and put it on YouTube to explain why.

The “street smarts” have to come from you.  Your job is to guide AI, edit it, and back-check it.  Apparently, the Washington Post doesn’t understand that.  Here’s what happened.  Someone – most likely a low-paid person and possibly an actual intern – was assigned to write an article. I haven’t a clue what platform they used, or how they prompted it, but I do know that they ended up with an article that was a complete fabrication with precious little relationship to the truth.  And, once they had it, they didn’t even bother clicking through to Tony’s website (his name really is Tony Botello – that’s one thing that the article got right) in order to verify that they were in the same solar system as the truth.  As of this writing, the article has been up for a week with no changes or corrections.

So, how should you use AI platforms?  Here are a few of the techniques that I use:

  1. Prompts should be several sentences in length and be fully explanatory; one-sentence prompts usually get you junk for results. What we call “AI” is also known as large language models, meaning that the real feature is the platform’s ability to understand sentences, paragraphs, and context.  The more you put in your prompt, the better your results will be, even if you’re doing prospect research.
  2. Don’t be afraid to ask your AI platform to try again. Every popular platform has a button to do so, but I recommend suggesting your own refinements.  For instance, often I’ll say something like, “That wasn’t bad, but can you try again without the buzzwords, using plainer language?”
  3. In that vein, you should always specify a tone or style in which you want the result, as well as a length (when you’re going for a written document). If you don’t specify word count, AI tends to go very long.
  4. If your work depends on the accuracy of AI’s conclusions, take a quick moment to fact-check at least the biggest issues in the result.
  5. Once you have something you’re happy with (again, for a written document), you should always refine it a bit, to add your own language and your own touches to it. I created a video on how I use AI to create written work.  For the record, I did NOT use AI in this one.

Now, here’s what is really scary.  The Post article now becomes part of the “knowledge base” on the Internet, and will at some point be referred to as source material for other articles, whether human-written or AI-written.  Expect the amount of Chat Crap to expand exponentially.  This, friends, is why AI will not replace people in too many meaningful roles.  If you use AI platforms (and to be clear, I recommend that you use them and use them well), make sure to remember that YOU are the street smarts.  Keep that in mind, and you will do fine, and you will avoid “AI Gone Wrong.”

Which Sales Skill Should You Focus On Improving?

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I’ve had some interesting conversations lately with business owners and sales leaders who know that something is wrong.  They just don’t know what.  They haven’t kept their sales teams abreast of the way that selling is changing, they haven’t retrained and developed their people, and because of this, they are feeling a little lost.  And they want to change their results – NOW.

When people feel lost and want to change results, they look for the “magic button” that, if they can just find it and press it, will fix all their problems.  So, instead of, “Can you assess my issues and perhaps retrain my salespeople to update their skills,” they ask, “Can you teach my people how to (close/prospect/present/etc.).  In other words, they’re looking for the one piece of the skillset of successful salespeople in the current environment – and if their people can learn that ONE THING, they’ll return to success.  So, I’m writing this article to help them – and you.  I’m going to tell you what the most important skill that salespeople can possess is.

The answer is – all of them (sorry).  Salespeople need to be competent to excellent in every phase of the Buyer’s Journey, and if they’re not, sales will fall away.

First of all, salespeople need to understand what the Buyer’s Journey is, and what their role is in navigating it.

Then, the salespeople must be good at Motivating their prospects to enter a Journey, because without good Motivation skills, they won’t have anyone to sell to.  We used to call this skillset “Prospecting,” but I seldom use that term anymore.  What we called “Prospecting” is now elevated, and Motivating is really a better description of the salesperson’s role in this phase of the Buyer’s Journey.

Salespeople must be skilled at helping their Buyer through the Investigation phase, where the Buyer defines his or her needs and sources of dissatisfaction, as well as the Buyer’s Desired Future State.  Only by understanding the Buyer’s needs, dissatisfaction, and definition of success, can the salesperson deliver a targeted presentation of a solution.  If you can’t master this phase, you’re spraying and praying.

Presenting the customized, tailored Solution, using your expertise, is what guides the Buyer to the success that they are seeking – that’s why they began a Buyer’s Journey in the first place.  Salespeople need great presentation skills.  Not only is the presentation of Features and Advantages important, but salespeople should be skilled at illustrating the solution through customer success stories that engage, entertain, and show the Buyer why their solution is the best.

If your Solution works for the Buyer, it’s time to navigate the buyer through the Evaluation phase by presenting your price and terms in a fashion that is both definite and easy to understand.  The more complicated your proposal, the more fear the buyer will have.  The less definite you are in your presentation of price and terms, the more you invite negotation – and move farther away from the sale.

Finally, your closing skills help the buyer with the Decision phase of the sale.  Even today’s empowered buyers still need and want to be asked to buy – and if you forget this part of the Journey, all your work to this point will likely be for naught.  Part of this phase is the ability to handle and resolve objections, and to remove the Buyer’s fear.

My point is this:  Being a “great closer” or a “great presenter” is worthless if you don’t have the other skills.  That wasn’t always true; in pre-Internet days, if you were a great closer, you could browbeat your customers, make them bleed from the ears, and close enough business to get by.  Great storytellers and rapport-builders could also get enough business.  Even the old “hunter/farmer” sales mentality is obsolete now; salespeople have to be able to both initiate and maintain relationships.  Buyers are more empowered now, and that’s changed the landscape. Today’s salespeople have to be great all-around players.

Is that a lot of work?  Yep, it is.  I didn’t promise that it would be easy.  The best professional salespeople are tuning and improving their skills on a weekly basis.  Here’s a tip for both salespeople and managers:  Focus on one skill every week, and work to improve it.  Try things out, watch to see how customers respond, and use that feedback to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  Your customers are the best focus group that ever existed!

That’s a lot to improve.  I’m not quite done yet, though.  Today’s environment requires additions to the old skill sets.  To maximize your opportunities today, you need to be skilled and ready to use communication platforms that include phone, email, text, video, social media, and IM.  Can you write a persuasive text in 240 characters or less?  If not, you’re going to lose business to salespeople who can.  This is one place where AI (something else you need to be good at) can help you.  Type in what you want to say, and ask your AI app to condense it to 240 characters.  It works.  Just beware of “Chat crap,” and refine your result to eliminate it!

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is.  Let’s be honest.  The job of being a winning salesperson is more complicated than it used to be – and it’s not going to get any less complicated in the future.  This is a moment where you really have an opportunity to differentiate yourself, if you put in the work, learn new techniques and technologies, and keep yourself not only relevant, but vital.  My opinion?  It’s one hell of a fun time to be in sales.

 

How to Easily Spot AI Blog Posts – And How to Use AI Properly

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Hey there, savvy sales champs! Ever thought about having a secret weapon that boosts your sales game? Enter ChatGPT, your new best buddy in the sales world. It’s like having a Jedi master of conversation on your side, helping you charm clients, answer tricky questions, and close deals faster than you can say “commission.” Whether you’re a seasoned sales pro or just dipping your toes, this AI wizard is about to revolutionize how you hustle. Buckle up and get ready to unlock the magic of ChatGPT for your sales hustle!

Now, did that sound like me, Troy Harrison, the Sales Navigator?  Hell, no, it didn’t!  And if you use AI applications (whether ChatGPT or others) without any editing, it won’t sound like YOU either.  I purposely asked ChatGPT to write an intro for this article knowing that it would come up with something that was so transparently NOT me as to (hopefully) get your attention.  What we’re going to be talking about today is how to easily spot AI in blog posts, articles, and other written documentation – which, hopefully, will show you how to use AI correctly.

At current count, there are over 5,000 Generative AI applications competing for a growing AI user base.  “Generative AI” is the proper term for applications that accept a prompt from you and then generate some sort of written document as an output.  AI can write blog posts, articles, books, and even movie scripts (which is a big reason that the screen writers have been on strike – seems self-defeating to me, but I digress), and it’s easy to get started.  It can do this well or it can do it badly.  I hope we can agree that the opening paragraph of this article was “doing it badly,” but I bet you’ve seen a ton of posts on social media that looked pretty much like that.  AI is in its infancy, but at the moment, it has a number of verbal “tics” that are dead giveaways.  Let’s look at three of those now.

  1. Over-the-top language: Don’t get me wrong, I like enthusiasm. I once had a client describe me as a “human exclamation point!”  But too much AI output can sound like the person is on the biggest sugar high ever. My opening paragraph is an example.  “Hey there, savvy sales warriors” is a phrase unlikely to ever be typed by human fingers.  When you see a post that is virtually screaming at you, it’s probably AI.Your Hack:  I asked ChatGPT to use “casual language” in my prompt for the intro, and that was the result.  If you don’t specify your wording, you’ll get an abundance of business buzzwords and language that sounds like a term paper for an MBA program.  If neither one of those extremes mirrors how you speak and write – and they probably don’t – you need to be specific in the language you want for an output.  “Don’t use buzzwords” is one of my favorite prompts, and sometimes I’ll paste in a couple of paragraphs of my own work as a writing sample and tell ChatGPT to mirror my verbal cadence.  Until you get really good at your initial prompts, don’t accept the first result you get.
  2. Giveaway words and phrases: There are certain phrases that are dead giveaways.  “Say goodbye to X and say hello to Y” is a frequent one.  Or, “I hope this email finds you well.”  (That one sticks in my craw a bit, because I used to open a lot of emails with, “I hope you are doing well.”  AI took that one away from me.)  Words like “unleash,” “revolutionize,” and “unlock” are also common tics that give away a written product as AI-generated.Your Hack:  Sometimes, it’s enough to just accept a result with some buzzwords in it, and then rephrase it yourself into more direct and plain lingo.  Watch LinkedIn and Facebook ads, and you’ll see a ton of AI generated ads.  Read them and analyze them, and you’ll see other common verbal tics.  Then avoid them.
  3. Intros and closes: ChatGPT uses very familiar patterns of introductions and closes to its output.  Again – you probably already know what they are.  Avoid these, especially the intro.  The first paragraph or even sentence tells the reader if they want to continue, and if your first paragraph sounds AI, many readers will bail out.  Hmmmm….I’m hoping that most of you knew what I was doing and made it past that crappy first paragraph!Your Hack:  Always write your own opening and closing to a written document.  ChatGPT is actually pretty good at writing the body of an article with bullet points and analysis, but is weaker at getting into the article.  Your solution is to use your own ideas and thoughts to open your posts, blogs, etc., and then allow ChatGPT to do some of the heavy lifting in the middle.  Remember – make sure that the language flows and sounds like you.  If you come off as inauthentic, people won’t read you, and they won’t buy from you.

The bottom line is this:  Anytime you want to use a Generative AI tool to make your communications more efficient – and you should – don’t look at it as the complete solution.  As my friend Chase Aucoin likes to say, “ChatGPT is the best intern you ever had.  It’s smart, it has 20 PhD’s, and it has no street smarts whatsoever.”  The first paragraph of this article was an example of the lack of street smarts of ChatGPT.  It’s also the only piece of this article written with ChatGPT – but when I asked ChatGPT to write an article explaining how to easily spot AI in written documents, something happened that has not happened to me before.

I got a blank response. Zilch.  Zip. Nada.  Seriously – I learned that ChatGPT cannot explain to you what the dead giveaways of ChatGPT are and how to easily spot AI! After I stopped laughing, I wrote this article.

Generative AI is a great tool and will make you more efficient – but it won’t replace you.  So don’t ask it to, and you’ll be fine.

Why Doesn’t Cold Calling Work Anymore?

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of selling.  Last week, I defined the four trends that I believe will drive sales into the rest of the 21st century, and I’m even hosting a Webinar on those trends on July 6.  One of the dangers of thinking about the future, however, is that you lose sight of what worked in the past and can still work today.  I’m not going to do that.  That’s why this week’s Navigator is going to be about why, if you think cold calling doesn’t work, maybe the problem is you and your skills.

Cold calling is probably the oldest technique for generating new prospects.  It’s taken many forms over the years, but it’s still around.  Should it be?  Spoiler alert – YES.  But you have to be good at it.  Yesterday, I had a cold call that illustrated something I’ve been saying for years:  If you think cold calling doesn’t work anymore, you’re probably lousy at it.  I’m going to tell you about the cold call I received, where he went wrong, and how you can do it right (and why you still should).

Yesterday, I was cold-called by a guy who was selling recruitment services that matched military veterans to employers (a worthwhile cause).  On the face of it, this is probably a guy who should be talked to if you are hiring.  Here’s where he went wrong.

The first time he called, his phone connection was so bad that I couldn’t understand anything he was saying.  He said, “This happened on my last call, let me switch phones and call you back.”  Wait – if it happened on his last call, why didn’t he just stay on the other phone and call me from that one?

When he called back, he introduced himself with his name and company (good so far).  Then, he went into a long spiel about what his company did, and that this was definitely a sales call, that he’d be wanting to talk about getting my hiring business, and could he have 30 seconds?  This spiel took him more than 30 seconds.  I timed it.  So at this point, I just explained that I don’t do hiring because I don’t have a staff.  That’s not 100% true, as I just hired my very own sales executive (the business is growing), but I didn’t have any MORE need for hiring.

Then he asked, “Well, could you tell me who would do all the hiring at Salesforce?  It’s a big company.”  That’s when it dawned on me.  He thought he was calling an executive at Salesforce.  For those of you who haven’t been with me for the nearly 19-year ride of my business (most of you), I’ll give you the backstory.

When I started my business on September 1, 2004, I called it “Salesforce Solutions.”  The idea was not that I worked with the Salesforce CRM, it was that I solve companies’ problems with their own sales forces.  Seemed like a great idea, but it wasn’t, due to marketplace confusion (up to and including calls like this one).  That’s why I rebranded around my own name in 2014 – ten years ago.  This guy had somehow gotten ahold of ten year old data and thought that he was calling an exec with a large company.  I explained his mistake to him, politely, and wished him well.

He is probably thinking, “I don’t know why I’m cold calling – cold calling doesn’t work!”  No.  He’s just very, very bad at it.   Before I give you the four keys to being good at cold calling, however, I want to talk about the elephant that I put in the middle of the room.

If I’m talking about the future of selling, artificial intelligence, what ChatGPT can do, etc., then why am I talking about this old sales technique?  Simple.  First of all, cold call prospecting is STILL the most controllable way that salespeople can build their businesses and attract new customers.  Other strategies, such as networking events, social media, etc., are great and can work, but they are not numerically predictable and controllable.  And we need a method that is.  Cold-call prospecting should be part of your repertoire and routine.

Second – and now we can directly look the elephant in the eyes – cold calling is not (yet) something that AI can do well.  In the article I wrote a few weeks ago, I said that salespeople need to get better at those things that AI cannot do well.  Cold calling is one of those things. By using AI well in things that it’s good at, and then using the time saved to improve your skills at the things it does not do well, you can become the complete package.  With that said, here are the four keys to being good at cold call prospecting:

  1. Test your technology. This means that, if you’re using the phone, make sure that you get a good connection and that you are understandable on the other end of the line.  If you sound like you’re calling from the bottom of an oil well, find a different phone.  You MUST be understandable.  And while we’re on the topic, no damned auto-dialers!  As a call recipient, nothing kills your chances quite like the 2-3 seconds of dead phone line between the time that the call recipient answers and says, “Hello?  HELLO?” and you pick up and start talking.  Use your fingers and dial the phone.
  2. Use a good database. Even the best databases can have about a 10% obsolescence factor – but in this case, “obsolete data” means a year and a half, not ten years.  I think someone would have to be working hard to find data old enough for my past company name.  By the way, here’s a quick hack.  Most good library systems have subscriptions to free database services like ReferenceUSA, Data Axle, A to Z Databases, or the like.  These databases give all pertinent information including contact names.  You must have a NAME to ask for – not “the person who.”
  3. Be concise and powerful. From the time your prospect picks up the phone, you have 15 seconds – MAXIMUM – to give that person a reason to talk to you.  Crap like “How are you today?”, “is this a good time?”, or other babbling uses up that 15 seconds, as well as your prospect’s patience.  Introduce yourself and give ONE powerful sentence that explains how you benefit your customers, and how you could benefit them.  Yes, this requires thinking and refinement.  DO IT.  You could even try getting ChatGPT to help you write the sentence!
  4. Ask a strong question. After giving your one-sentence explanation, ask an open ended question about the prospect’s potential problems and needs to stimulate the discussion.  Then you can ask for an appointment.

If you’re thinking that cold calling doesn’t work, it’s time to get good at prospecting.  Don’t waste your prospects’ time – or yours.

Can Salespeople Be Replaced by AI?

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“Can salespeople be replaced by AI in five years?”  That was the topic of the poll on LinkedIn.  My instinctive reaction was probably the same as yours – “Of course not.”  Then, I did a little thinking before I answered.  And I realized that, yes, a lot of salespeople could be replaced by AI – not in five years, but RIGHT NOW.  That’s because their skills aren’t really any better than your basic chatbot – and therein lies a problem for those of us who care deeply about the role of the professional salesperson.

In 2011, Selling Power Magazine interviewed me as part of a cover story on the future of selling.  I’ve always thought of myself as a very forward-looking person when it comes to our profession – but boy, was my crystal ball broken when I gave my responses to their questions, and I realized this when I looked back at the article.  If you click, you’re going to read a pretty long article, but if you care at all about the sales profession and your role in it, you’d better click.  I’ve written over 600 articles on selling and this might be the most important.

Here’s what I said.  In response to a question about what the future of the sales profession looked like, I said, “Midline salespeople of tomorrow will be displaying the same level of expertise ten to fifteen years from now that the superstars display today, and the superstars will be on a whole new level.  Staying on top will require a higher level of mental commitment.”

I was wrong, but I should have been right.  I’ve written about this before, but if anything, the aggregate level of sales ability has declined somewhat in the twelve years since I made those comments.  That’s because most salespeople of today spend less time and energy developing their skills.  They find a level and stick to it.  Midline salespeople are, at best, no better than they were in 2011.  Some of the responsibility for this rests on the salespeople themselves, and much of it rests on CEOS and sales managers who don’t foster a culture of continual sales skill development. Are there exceptions?  Yes.  Absolutely – I’ve encountered some remarkable salespeople (although I don’t think that “whole new level” has happened).  But they are exceptions.  By and large, the aggregate sales skills at each level have remained constant.

When I was asked how the Internet is changing the game, I said, “The Internet can take orders and distribute content [thus taking up functions once designated to salespeople], but what it can’t do it discover customer needs.  It can’t build relationships, and it can’t prospect on its own.”  Well, I was wrong about that one, too.  AI bots can do a rudimentary job of discovering customer needs at present, and that will only get better as time and technology marches on.

What about the other two components of what I said – relationship building and prospecting?  Obviously, AI cannot build a true, interpersonal, face to face relationship.  However, AI can do an excellent job of REMEMBERING what was said and has transpired (because it can feed directly into CRM systems) and from a business perspective, it can make excellent use of a customer’s time.  That’s a threat to, but not a replacement for, traditional sales relationship building.

Can AI prospect?  That’s a tantalizing thought, isn’t it?  Most salespeople dislike prospecting (full disclosure – I’ve never been in love with it myself).  I can envision a time when an AI bot is able to prospect through email, LinkedIn, and even the telephone.  In fact, the technology for email and social media is already here, and I’m willing to bet that if the phone prospecting tech doesn’t exist yet, it will shortly.  Imagine an AI bot that dials a prospect, engages in a voice to voice conversation using prospecting and sales best practices, and even sets appointments.  Heck, take it a step further and imagine it doing so in the same voice as the real salesperson who would handle the live appointment.  Or how about an AI bot that sets Zoom sales appointments and then carries them out in a hologram?  This kind of thing would have been science fiction five years ago – now it’s a coming reality.

Don’t misunderstand me – I still think that a well-trained, skilled, passionate, and engaged salespeople can do all of those things BETTER – but too many salespeople are not well-trained, skilled, passionate, and engaged.

Now that I’ve told you two areas where I was wrong, allow me to tell you one area where I was right – or will be soon.  When asked, “How do salespeople keep social media from being the tail that wags the dog?” I responded, “Social networking is a strategy for marketing promotions and relationship management.  It is not a prospecting tool [OK, I was a little wrong about that]. A lot of those functions are going to slide down to the lowest-paid person who is competent to do them.”  Given the level to which AI apps like ChatGPT write social media posts, I was right on target – ChatGPT is definitely cheaper than even an administrative person.

Where I went wrong, I went wrong for two reasons.  First, I anticipated a higher level of sales skill development on the part of the average salesperson.  Second, I didn’t see AI coming.  Shame on me.  Apps like ChatGPT have the capability of being game-changers, and they also have the capability of being harnessed (by skilled salespeople and managers) to increase the effectiveness of a company’s sales force.

How to avoid being replaced by AI

So if the answer to “Can salespeople be replaced by AI?” is “yes, it’s very possible,” then the question for we human salespeople is, “How can we avoid being replaced by AI?”  Here’s where the wicket gets sticky, because this requires some serious engagement and effort on our part.  Here’s a three-point plan.

  1. Get better at your job. The key for salespeople in this environment is to constantly learn, develop, add new skills, and shed old techniques that aren’t working anymore.  Unfortunately, few salespeople do this.  When I interview salespeople on behalf of my clients, I always ask, “What’s the most recent sales book you’ve read?”  Ten years ago, I got a good answer more than half the time.  Today, it’s rare that I get one at all – in fact, about half of the salespeople I interview have never read a book on selling.  When I ask a follow up question about how they develop their skills, they answer that they really don’t.  Sales is a profession of constant change and constant development, and if you don’t care enough about your profession to get better at it, you are replaceable.  Don’t be that guy or gal.  Invest in yourself.  Read books.  Read articles.  Watch YouTube videos.  Attend training programs.  And then practice, practice, practice.  Next week we’ll talk about what it really means to practice and learn sales techniques. Get better and do better.
  2. Embrace technology. Yes, this article is partially telling you how to combat a new technology, but those who do not embrace it will find themselves steamrolled by it.  I’m constantly amazed when I see salespeople (and worse, sales trainers) fighting the use of tech like CRM.  I have actually seen a “sales trainer” recommending that salespeople ditch the CRM and instead use paper note cards.  The 1990s called, and they would like their mentality back!  Today, salespeople must embrace and use tech of all types.  CRM, social media, video conferencing, and IM’s are all tech that salespeople should not only be conversant with, but competent in.  Not only that, you should be ready and anticipating the next trend.  There’s a reason that I refer to “AI” in this article for the most part, and not “ChatGPT.”  ChatGPT is but one AI app, and who knows whether it will be the most prominent in five years?  Remember MySpace?
  3. Flip the script. We always like to think about the “Sales process,” and what we want from the process and what activities we will be performing to get there. I want to challenge you, and I’m taking this challenge myself.  Stop thinking about “Sales processes” and instead think of the “buyer’s journey.”  Think about the act of selling from the perspective of the person buying, evaluate the steps from the buyer’s point of view, and work to help them achieve what they want.  It’s a change in thought and terminology, and as 2023 progresses, I’ll be helping you get there with articles, videos, and even training.

Make no mistake about my outlook.  A great salesperson will always be better than AI.  A good salesperson will always be at least as good as great AI.  I’m a 100% passionate advocate for personal selling by human beings to human customers.  If I sound pessimistic in this article, it’s because I’m concerned.  But as I said, I’m here to help, and I’ll be doing so through the Navigator and through my YouTube channel.  If you’re a salesperson, start reading, watching, and practicing.  In the coming weeks, we’ll talk about how to practice and about how to view sales from the perspective of the buyer.

And if you’re a business owner or sales manager, I can help you, too.  In addition to the free resources above, I can train your salespeople to be irreplaceable.  I can help you hire great salespeople.  And I can coach you to manage the very best sales team in your market.

The future might look spooky, but it doesn’t have to be.  This is another challenge to our profession, and we can and will overcome it and be better and more valuable to our customers than ever before.