Tag Archives: social media

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.

How to Prepare For a Sales Call

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I’ll be honest.  How to prepare for a sales call is something that is so fundamental that I forget to write about it.  For one thing, it’s not all that “sexy;” it’s much more fun to give great presentation tips, or some killer questions, or even talk about management strategy.

But then I talk to salespeople, the conversation slips around to how to prepare for a sales call, and I realize that many salespeople still don’t use all the resources available to them.  So, in that spirit, here are four ways that you should research every prospect with whom you will be meeting:

  1. Company web page. Yeah, it’s simple, and I have to think that nearly everyone does it – but not everyone looks for the right things.  We tend to get overwhelmed by the ‘pretty’ of the site and fail to read what we should be reading.  Here are the biggest touchpoints on their site:

    The ‘about us’ page:  This is where they will show potential customers why those customers should be buying from your target company.  In essence, this is their best foot forward.  Know it and refer to it.

    Their ‘news’ section:  All too often, this will be obsolete – if it happened in 2017 and it’s still top of their blog, they don’t have much ‘news.’  That said, if there is genuine news, scan it to see if there’s anything that impacts you or gives you a feel for their company culture.

    Executive bios: Is your contact listed here?  If not, why not – are you starting your selling efforts too low in the company? If so, what can you learn about your contact?

    Ease of contact:  This will give you a great idea of how “open” they are to the world.  This might seem surprising to you, but some companies close themselves off to the outside world.  They have a great web presence, but getting ahold of them can be very difficult, to say the least.  Openness to contact can mean openness to new ideas.

  2. Reviews. You should ALWAYS look at their reviews.  If they are on Yelp (for instance, food and hospitality), look at those reviews.  If not, Google and Glassdoor can also be great sources of insight into what their customers and employees say – and you’d be surprised at how often a sales need can be uncovered in looking at reviews.  Don’t be afraid to ask about those reviews in the sales call, even having them up and on your phone to refer to if necessary.  It’s possible that your customer might not have even seen the review.
  3. LinkedIn. You should always look up your contact on LinkedIn.  Looking at their career history is good – looking at their activity is better.  What things do they like or share on LinkedIn?  What causes are they passionate about?  What GENUINE (never fake this) commonalities can you find with yourself or your company?
  4. General Web Search. Finally, search (Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc.) the company name and your contact name and see what comes up.  A couple of years ago, I had a client who sold large-ticket items that usually involved some level of company-offered credit terms.  A quick Google search ended that idea – the first ten results after the company web page were lawsuit filings from the previous year – all for non-payment of debts.  Usually your results won’t be this dramatic, but you can get some good general insight on the company by searching them.

How to prepare for a sales call isn’t that tough; you just need to plan for it. Are there more things you can do to research? Sure – but sometimes it’s better to simply ask questions in the call.  Hitting these four touchpoints above won’t take you that long (probably fifteen minutes or so), but will make you far better prepared to ask good questions to discover deep needs which then gains you a competitive advantage.  Don’t skip this step.

Seven Core Competencies of Today’s Sales Manager

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Seven Core Competencies of Today’s Sales Manager

Many years ago when I was a salesman, one of my greatest ambitions was to become a Sales Manager.  I figured that I’d love the job.  You’ve heard the expression, “Be careful what you wish for?”  This was not one of those times.  I loved being a Sales Manager.  I loved leading a group of salespeople, developing them, watching them grow, and watching the results come up.  In fact, I still love it – it’s just that I get to love it now with many companies at once, rather than one at a time.

It’s been over twelve years since I’ve led a sales force, and the most amazing aspect of those twelve years is how much the job of Sales Manager has changed.  Some of those changes are due to technology, some are due to changes in people, some are just due to changing times.  What is disturbing to me is how many Sales Managers aren’t changing with the needs of the job.  Today’s Sales Manager has different requirements than even twelve years ago.  Let’s talk about the core competencies that will make a Sales Manager successful in today’s world. These are presented in no particular order.

  1. Training and Development. This is still the prime skill set of Sales Management.  The ability to contnue to train and develop salespeople – both initially and on an ongoing basis – is the core of Sales Management.  If you’re a Sales Manager, your job on any given day is to ask yourself, “How can I help my salespeople – or even one salesperson – to be better and more skilled at the end of this day than they are at the start?”  And then, by the end of the day, have an answer to the question.
  2. Understanding of Process. Yesterday’s Sales Manager did things on gut feel; today’s must understand the value and execution of processes and road maps.  Whether we’re talking about hiring processes, sales processes, or coaching processes, the top sales managers understand that good processes (continually refined) are key to increasing productivity in every phase of their sales force’s development.
  3. Talent Acquisition. Note that I said “Talent Acquisition” instead of “Hiring.”  There’s a difference.  Today’s sales manager is always working to upgrade his or her sales force through finding and acquiring new talent and skill sets.  This means being open to the approaches of other salespeople at networking events, trade shows, and even when being cold called.  Although sales managers will excecute hiring processes when needed, they’ll always have their ears and eyes open.
  4. Understands the Science of Hiring. This goes along with talent acquisition, as I mentioned above.  This is a relatively new development.  Fifteen years ago, our primary hiring was on our gut and instincts – and we were wrong more than half the time.  In today’s world, we have scientifically valid psychometric assessments that can bring our hiring accuracy to 80% and above – IF the manager understands how to use them.  Too many managers don’t; many are unwilling to even try.  If that’s you, you’re behind the times.
  5. Is CRM Savvy. By “CRM Savvy,” I don’t mean that the Sales Manager can program CRM, but that the Sales Manager knows how to0 use CRM as a tool for getting the most out of his or her sales force.  That Sales Manager also knows how to manage the sales input into CRM and makes sure that the CRM system is working well.
  6. Is Social Media Savvy. Like it or not, social media is part and parcel of selling and managing salespeople.  It’s a conduit for learning about the competition, about the industry, and disseminating your message to your customers.  One of the best sales managers I know spends the first 20 minutes of each day on social media, on the topics that I mentioned above.  Some days he learns things that turn into sales, and some he doesn’t – but the ones where he does pay for the ones that don’t.
  7. Is Constantly Learning. Here is the scary part for some.  What I’m talking about here are the core competencies of a sales manager TODAY, and as far into the future as I can see.  And you know what?  There could be some Earth-shattering development tomorrow that could change everything….and as a sales manager, you absolutely must be able to change with the times.  I meet many sales managers where my only question is WHEN their learning stopped.  1980?  1990?  2000?  2010?  Whenever it is, if your learning has stopped, you’d better start again.    Your company and your team depend on it.

You might think that I wrote this column for the Sales Managers out there, or for the business owners who employ them.  And, partially, I did.  But I also wrote this for those of you who maybe were where I was in 1997 – working toward that first Sales Management job.  I got it in 1998, but nobody told me what the core competencies were.  I had to figure them out.  Hopefully this shortens your path.