August 23, 2025 | Read online
I think I finally hit my breaking point with any type of automation, specifically related to AI.
I also hit my breaking point with apathy.
Let’s dive in.
TACTICAL TIPS:
Augmentation over Automation
I’ve spent the past few months diving into AI and trying to find ways to automate many of the tasks I do, in order to become more efficient.
I’ve spent HOURS with some of these cadence tools trying to train them on my messaging so they can do “personalization at scale” to my Tier2 accounts. I had to rewrite almost every email it produced for me.
I’ve tried to use some of these AI tools to write my newsletter and posts on Linkedin. Again, I’ve had to rewrite them because they just didn’t sound like me. Some of them even give me suggestions for posts based on my previous content and what is going viral right now and they come up with completely fake stories about things I never did or would do.
I’ve tried to automate some engagement on Linkedin and respond to InMails, requests and comments and it’s been a disaster.
I’ve automated my research to prep for meetings with clients and I end up skipping the learning component because all I do is skim through the document 5 minutes before a call and miss all the insights I could have gained if I had gone through the process of researching and learning about their business.
I’m done trying to automate ANYTHING at this point.
To me, we should use AI to augment, NOT automate.
If you’re looking for AI to automate all the different aspects of what you do, then I think you’re just automating yourself out of a job and you’re missing the learning component that builds the business acumen you need to be relevant in a conversation you have with your customers.
Here’s what I suggest instead:
- Instead of trying to do “personalization at scale,” ask AI to research a specific company you’re trying to prospect into, and give you “5 recent and relevant trigger events I can use to personalize my outreach with and include links.” Then choose the one that is more interesting and relevant to the solution you provide, click on the link, and READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE to learn about what it is and make a genuine connection to the value your solution might provide.
- Instead of asking AI to write an article or post for you, connect your microphone into whatever AI platform you use and talk into it with your ideas of posts or content you want to write about and ask it to organize your thoughts and optimize it for whatever platform you want to post it on and then review it to make sure you de-AI it before you post it.
- Instead of using an AI tool to auto-generate a meeting prep doc for you, use AI to learn about the industry, company, persona and person step by step, asking questions and learning about each section before you go to the next one and THEN asking it to produce a one-page summary document.
SPOTLIGHT: ZOOMINFO
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It's about augmentation, not replacement.
If you're looking to be smarter and faster than the competition, ZoomInfo is your go-to.
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SALES TECH/RESOURCES:
Meeting Prep GPT
On that last point about meeting prep, I’ve created my own JBs Meeting Prep Bot GPT to help me prepare for meetings that forces me to learn about the business in more detail.
It goes section by section, and after it gives me the insights, I ask more questions about each section to learn more before moving to the next one.
I usually keep this for my JB Sales Members only but I wanted to share it with my newsletter community.
Use it to prep for your next meeting and let me know what you think.
(p.s. You need the $20/m version of ChatGPT to use it, so sorry for those of you who don’t)
SALES FROM THE STREET:
The Danger of Apathy
When I took the Basho Sales training over 20 years ago (yikes), it literally changed my entire perspective and approach to sales and had a HUGE impact on my results.
I used it to help my self-funded IT Services start-up become one of the fastest growing companies in Massachusetts with almost zero marketing budget.
After we sold the company to Staples I had the chance to join the Basho team as a trainer. The training had worked so well for me that I wanted EVERYONE I trained to experience the same thing.
If I was training a class of 30 reps and you were in the back of the room on your iPhone not paying attention I would call you out and try to force you to pay attention.
I fought that fight for a while and then realized that you can’t force people who don’t care.
Now? If you don’t care, neither do I. I’ve talked about the “give-a-shit factor” and my “10-60-30” approach before, and I think they’re more important now than ever.
I know that most training sucks. I get it. I’ve always said that as a trainer, I’m the benefactor of low expectations.
But, regardless of the content or who’s presenting it and how bad they are, there’s ALWAYS something you can learn if you care enough.
It blows my mind that companies invest in training, do a ton of prep, schedule it out and reps show up (hopefully) with their cameras off, not engaged and don’t do the exercises that are meant to have an immediate impact on their results.
What’s the point of even showing up if you’re not going to be engaged?
It’s like one of my old bosses said to me once about going to the gym. He said, you either go to the gym and go all in or you stay home and enjoy your Chunky Monkey ice cream on the couch while you watch a movie.
You don’t go to the gym and half-ass it because you don’t like going to the gym. Conversely, you don’t skip the gym and eat your ice cream feeling bad about that fact that you aren’t at the gym.
I’m seeing so many reps continue to go through the motions and do the same thing they’re used to doing, seeing their results continue to decline yet not doing anything to improve, even when it’s spoon fed to them.
I’ve always said I live between the “give-a-shit factor" and unconscious competence. I can’t get you to care, but if you do, I’ll give you everything I have to get you to the level of unconscious competence where you don’t need to use all the different tips and techniques because you’ve internalized them.
The saying “only the strong will survive” isn’t just about physical strength, it’s about your approach to your own development, and now, more than ever, if you’re not improving, you’re not going to survive.
#MakeItHappen
SPECIAL OFFER:
I’m relaunching my JB Sales Elite program and looking for 5 reps who want to work with me 1:1 for 3 months to help them get to the next level of their careers. It will include access to all my content, custom GPTs and more.
I’ll be over-indexing on the first group so if you’re interested, schedule a call with me today: https://calendly.com/d/cs3b-3jb-gzx
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