I think we've got this whole AI thing backwards.
We’ve reached a point where "adding AI" to a business process has become the modern equivalent of putting go-faster stripes on a Ford Fiesta. It looks busy, it’s loud, and it fundamentally changes nothing about the engine underneath.
I recently sat through a pitch where a consultant spent forty-five minutes explaining the "neural architecture" of their lead generation tool. By the time he reached the pricing slide, I wasn't wondering about the ROI. I was wondering if I’d left the oven on or if I could successfully fake a faint to end the meeting early.
The problem with AI-powered sales strategies right now is that everyone is selling the hammer, while the client is just staring at a hole in the wall wondering why no one has hung the bloody picture yet.
Why generic AI Lead Generation is failing
If you’re an agency owner or a consultant selling AI services, you’ve probably noticed the "Gold Rush" effect. Everyone and their nan is now an AI expert.
The market is being flooded with automated outreach that has all the personality of a toaster. We’ve all seen the LinkedIn messages: "I noticed your profile and thought our AI-driven synergy platform could leverage your paradigm..."
Stop. Just stop.
When you use AI for lead generation, the goal isn't to send more messages. The goal is to send better ones. If you automate rubbish, you just get a larger pile of rubbish at a faster rate.
Real AI sales process improvement happens when you use the tech to do the heavy lifting of research, not the talking. Use the machine to find out that a prospect just opened a new office or mentioned a specific pain point in a podcast. Then, use your human brain to write a message that doesn't sound like it was generated by a sentient spreadsheet.
How to build an AI sales process that actually works
People don't buy "AI-powered" solutions. They buy "I won't have to stay in the office until 8 PM doing admin" solutions.
If you want to improve your sales approach today, you need to shift the conversation from the what to the so what. Here is a simple framework for a more effective sales sequence:
- The Data Scrub: Use AI to filter your leads based on actual intent, not just job titles. If they aren't hiring or growing, they probably don't need your shiny new chatbot.
- The Contextual Hook: Spend the time you saved on automation to find one specific, human detail about the prospect.
- The Friction Removal: Use AI to summarise their current challenges or gaps. Show them you’ve done the homework.
- The Low-Friction Close: Don't ask for a "quick 30-minute discovery call." Ask a question that requires a one-word answer.
I’ve found that the more I talk about the "AI," the more the prospect thinks about "cost." When I talk about the "outcome," they think about "investment." It’s an old trick, but clearly, we’ve forgotten it in our rush to mention ChatGPT every three seconds.
For more practical takes on this, you can find more articles on AI that avoid the usual fluff.
The ROI of "Boring" AI Implementation
We often get distracted by the flashy stuff—the avatars that talk, the real-time voice translation, the tools that can write a poem about your supply chain in the style of Lord Byron.
But if you’re looking for SalesM8 levels of efficiency, you need to look at the boring stuff.
The most successful AI-powered sales strategies I’ve seen lately aren't particularly "cool." They are deeply, wonderfully dull. They involve things like:
- Automatically updating a CRM so a salesperson doesn't have to.
- Drafting follow-up emails based on meeting transcripts.
- Flagging when a client’s sentiment in an email shifts from "happy" to "vaguely annoyed."
These aren't the things that win awards at tech conferences. They are, however, the things that keep your best staff from quitting because they’re tired of playing data-entry clerk.
Stop selling features and start selling time
Every time I see a pitch deck that lists "LLM Integration" as a key feature, I die a little bit inside.
Imagine going to a restaurant and the waiter tells you, "You’re going to love this steak, it was cooked using a high-thermal conductivity stainless steel pan with an ergonomic handle."
You don't care. You want to know if the steak is juicy and if the chips are crispy.
When you're selling AI services to other businesses, remember that most of them are terrified. Not of the "robot uprising," but of looking stupid and wasting money on a toy that doesn't work. Your job is to be the person who makes the tech invisible.
If you’re struggling to articulate that value, it might be time to book a consultation and we can peel back the layers of your current pitch. Usually, the best thing we can do is delete half the slides.
The "Human-In-The-Loop" is your only real edge
The irony of the AI boom is that it has made genuine human connection more expensive and more valuable.
When everyone can generate a "pivotal, nuanced, and holistic" blog post in four seconds, the person who writes like a human—complete with opinions, occasional sarcasm, and a clear point of view—is the one who gets read.
The same applies to your sales process. Use the AI to clear the decks so you can actually talk to people. Use it to handle the drudgery, the scheduling, and the basic research. But when it’s time to move the needle, put the machine away.
I remember a client who tried to automate his entire sales department. He replaced three junior reps with a complex web of AI agents. A month later, his pipeline was full of "leads" that were actually just other AI bots talking to his AI bots.
It was a very efficient, very expensive digital circle jerk.
Don't be that guy. Use the tools to be faster, but use your head to stay relevant. If you want to dive deeper into how to actually balance the two without losing your mind, you should get the free book. It’s got fewer buzzwords and more actual advice.
Closing thoughts for the over-automated
The next time you’re about to send a pitch, ask yourself: "Would I say this to someone if we were sitting in a pub?"
If the answer is "No, I’d sound like a mental patient," then rewrite it. AI is a bicycle for the mind, not a self-driving car for your personality. Pedalling is still required.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and explain to a chatbot why I don't want to "deep dive" into its "seamless integration possibilities." It’s going to be a long afternoon.
If you're looking for a smarter way to manage your sales pipeline, check out SalesM8 — it's the tool we built to make AI-powered selling actually practical.
About the Author
Steven Tann is an AI consultant, author of "You're Selling AI Wrong", and founder of SalesM8. He writes about AI, sales, and running a business from a narrowboat on the English canals. Connect with him at steventann.com.
