Episode 278: AI and Sales Credibility: Navigating the Digital Landscape

00:00:06.580 – 00:00:21.440

Bob Woods: My guest today is C. Lee Smith, chief executive officer of SalesFuel, a company that’s revolutionizing the sales industry by harnessing exclusive insights to fuel high-impact sales, intelligence, and marketing research.

00:00:21.670 – 00:00:31.379

Lea has 30 years of leadership and sales experience under his belt and is recognized as one of the leading sales consultants in the world for selling Power magazine.

00:00:31.440 – 00:00:54.000

Bob Woods: He’s also the author of the Amazon bestseller Sales Cred. How Buyers Qualify Sellers. So you could say that credibility is definitely his jam. Now I ran across 2 articles he recently authored for sales industry magazines, he wrote, how can AI build and destroy your credibility as a salesperson for selling Power magazine

00:00:54.000 – 00:01:20.139

Bob Woods: as well as whether will AI work for you, for you, or against you. I should. I shouldn’t. I should make sure that comes out right. What will AI work for you or against you? The choice is yours. And he wrote that for a sales and marketing management magazine. Both are fascinating looks at AI and sales, and I highly recommend you read both of them. We’re gonna have links to both of those in the show notes so that you can read them as well.

00:01:20.370 – 00:01:45.330

We’ve been discussing here on making sales social, the power of AI as a tool in your sales, toolkit, albeit a very big basic tool in that toolkit, but definitely a tool. But we haven’t really looked at how AI can actually challenge your sales credibility. We’ll be examining that as well as other areas involving AI and sales in today’s episode with that welcome to making sales socially.

00:01:45.550 – 00:02:00.459

Lee Smith: Hey? My pleasure, Bob, thank you for having it ready. Oh, absolutely absolutely so. Our first traditional question to everyone here on making sales social is, and you can probably guess it from here. What does making sales social mean to you?

00:02:00.560 – 00:02:05.309

Lee Smith: For me? It’s about building credibility at every stage of the sales funnel

00:02:05.340 – 00:02:16.030

for the end result. Then, if you do all those things, then, it makes closing a heck of a lot easier, allows you to delight customers, and allows you really to earn referrals that’s going to generate. Repeat business for you.

00:02:16.910 – 00:02:41.549

Bob Woods: That is probably one of the most succinct answers that we’ve had on here yet an entirely accurate answer that I could not agree with more. I definitely appreciate that. So let’s get back to your selling power article, which, as I’ve stated already, I really enjoyed. So there’s a sub-headline in there that I think really strikes at the heart of AI and use it as a sales tool.

00:02:41.550 – 00:03:05.860

Bob Woods: It’s not a be-all end, all type of thing in sales. So the specific subhead reads, sell like a robot, get replaced by a robot. Now, in the past I’ve said you know, if you use AI, you’re going to sound like a robot because a robot reads everything for or writes everything for you, and you don’t go back and edit it and make it sound like your own.

00:03:05.910 – 00:03:28.240

Lee Smith: You take it definitely into another area that I never thought of before. So selling like a robot and getting replaced by a robot. Can you explain that phrasing, and why it’s such a pitfall for salespeople? Yeah, I mean, there was a study done by Gartner, 2,022 or 2,022. That basically said that 72% of B2B decision-makers.

00:03:28.380 – 00:03:56.500

Lee Smith: don’t think that salespeople can adequately address their problems and help them solve their problems, or address their needs with that, then they prefer a rep-free experience because they get no value at dealing with the salesperson. So if you have AI doing all your work for you if you rely on AI too heavily as a crutch like you do your other technology, like your marketing automation system and your drip campaigns and all that sort of thing. Then the question becomes, you know, why?

00:03:56.530 – 00:04:12.050

Lee Smith: why do you matter? And I think a better example of this is actually in the B 2 C world. If you look at people who hate dealing with car salespeople, I think we could agree on that. And so with that, you see all these apps coming up where it’s like you can just give it, you know.

00:04:12.050 – 00:04:40.810

Lee Smith: Click a couple of buttons on the app and everything like that, and have a car show up at your door, and you never have to talk to a salesperson, so that speaks even more to the credibility of auto salespeople, which is really the only people that rank lower in credibility than automotive salespeople are members of Congress, so you know. And so people are trying to avoid them wherever possible because they feel like they just make the buying process harder for them and more painful rather than make it easier and more helpful. And so, therefore, the turning apps

00:04:40.810 – 00:05:03.670

Lee Smith: to get away from them. So if AI can do all that for you. Okay, if particularly if if you’re acting purely transactional in the sales process. Then AI can do that. What’s your value? What’s the point of you being involved in the process? And so that’s what I mean by if you sell like a robot. You’ll be replaced by a robot because robots are a lot cheaper. They never take Pto days.

00:05:03.670 – 00:05:30.510

Bob Woods: And you know, they typically will do what they’re told. Not always. Typically, yeah, definitely. Yeah, you know. And we’re seeing ex examples of AI not doing what they’re being told, but you know. But, but, unlike people who may not necessarily come around to trading, AI should come around to, you know not not

00:05:30.510 – 00:05:55.359

Bob Woods: not putting out graphics and photos of people that you didn’t ask for are historically inaccurate, or you know things along those natures which along that nature, which if you haven’t been following AI, and when it comes to stuff like that lately, that is definitely been a pretty big picture of a banana, you know, and it won’t draw you a picture of Banano. Draw you a bunch of bananas because AI has basically been trained that bananas come in bunches. So you had to be

00:05:55.570 – 00:06:07.260

very specific with that prompt they actually get to draw you a banana. But some people will look at it and say, I totally. Yeah. Draw me a banana. It didn’t draw me a banana. There’s something wrong with it. It’s even though there’s probably something wrong with the way you asked it.

00:06:07.410 – 00:06:22.410

Bob Woods: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s it’s it’s it’s definitely all about the prompting. And we’ve certainly talked about prompting. We’ve discussed prompting and many other episodes. So we’re not going to get into specific prompts and things like that, because,

00:06:22.490 – 00:06:34.270

Bob Woods: there’s there’s actually something slightly different that I want to talk about. And that’s that’s the delicate balance between leveraging AI for building an online presence for salespeople.

00:06:34.320 – 00:07:00.389

Bob Woods: But at the same time they had to maintain authenticity and credibility. While they are building their personal brand cause. Let’s face it. If they don’t build their personal brand, they might as well be robots like you just said so, you know. Hire a damn robot. So that’s why, you know, personal branding is important. So how can salespeople keep that balance while accurately reflecting their expertise and value proposition to prospective clients?

00:07:01.070 – 00:07:12.599

Lee Smith: Well, as I think about that question, Bob, I’m thinking about, you know, earlier in my career, you know, I used to believe that, you know, I always push back on people and said, perception is reality.

00:07:12.800 – 00:07:40.019

Lee Smith: And you know then, as we get more into the digital age. It became apparent to me that you know you, you never get a chance. A second chance to make a first impression. I was always told that, too. The thing is that Google really makes your first impression, and LinkedIn makes your first impression for you. We did a study called This is the State of Credibility in America. We’ve done this for 2 years now, and 40 71% of B Twob buyers say that not only did they research your company.

00:07:40.020 – 00:07:53.970

Lee Smith: but they research you as a salesperson. They vet you as a salesperson before they bother to take a call or meet with you. They need to see if you’re a legitimate salesperson you know. Will, that will be a waste of time. Will it come back to bite them being associated with you in any way?

00:07:53.970 – 00:08:16.130

Lee Smith: So you really have to think about what Google Search says about you. But getting back to you know my career evolution, you know. So I push back and discuss it. No reality is reality, and that part is it is also true. So where I’ve landed now is, you know, with all the years of experience. Now, is that your perception and your reality need to be in alignment?

00:08:16.160 – 00:08:22.689

Lee Smith: Yeah. So who you present yourself to be online needs to be who shows up in person.

00:08:22.690 – 00:08:47.579

Lee Smith: you know, or I like to tell salespeople, no catfishing, you know, in social sales, right? So when you show up, it needs to be the same person, then that’s online. And so if that person online looks a different way sounds a different way. Yeah, when they write, they sound yeah, very succinct and concise and, and accurate. But when you show up, if you’re rambling and you

00:08:47.580 – 00:08:54.690

don’t have command of your facts. You don’t have executive presence and everything like that. It quite frankly. It really

00:08:54.980 – 00:09:05.480

Lee Smith: arms your credibility, destroys your credibility. Actually, because you know, you’re not being your authentic self online. And you can’t. Basically, be that person in person.

00:09:05.660 – 00:09:17.380

Bob Woods: Yeah, exactly. I mean, it can. And it can get as simple as something that we preach a lot here at social sales link just with your LinkedIn profile. Headshot.

00:09:17.390 – 00:09:32.889

Bob Woods: you know. I mean, if you are kinda like me, and you’re on a quarter Zip, and sometimes I have a t-shirt on underneath it, but other times I’ll have a dress shirt underneath it, or whatever. That’s how you should look in your photo as well. You should look at how you present yourself.

00:09:32.990 – 00:09:53.380

Bob Woods: you know, every single day. More than likely in a Zoom Meeting. You know, kinda like what this podcast episode is, it’s a fricking Zoom Meeting. And you know if you if you show up, if if you have your photo taken in in a full 3 piece type of thing, and you’re looking all sharp and swab, and James Bond-like, and then you come across

00:09:53.380 – 00:10:17.590

Lee Smith: during a Zoom he looked at it like this. There’s already that disconnect there. So think about 2 is like, you know when you when you see us real estate agents photo on one of those signs, or whatever you know. And it was like from like a decade ago, and then you meet them in person with Whoa, wait a minute. Yeah. Look. Nothing like your photo. It’s like, Am I talking to the right person here? Yeah, the current photo is obviously very important too.

00:10:17.590 – 00:10:31.129

Bob Woods: So I guess the question kind of spins out of that, though, is, how can salespeople share their online presence? Especially if they’re using AI accurately, does reflect their expertise and value prop to their prospective clients?

00:10:31.220 – 00:10:40.059

Lee Smith: Well, obviously write like you talk. And if you’re using AI, I mean, Bren does a really great job of showing how to use AI prompts, for example, to sound more like you talk.

00:10:40.250 – 00:10:47.680

Lee Smith: And the thing that really keeps in mind here is that 20% of B 2 B buyers say that they’ve already seen content online. That looks like a computer wrote it.

00:10:47.770 – 00:11:15.049

Lee Smith: Yeah. So you have to make sure that you know what you put up there online, whether it be in your LinkedIn profile, or, more importantly, in the LinkedIn articles that you post, or in comments and everything like that. It needs to make sure that it’s genuine. A. And you know it. It comes from the heart. So for for that I would say, use your AI right, I mean, we came out with a tool for sales credibility called Sales Credit Pro. It’s got AI all over. But we always caution people to use this as a first-draft.

00:11:15.240 – 00:11:29.549

Lee Smith: ready to email making a comment or something like that. It’s your first draft, A. A and then add your humanity to it. So you know, the the Eq. Needs to follow the AI. Never can one go exist without, you know.

00:11:29.720 – 00:11:51.039

Lee Smith: No, AI can’t really exist without Eq. In the sales world, so you need to bring your humanity to that basically and modify it. So you know how you feel, how you talk and everything like that. And when you do that, it’s so much easier to polish something that somebody else wrote. Then it tried to stare at it at a blank screen or blank page, and that’s how I would recommend everybody use it. AI,

00:11:51.050 – 00:11:58.460

Bob Woods: yeah, yeah, absolutely. And just for the people out there who don’t know Eq in your mind stands for

00:11:58.520 – 00:12:18.800

Bob Woods: emotional intelligence. Okay, okay, okay, that’s what I was. I was almost positive that that’s what you meant by just wanting to make sure and the one thing that I always encourage people to do, which if you’ve listened to my stuff or on my stuff in the past, you’re gonna be sick of me hearing this. But part part of it is hearing it read the stuff out loud.

00:12:18.930 – 00:12:21.380

Lee Smith: Yeah, if it doesn’t sound like you

00:12:21.620 – 00:12:31.360

Bob Woods: reading out loud, or as you’re reading it, you’re going. Oh, my God! This so does not sound like me. Guess what? It doesn’t sound like you so rewrite it.

00:12:32.080 – 00:12:38.970

Bob Woods: That’s like if I like that. Yeah, it’s one of the easiest things that you can do. So

00:12:39.520 – 00:13:08.589

Bob Woods: So I actually wanna get back to your state of credibility in America. Study, because in your sales and marketing management article, you got a stat in there that I found not only surprising, but I gotta admit a little hard, disheartening, says that fewer than one in 4 Americans believe that salespeople are incredible, and what they say and do so. You know that means 3 out of 4. Don’t believe a damn thing that we say from the get-go.

00:13:08.710 – 00:13:37.670

Bob Woods: So given skepticism around salespeople’s credibility. Can AI be used to reinforce the trustworthiness of sales professionals in the eyes of their potential buyers? And you know, if so great, if not, what other things can can people do besides, use AI for that? Well, it can also reinforce things the other way. So I mean, that’s where you have to be careful. So the problem with the one, yeah force that is like, yeah. And that’s a step that still held steady from 3 years ago.

00:13:37.860 – 00:13:51.260

Lee Smith: It was 25% of salespeople were viewed as credible. Now, it’s 24% so pretty much within the margin of error where that’s that’s remained pretty steady. The issue with that is that every salesperson starts every new relationship from behind.

00:13:51.360 – 00:14:14.710

Lee Smith: And the problem with that is that it’s based on past salespeople, you know, and again we would to do this job, or we don’t have to be certified or licensed, or board approved, or anything like that too, for most, not all, but for most right. But some people do like in Re real estate. I never like that real estate investment stuff like that. Yeah, exactly. But for the most part no. And what happens is that you have salespeople out there that

00:14:14.710 – 00:14:25.020

Lee Smith: been the truth that exaggerates, that that that you know over promise under deliver. You know, they don’t fulfill their promises. And the problem of it is, is it?

00:14:25.140 – 00:14:45.329

Lee Smith: You know, it only takes it one or 2, basically to burn a buyer then for that buyer than to be skeptical of all salespeople, you know, just like any industry. We’re really evaluated by our worst practitioners. I don’t care if you’re a doctor, a chiropractor you know that car salesperson I talked about before. And

00:14:45.470 – 00:15:07.480

Lee Smith: and so that’s the real problem there. So AI can actually help us improve. I call, you know, I call it the trust accelerator is that, yeah, we can actually accelerate, improve our credibility digitally, anyway. And then you still have to come around and improve your credibility in person. So it’s not. It’s online first and in-person

00:15:07.510 – 00:15:26.040

Lee Smith: And so in that sense is like, AI can definitely help you do that by what you post what you comment on that sort of thing, because to to present yourself then, as a credible expert advisor, you know that they’ve been looking for. So you know, put together in my book the sales credit

00:15:26.040 – 00:15:41.819

Lee Smith: the hierarchy of sales credibility. It starts with what the Internet says about you. So that’s Google, that’s LinkedIn. That’s everything online. Then it gets into what you say, and then how you say it, how you say it is where the emotional intelligence takes place in the self-awareness. Then

00:15:41.830 – 00:16:06.279

Lee Smith: then it’s what you do, you have to deliver what you say you do. Not only is that basically the start of building trust, but it’s also been fortifying your credibility, and the idea there is to get to the pinnacle of sales credibility when you are trusted so much in what you say and what you do, that the buyer actually feels comfortable then, and recommending you and introducing you to other people and sharing their credibility with you.

00:16:06.280 – 00:16:15.430

Lee Smith: And so that’s where AI can actually help every step of the way. But again, if salespeople use it as a crutch, and that’s my pet pave

00:16:15.500 – 00:16:21.770

Lee Smith: then it’s actually going to reinforce your lack of credibility, Re, rather than demonstrate your credibility.

00:16:22.060 – 00:16:25.640

Bob Woods: Yeah. Could not, could not agree more with that.

00:16:25.810 – 00:16:39.139

So let’s go back to there’s a point that you made, that I want to expand on a little bit more. And that’s when people go searching for salespeople and products and things like that I want to talk a little bit about. Yeah.

00:16:39.160 – 00:16:42.900

Bob Woods: You know, we’ve got SEO, and SEO has been great

00:16:43.150 – 00:17:08.619

Bob Woods: up until about a year ago with, you know, with AI, so and maybe there’s a way that we can use AI to do this, I’m not sure. But you know, let’s talk a little bit about how other people use AI specifically to search for you and research you, your company, and your industry, and how that’s kind of changing that initial discovery process for

00:17:08.619 – 00:17:21.750

Bob Woods: for the people who are looking for services, goods, or whatever. Because, you know, we’ve all been drilled with SEO for so long. And now they’re going to another source. That’s totally different from Google.

00:17:22.530 – 00:17:33.859

Lee Smith: Yeah. And with it, it’s like, we noticed that a lot of B Twob buyers. Now, it’s it’s not a majority. Yeah, but a lot of B Twob buyers say that using AI helps them make the buy-in process easier for them.

00:17:33.880 – 00:17:47.199

Lee Smith: So what you have to do is and think of like, it’s one thing to think about how Mother Google, you know, presents you. But now you also have to think about how. What if someone’s just searching for me through AI or asking AI then to tell them all about me?

00:17:47.200 – 00:18:09.530

Lee Smith: What shows up? Easiest way. To do it quite frankly is to go to AI and ask, I mean that’s the easiest thing to do. And I think you really have to take into consideration, you know. And then what AI says about you, what Google says about you, what Linkedin says about you, and those are the things that that we’ve compiled in our sales. Credit pro tool, then to automate that process so that you don’t have to be constantly.

00:18:09.530 – 00:18:17.189

Lee Smith: you know, hitting yourself up and making and feeling like a narcissist, because you’re googling yourself or AI yourself all the time. Yeah, definitely.

00:18:17.660 –> 00:18:26.189

Bob Woods: yeah, definitely. So, so, so I guess the other question that springs to mind for me in terms of this directly is

00:18:26.420 – 00:18:33.830

Bob Woods: when it comes to Googling yourself or AI yourself. I don’t know if that’s gonna be a phrase or not. But whatever

00:18:33.870 – 00:18:51.179

Bob Woods: I get 10 off of anything that you get from that when it comes to people searching for you and your competitors, and especially

00:18:51.390 – 00:19:08.450

Bob Woods: the interplay of that and determining which is better and which is worse. That’s probably another way that people are using AI to do that. So my question, as you know, as a salesperson, would be, well, how do I make sure that I always come out on

00:19:08.670 – 00:19:09.500

Bob Woods: on top

00:19:09.960 – 00:19:11.870

Bob Woods: when it comes to comparison things?

00:19:12.160 – 00:19:39.950

Lee Smith: Yeah, I think that that situation is like, you know what we have. The tool to do is to monitor your competition, not just the company, but also, then who’s that one salesperson that you always find yourself going up against, or whatever that the noise the heck out of you, probably cause they’re so good. And or, for that matter, then take a look, at who’s the top salesperson in your company, if you’re not it or if you think you’re it like, who’s the second best, and and take a look about how they show up online. And what do you know?

00:19:40.310 – 00:19:41.170

Lee Smith: You know

00:19:41.430 – 00:20:03.570

Lee Smith: what is their perceived expertise? You know that that the buyer sees and and and compared to you. And what is your expert se perceived expertise? And again, this is where credibility is not what you know it. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re credible, it only matters. If the buyer thinks you’re credible, it doesn’t matter what you think your expertise is. It only matters what they think your expertise is.

00:20:03.570 – 00:20:16.489

Lee Smith: And so that’s how AI is is is being used much like how Google was used before that is still being used quite frankly. Let’s not hit ourselves. And the idea there is that you know, we want to stand out as a trusted advisor.

00:20:16.490 – 00:20:31.660

Lee Smith: That makes sense of complexity and solves high-priority problems. Yeah, so not solving the little problems we’re solving. Because if you solve the little problems, you’re going to make the little money, if you solve the big problems, you’re gonna make the big money. And so that’s how you wanna stand out.

00:20:31.660 – 00:20:48.799

Lee Smith: But specifically, you want to stand on being able to do that, you know, in a relevant way, meaning their line of business, their industry to their customers. And that’s why, then, credibility not only differs from person to person, but it also differs then, you know, from

00:20:49.060 – 00:21:00.170

Lee Smith: each person’s line of business, their frame of reference, their perspective. And so those are the things you really have to take into consideration, you know, when you’re talking about, who’s your ideal

00:21:00.220 – 00:21:16.519

Lee Smith: customer? And you know, okay, what are they looking for? What’s their industry? That’s their line of business, who are their customers, and you know, do I come across as somebody that can solve high priority problems, you know, for those customers, or for in that line of business?

00:21:17.340 – 00:21:33.899

Bob Woods: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, you always wanna be seen as much more than just a salesperson. You wanna be seen as the expert, the go-to person in your industry. I’ve used that phrase often, and I still believe in that, because when you’re the go-to person.

00:21:34.200 – 00:22:01.359

Lee Smith: you know, you know you know your stuff, and that’s how you’re perceived, and you nailed it before with perception. You may believe that you are, but if other people don’t, don’t perceive that you want to set the bar, you want other people to compare themselves to you. You want to be establishing the ground rules about how decisions are being made as best you can. I mean the buyers always going to do that. But if like, if you kinda can influence, then you know what the ground rules are.

00:22:01.540 – 00:22:18.149

Lee Smith:  and and and the in terms of engagement. Everything like that that’s like everyone else is trying to play catch up with you. That’s ultimately where you want to be. But you know, if you don’t have credibility, you can’t do it. And if you don’t have the experience, if you don’t have the sales acumen or the business acumen, you can’t do it.

00:22:18.330 – 00:22:26.100

Bob Woods: Yeah. yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So I want to shift gears just a little bit. Because,

00:22:26.180 – 00:22:48.560

Bob Woods: currently, I’m in an online class on executive education for for Northwest and Northwestern Kellogg, having to do with AI and planning at a high level, and all different types of organizations. Not just, you know, sales and B Twob and stuff like that. One of the things that they showed during class today was a video of people

00:22:48.560 – 00:23:13.669

Bob Woods: that somehow they equipped with like cameras, and like two-way communication, and everything going into like whole foods and kind of documenting their experiences and asking questions and things like that, and just the readouts, and what AI was doing with that information was was just incredible, like, I said, I literally saw that this morning and that, and that goes into a question

00:23:13.800 – 00:23:24.960

that that that we had discussed earlier. But I just wanted to bring that up just because you know what AI can do nowadays to record emotional intelligence is

00:23:25.090 – 00:23:40.110

Bob Woods: it’s mind-blowing. I mean, I was watching this video, and you know, I’ve used this line a couple of times in our group coaching and things like that. Now I am picking up pieces of my brain around my office because my head is blowing up constantly with all the stuff

00:23:40.110 – 00:23:59.650

Bob Woods: that we’re that we’re learning in. They’ve been here several times already, believe me. So. But I guess you know, considering emotional intelligence is required in sales specifically now. So that was obviously a situation where people were going into a retail

00:23:59.650 – 00:24:17.199

environment and their gauging reactions to the retail environment. We need to switch this over more to sales for us now. But you know, considering the emotional intelligence there, where do you draw the line? In using AI to read potential clients’ cues during digital interactions.

00:24:17.780 – 00:24:43.239

Lee Smith: you know, I think I kinda think of in terms of like like a translator. You can get your iPhone out, you know, and you can use it then to translate conversations so that you can talk to somebody, for example, that you don’t speak their language, but it’s cumbersome, and the other thing is that you can’t make an emotional connection by doing that. And so I would say the same thing applies then to AI, you can use AI. It’s fantastic for facial recognition and sentiment, recognition. And

00:24:43.240 – 00:24:48.449

Lee Smith: and, you know, picking up all kinds of social cues that quite frankly, most people, miss.

00:24:48.810 – 00:25:17.089

Lee Smith: So it’s great for that. But in terms of trying to force an emotional connection. And you know, I’m thinking about like, you know one sales tool, for example, that purely uses AI, and yeah, people are made. Wow, it sounds just like a regular person. Everything like that. The problem with it is that it was trained to be the most high-pressure arm-twisting salesperson that won’t leave you alone. That pretends like it’s your buddy and everything like that. And quite frankly, it’s everything you hate about sales

00:25:17.090 – 00:25:25.239

Lee Smith: put into an AI bot, you know. And so that’s where we have to be really careful. Again, it’s still about the human connection.

00:25:25.240 – 00:25:47.759

Lee Smith: And you know, it’s like, and I think that you know, AI still got a ways to go there. It can certainly be helpful as an assistant for us. It can certainly be helpful in doing mundane tasks, you know, so that, hey, we’re making the big money. So we wanna be doing big money task. We don’t want to be doing menial tasks. Yeah. And so that’s where AI can definitely come coming into play. But like

00:25:47.760 – 00:26:04.299

Lee Smith: AI is a tool, and just like any tool, it depends on how you use it, and so that, in my opinion, there is like, be careful how you use it. Don’t use it to replace humanity. Use your use. AI then you know, helps you get the most out of your humanity.

00:26:04.370 – 00:26:11.639

Bob Woods: Yeah. could not agree more with that. So Speaking of humanity.

00:26:11.830 – 00:26:16.070

Bob Woods:  I want to flip the script for a second.

00:26:16.340 – 00:26:30.930

Bob Woods: and talk about sales management and their feelings, the managers, feelings, upper management, or whatever about their salespeople, building their own brands along with the companies. So for this, let’s say

00:26:31.080 – 00:26:49.000

Bob Woods: I’m a sales manager who only wants my salespeople to share articles from the company, not build their own brand, not have their own opinion, you know. Just type in a line or 2, link to the company article, and boom and send it out. And and that’s it.

00:26:49.180 – 00:27:08.180

Bob Woods: I obviously don’t believe this personally, but I do want to get you to see it. I’ve seen it. Yeah, II have to. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it, and I just wince all the time. But I do want you to convince me as that sales manager. Why, why, I’m wrong specifically, and also

00:27:08.410 – 00:27:16.710

Bob Woods: how AI can work into this because I think one of the things as a sales manager that I would think if I did have that philosophy is.

00:27:16.710 – 00:27:40.639

Lee Smith: I don’t want my people on social all day long and doing all this stuff, you know. Why not? Just have them share an article and go out, and, you know, make more cold calls and stuff like that. So you know. Convince me why I’m wrong, and and and how AI can definitely be a help in this situation. Well, before I do that, let me just kinda say I must summarize what what I heard you say is like, well, basically, the sales managers want robots.

00:27:41.320 – 00:28:10.920

Lee Smith: Yeah, I mean, yeah. So the thing is that sales don’t work that way? No. So how I would basically convince you is that B Twob buyers have told us in a separate study, we have done, called Voice of the B Twob buyer. We do this every year at Saleshill, and 71% of us tell them that they don’t only research this company, but they also research the salesperson before they talk to you or they have a meeting.

00:28:10.930 – 00:28:36.070

Lee Smith: So your personal brand matters yeah, as well as the company brand matters ideally. You want the 2 things to be in alignment right? So you don’t want as a salesperson. You don’t want to be going out there and saying something that’s contrary, then, to what the company is saying or doing, and certainly not doing anything that the company wouldn’t do. You want to be in alignment. And if you’re not in alignment with your company brand.

00:28:36.070 – 00:28:49.169

Lee Smith: you know, then, yeah, you got a problem. Quite frankly. You should consider switching company brands. So it it’s it’s sort of like if you think about the the 2 by 2 matrix there, where you’ve got company credibility on one side, and you’ve got

00:28:49.170 – 00:29:11.899

Lee Smith: your, your, your personal brand, your your your personal credibility. On the other hand, it’s like you have to get into that upper quadrant. Then you both. Your company’s credibility has to be high, and that’s something that your company controls quite frankly. And how they conduct business, how the CEO demonstrates their behavior, what marketing does, and everything like that. But you also have to do the same thing.

00:29:11.900 – 00:29:24.080

Lee Smith: And when you have those 2 things in alignment. Now you have somebody, then that can not only represent the company and do that well and do that to wait. The sales manager wants that done. But you also have somebody then who can make that personal connection.

00:29:24.080 – 00:29:38.870

Lee Smith: That. That’s somebody that when the buyer quite frankly goes to work for another company. They’ll call you up because they have. They have a personal relationship with you. So yeah, you can’t want the relationship to be only with the company, because the relationship also gonna be with the person.

00:29:38.880 – 00:29:51.980

Bob Woods: Right? Right? Yeah. And companies think that they can own those relationships. And as we’ve seen time and time and time again, that’s just that’s just not. It can be the case sometimes by and large. It’s not. It’s always with the salesperson.

00:29:53.410 – 00:30:01.750

Bob Woods: So with that given your extensive experience like 30 years, 30 plus years. How many years? Exactly

00:30:02.200 – 00:30:25.219

Bob Woods: 35, you know, actually don’t want to quote the number. So I started at a very early age. Okay, so my first, my first sales job was in high school. So lemonade stands because I’ve done that, too. But like no, I’m talking about, you know, actual, real sales making real.

00:30:25.370 – 00:30:30.049

Bob Woods: That’s something that is definitely something good for you, good for you. So given that

00:30:30.230 – 00:30:38.649

Bob Woods: very extensive experience from a very young age. Although this part isn’t, it isn’t about youth as much. But

00:30:38.720 – 00:30:57.620

Bob Woods: What future advancements? Do you anticipate these AI tools, which I mean, AI has truly been around for like about a year, when it comes to like full general availability? And how do you anticipate this will impact the industry? I have a couple of different thoughts on that. And

00:30:57.650 – 00:31:05.569

Lee Smith: One is that I already see this happening. For example, if you are a LinkedIn premium user, for example.

00:31:05.610 – 00:31:27.740

Lee Smith: You don’t actually have to click on a link. Then they actually go see it? An article. LinkedIn will go in and summarize that article for you. It’s so they keep you on, Linkedin. It’s sort of like how they keep you in the Casino, in Las Vegas, at all costs. Right? So. But the problem with it is that people are content. Creators, you know, are no longer getting the reward of putting that content out there.

00:31:27.740 – 00:31:38.650

Lee Smith: you know. So they’re not coming to the website. Therefore they’re not seeing th. They’re not seeing the products and services that we have. They’re not clicking around on other places or websites, because they never go there.

00:31:38.760 – 00:31:43.579

Lee Smith: Then, when you think about it? Then, you know, outside of LinkedIn, obviously,

00:31:43.740 – 00:32:09.100

Lee Smith: you know again, it’s like there’s no reward. And AI in many cases, can actually browse that information. And we’re going to be seeing more of that and everything like that without revealing who the source is or getting the source wrong, provide a link to the source unless you specifically ask for it. And so again, or hallucination, which is even worse, so content. Creators are not being rewarded for that, and if it’s good content.

00:32:09.130 – 00:32:23.359

Lee Smith: you know, not not just content. You put out there to try to, you know, generate traffic for SEO purposes. You’re gonna take your good content quite frankly, you’re not gonna get credit for it. And you’re going to put that behind a paywall. And I’m already seeing this happen.

00:32:23.370 – 00:32:46.499

Lee Smith:  And so, unfortunately, then the quality of the data. Then AI is going to be well, then to access, then it, you know, over time is not going to be a as useful, you know, as you know, as perhaps it was, you know, in in the past. So you know that being said there! Thought I had on. That is like, you know. I’ve I’m on my fourth Tesla right now.

00:32:46.540 – 00:33:16.510

Lee Smith: and I will tell you that you know. The full self-driving, for example, was phenomenal when it first came back, because, like your your mind was blowing about all the stuff it can do. And what’s happened is is that as we get more and more advanced and try to, you know, take it to another level, and everything like that, you know, despite all of you know, hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of Tesla, ‘s out there, or whatever that is training that AI engine and providing data to it, and everything like that. The progress for improvement has been much, much slower

00:33:16.560 – 00:33:28.630

Lee Smith: over time. And so I think that you know, to get to a point where, wow! Your mind is blown. Everything like that is great, but they actually get it to a point where it actually threatens, you know. I mean.

00:33:28.760 – 00:33:55.819

Lee Smith: this disrupts people’s jobs, and threatens people’s jobs. I mean it will if certainly I mean people. For example, if you are transactional in sales. You should be worried about AI. If you are in a role where people don’t want to talk to you. Okay, I’m thinking about entire rooms full of customer service reps and everything like that. If I could talk to a Chatbot and get the answer that I need quicker anything like that. You know, you should be worried about that. But as far as everybody else goes.

00:33:55.820 – 00:34:05.370

Lee Smith: you know as time goes on. If we try as we try to refine it and make it more precise, and all that where I think it’s gonna take a little longer.

00:34:05.370 – 00:34:18.350

Lee Smith: you know to to have that kind of advancement. So right now, the advancements are pretty fast. But I think over time, or whatever do as we refine it, then it’s gonna take a little while, if you know, quite free. If Tesla can be any indication with their full self-driving.

00:34:18.639 – 00:34:45.320

Bob Woods: Yeah, yeah, definitely, I mean, that’s one of the things that I’m learning in this class I was talking about earlier is is is is, you know, refreshing and ret training when it can comes to data and things like that, and how often that should happen. And it just sounds like in a Tesla situation. There’s so much data coming in that. I don’t want to say it’s getting dumber, but it’s just it’s it’s getting over, you know. Maybe it’s getting overwhelmed. And there’s so many different data points coming in

00:34:45.600 – 00:34:53.560

Bob Woods: from so many different areas that you know it. Just it’s that it’s the bottles, not really sure exactly how to handle it.

00:34:54.210 – 00:35:14.309

Lee Smith: Yeah, it’s it’s like the old concept of the last mile, you know. So it’s like, you know, we can get you your phone service, your cable TV or your Internet bandwidth and everything like that, you know, getting it, getting it to your neighborhoods. Easy, you know. Getting it to the last mile is what costs and what takes more time. So I think it’s the same thing am going to be applying here. Yeah.

00:35:14.420 – 00:35:38.650

Lee Smith: So I mean, we talked about a lot of future stuff there. And and and we’re kind of like, yeah, things are needed. Are you seeing anything positive out there? I’m seeing lots of things positive. I love AI. I work with it every day. You know I work on improving my prompts and my skills there every single day. You know, I think it’s I think it’s fascinating. It’s like even A. And the thing is that. 

00:35:38.740- 00:35:43.340

yeah, just like, you know, it is with people, you know, it’s messy.

00:35:43.350 – 00:36:06.470

Lee Smith: Right? So for every advancement that we see, you know, there’s something messy about it, like, yeah, okay, we’re, you know, presenting white people as black people as Hispanic people when they really weren’t. Or, you know, it’s like we’re we’re talking about some, you know, politicians, but not other politicians, and everything like that. And so people complain about it. Unfortunately, then, that undermines the credibility of AI

00:36:06.590 -00:36:30.069

Lee Smith: and so you know that there’s an issue there. But the thing is like every time that there’s an advancement that happens. All right. Yeah, there’s always people than that you know, have a stake quite frankly, and you know, and not seeing things advanced, you know, because they like the way things are no way things have always been, and so they’ll push back against it every chance that they get no use whatever data point that they can get.

00:36:30.070 – 00:36:59.720

Lee Smith: And so we will continue to see that with AI is that if for every advance but there will be pushback because it won’t be perfect, it’ll be a little bit messy. But the beautiful thing about it is, there is advancement there, and you know there, and the advancement really is going to come from not necessarily the tool itself. But how we use the tool to use the tool that’s going to be the really cool part. And it’s already the really cool part, but even more cool going forward. Machine learning, baby. That’s what it’s all about.

00:36:59.780 – 00:37:30.049

Bob Woods:  100. So before wrapping up here, I always love those one thing you can do right now, kind of takeaways. So leave from for those salespeople after we’ve talked about so many other things underneath the AI sun here. But for those salespeople who still might be on the fence about adding AI as a valuable tool to their sales toolbox, which we’ve talked about quite a bit. What’s one thing they can do right now to dip their proverbial big toe into the water?

00:37:30.380 – 00:37:58.329

Lee Smith: Well, and here’s something that that I will offer to everybody in your audience. So the one thing you can do right now is to, think about your digital credibility, not from your perspective, but from the buyer’s perspective. If you can’t, you know you can’t improve it. You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it. So start by measuring it. And we’ve got a tool called a digital credit check and sales credit pro that does exactly that. It will build your digital credibility by first measuring it, then providing specific and suggestions

00:37:58.330 – 00:38:09.379

Lee Smith: for improving it by aligning your digital footprint with what your professional expertise is. So prospects will perceive your value accurately, and you can do that by going to sales credit

00:38:09.390 – 00:38:35.539

Lee Smith: dot com and get a free 7-day trial. So you can try out the digital credit check tool, and play around with it. Also, enjoy using the AI with all the other tools that are there, do that free for 7 days, and then we encourage everybody to do that. But first think about you know your credibility. Think about your ability to build trust, you know, not from your perspective, but from the buyer’s perspective. And then, you know, to be able to manage it. You have to measure it and then measure it again.

00:38:35.900 – 00:38:46.159

Bob Woods: Okay, very good, very good. And if our listeners want to get in touch with you, or find out more about you, and what you do want to pick your brain, or whatever. How? How would they do that?

00:38:46.180 – 00:39:11.600

Lee Smith: Well, you obviously connect with me on Linkedin. We are always there you go. Your audience, Bob. You go to my website. See Lee Smith. That’s the letter C, then lease myth.com sales cred dot com is the website for all things sales credibility. Whether it be the book, whether it be the free sales credit app, or masterclasses. And of course the sales credit pro app

00:39:11.600 – 00:39:28.080

Lee Smith: salesfield.com is also the web address for my company. And you know all 3 of those things are great ways to connect with me. I love the conversations and love hearing from other people who get just as jazzed about this stuff as I do. Which is why I love to be on your show today. Bob.

00:39:28.150 – 00:39:34.209

Bob Woods: yeah, this is yeah. I mean, AI obviously is. Iii find it

00:39:34.400 – 00:40:01.849

Bob Woods: fascinating and definitely. The next big thing like III would not. I would not have sunk the money that I sunk into taking this class, either, and you know, just and just being constantly challenged in a good way by, if I didn’t think that it sounds fascinating. It really does it? Really, it’s really, truly fascinating. I don’t know when they’re gonna be running it next. But there are people from like government in it. There are people from all over the

00:40:01.850 – 00:40:19.590

Lee Smith: all the Big 4 can consulting firms in it as well as you know, companies, you know, many of them that you know. Some are smaller. It’s just there are hundreds and hundreds of people in this class, and that’s really the opportunity there with AI. Because if you think about, look at all the you mentioned, the big 4 consulting groups are like that. They’re scrambling.

00:40:19.590 – 00:40:29.900

Lee Smith: They’re screaming to try to actually try to understand and get dorms around and everything like that. So guess what if you’re doing if you can do that right now, all of a sudden. Now you’re on par with those folks.

00:40:29.930 – 00:40:56.919

Lee Smith: right? That’s where I mean if you can be there, that’s a great place to be. But keep in mind is like they’re just trying to figure it out, too. They don’t have all the answers far from it. And that’s why the same people classes like this and like that. So get your butt in those chairs, you know, and be right next to them. Yeah, accent. Watch out. I’m coming. So with that. Exactly.

00:40:56.920 – 00:41:16.759

Lee Smith: The CEO of sales feel, and an expert on helping salespeople multiply revenue opportunities by elevating credibility. And this has all been about credibility to folks. So never, ever forget that build credibility with your buyers. It’s just crucial. Please thank you for joining us and making sales social today. Thank you so much, Bob.

00:41:17.020 – 00:41:27.579

Bob Woods: appreciate it, and thank you for streaming this episode of Making Sales Social. So remember when you’re out, and about this week be sure to make your sales social.

Outro  20:42

Don’t miss an episode, visit socialsaleslink.com/podcast. Leave a review down below. Tell us what you think, what you learned, and what you want to hear from us next, register for free resources at LinkedInlibrary.com You can also listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Visit our website socialsaleslink.com for more information.