In short
- Automating a broken process makes the breaks happen faster.
- Check who owns each enquiry, how fast quotes go out and what happens at the point of sale.
- Fix the process first, then add speed.
I've spent my career running sales teams, so I'll say it plainly: AI won't save a sales process that doesn't work.
If appointments get booked but quotes go out late, automating the booking just fills your diary with people you'll disappoint. If nobody owns a lead once it comes in, answering it in five minutes only gets you to the point where it stalls, faster.
Old work, new tools
Rich Schefren makes the point well in his AI Business Manifesto: every new technology gets bolted onto the old way of working first. The real gains only come when someone redesigns the work around it. Most businesses are at the bolting-on stage. They've added a chatbot, an email writer, a scheduling tool. The process underneath hasn't changed, so the results haven't either.
Four questions to ask first
Before we switch anything on for a client, we check the sales process. It usually comes down to four questions:
- Who owns each enquiry? If the answer is "whoever picks up the phone", nobody does.
- How fast do quotes go out? A quick first reply followed by a quote a week later still loses the job.
- What happens when a customer goes quiet? If the answer is nothing, that's where your old enquiries come from.
- What happens at the point of sale? Deposits, paperwork, booking the work in. Friction here costs sales you'd already won.
Most owners can answer one or two of these with confidence. Very few can answer all four.
When the process is right, speed wins
Once the process holds up, speed becomes a real advantage. Smart Solar is a good example. They started by following up old enquiries, then added instant replies to new ones.
"Now when we invest in ads, leads are followed up in minutes, not hours. Game changer."
Archibald Theobald, Founder, Smart Solar Ltd
The ads didn't change. What changed was what happened after someone enquired.
When it isn't right, say so
Sometimes the honest answer is that a business isn't ready for automation yet. The process needs fixing first, and adding AI would just hide the problem for a few months. When that's the case, we say so, and we fix the process before anything else. It's slower to start, but it's the only version that lasts.
Not sure which one you are?
Book a Found Revenue Audit/Demo. In 30 minutes we'll look at how enquiries move through your business and tell you straight whether it's ready for speed, or needs fixing first.
Try this this week
Take your last ten enquiries. For each one, write down who handled it, how long the first reply took and what happened next. The gaps will show themselves.
Work Out What You're Losing