At the end of the financial year, I attended a conference where a well-known investor from BBC’s Dragon’s Den gave a talk on AI. Unlike many people in the room, I was already on the path to embracing AI. As the Dragon rightly said, think of AI as a ship leaving a port. You and your business need to jump on board, or you’ll be left behind.
This period of history we are in, where AI is becoming accessible to all and a viable alternative to human beings for cognitive and, before long, physical tasks, is going to fundamentally change how we do business.
Mind-Blowing Stats
Productivity increases by major technological events:
– Internet – 10% increase
– Steam– 25% increase
– Electricity – 35% increase
– Artificial Intelligence– 50% predicted increase!
Trials
Big business is coming for your clients.
What’s more, AI is allowing larger companies to up their game when it comes to personal service by enhancing their teams’ ability to relate on a personal level with their clients. This personal service, allowing businesses to win and maintain long-standing relationships, has formerly been the domain of SMEs. The Dragon talked about a “battle for the middle ground,” which resonated with me because all my businesses are based around client relationships and personal service. This talk gave me the impetus to get AI into my business ASAP.
Where do you start?
Management? Sales? Customer Service? Web? How exactly does one AI?
Fortunately, ‘The Dragon’ gave me some tips.
Tips
1. Record Everything
– If you’re a middle-aged geek like me, you’ll remember Star Trek: The Next Generation. There was a character called Data who couldn’t feel emotion but was extremely intelligent and had the sum of the galaxy’s knowledge at his disposal.
– We now have data available to us if we want to rely on Bing, but we can go further by recording our board meetings, our staff one-to-ones, our calls, our emails, our accounts, etc. Feed all of this information into your own AI, and it will end up knowing as much, if not more, about your business than you do. Eventually, it will be able to predict things based on facts that would take you hours to analyse.
2. Augment Your Team
– This doesn’t have to replace people; it should make the people you have more productive. This means you can save money on recruitment and pay your existing team more. That is the very definition of a win-win for AI.
3. Enhance Your Customer Experience
– Think of all that information we gather when talking to clients. When they call their child by name or mention they have a birthday this month. Imagine when you send a card and gift voucher for their kid by name a year later. How is that going to make them feel about you as a company? Will they feel heard?
– Wouldn’t it be exceptional if your systems didn’t allow calls to your clients on the anniversary of known bereavements?
– Imagine if you were reading all of your clients’ LinkedIn posts and automatically had AI notify you when you can help with something they’re asking about.
4. Use It to Ask Questions
– Give it the information and ask for analysis-based guidance, e.g. Is this market vertical working? Which of these two lead channels is best? Who’s our most profitable client overall?
Tale
Since receiving these tips, I’ve made significant strides in integrating AI into my business. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
1. Implemented an AI Call Centre Agent
– I started using an AI call centre agent for basic client outreach to schedule appointments for my team. An extra tip: don’t try to pretend it isn’t AI; be open about it, people don’t mind.
2. Annotating and Analysing Calls
– We have begun annotating our call recordings and feeding them into an AI tool to help with staff training. This has improved the efficiency of our training programmes and provided us with deeper insights into customer interactions.
3. Data-Driven Decision Making
– By recording and analysing our meetings and communications, we’ve started to identify patterns and trends that were previously overlooked. This has allowed us to make more informed decisions, enhancing our overall strategy and operations.
Conclusion
Integrating AI into your business is not just about keeping up with technological trends; it’s about leveraging new tools to enhance productivity, improve customer relationships, and make smarter decisions. My journey with AI has only just begun, but the benefits are already clear. If you’re considering AI for your business, start small, be transparent, and let the data guide you. The future of business is here, and it’s powered by AI.
Let me know if you want to hear more about my AI journey and the tools I’ve been using.
Questions about this
How can AI improve customer experience in a small business?
By helping a business remember what matters to its clients. Details gathered in conversation, such as a child’s name or a birthday, can be used later to send a personal card or gift, helping clients feel heard. Systems can avoid calling clients on the anniversary of a known bereavement, and AI can flag when a client’s LinkedIn post raises something the business can help with.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOHow is AI being used for staff training?
One practical use is annotating call recordings and feeding them into an AI tool. In our experience this has made training programmes more efficient and given deeper insight into customer interactions. Recording and analysing meetings and communications has also revealed patterns and trends that were previously overlooked, leading to better-informed decisions across the business.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOWill AI replace staff in small businesses?
It does not have to. The better approach is to use AI to augment the team, making existing people more productive. That can mean saving money on recruitment and paying the existing team more, which benefits both the business and its people. The aim is to use AI for productivity, stronger customer relationships and smarter decisions, starting small and staying transparent.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEO
