This week I found one of the least exciting AI use cases imaginable actually making money, watched LinkedIn maybe start correcting one of its worst habits, and saw Mark Zuckerberg drink a Guinness like someone had forced him into a social experiment.
So, pretty normal week.
The Sales AI Use Case That’s Making Money
Want an AI use case in sales that actually works? Here’s a boring one making money.
A sales leader showed me a test his team ran. Buyers booked demos directly with AEs, but only 54% actually showed up. So they had SDRs call before the meeting, confirm the time, talk to the buyer and reschedule if something came up.
Demo held rate went from 54% to 65%.
Then they stopped the SDR pilot and, surprise surprise, the numbers dropped again. Why’d they stop? They couldn’t get approval to keep a human on it. Leadership figured, “The AEs should be doing that.”
And guess what? The AEs didn’t do it. They put it right next to “update Salesforce” on their list of stuff they’ll never do.
So we put an Atonom AI Employee on it. It followed the same process the human did and got the demo held rate to 63%, at one-third the cost of having a human do it.
- No confirmation: 54%
- Human employee confirmation: 65%
- AI Employee confirmation: 63%, at one-third the cost
Everybody wants some mind-blowing AI use case. This one is appointment reminders.
Boring as hell but measurable and profitable.
I think we’re going to see a lot more AI wins like this. Not some giant reinvention of the company. Just finding work that needs to happen, that humans either don’t want to do or are too expensive to do, and making the economics better.
Register here.
Does Zuckerberg know you don't have to drink beer?
I’m sorry, but Zuckerberg drinking this Guinness absolutely killed me.
He looks like he’s trying to figure out if the beer is bad or if this is just what people do for fun. And now he’s stuck because he’s on a podcast and there’s a whole pint of this shit in front of him.
Buddy, you’re allowed to ask for a Sprite.
I do it all the time. It’s fine.
I’m actually a big fan of what Meta is building. But somebody please tell this man he doesn’t have to finish that.
Please Let the “Comment AI” Posts Die
Is LinkedIn finally retiring one of its most annoying habits? I’m seeing fewer of those “Comment ‘AI’ and I’ll send you the thing that will change your life” posts.
Maybe it’s just my feed. But good riddance to that bullshit.
For a while, every third person on LinkedIn apparently had a PDF that could fix your pipeline, replace your marketing team, and save your marriage. You just had to type “GROWTH” like a trained seal to get it.
Then you’d open it and realize you just begged a stranger for three pages of crap you already knew. If it’s useful, post it. If you want my email, ask for it. Making 800 people type a magic word doesn’t make your Google Doc worth reading.
And if you’re feeling the itch to bring these posts back? Just hold it in. We don’t want to see that garbage anymore.
While we’re cleaning up LinkedIn, I have one more request.
What’s With All the Selfies?
I was scrolling through LinkedIn posts from the weekend. Am I missing something with all the selfies?
I’m trying to follow your advice on pipeline, but I can’t figure out where the Men’s Health cover photo fits into this.
Don’t get me wrong, the pictures look good. I’m just sitting here wondering if we’re closing deals or updating dating profiles. Maybe this is just LinkedIn now.
Zoom Out
The internet is getting really good at making everything look important. AI demos. LinkedIn posts. Personal brands. All of it. I’m more interested in the stuff that holds up once you get past the presentation. Did it work? Did it make money? Was it actually useful?
That’s probably a decent filter for more than just AI.
