As we approach the end of the month, we've blasted through our sales target at School SCR.
Year on year our sales are up 100% but more importantly, qualified leads are up 500%. The pipeline is looking great and this is all thanks to my AI agents.
I've used Gen AI since it's launch but it's only over the last 9 months that I've really gone deep with agents. My view today is the traditional ways we've all sold to schools for years are dying.
Up until January I was following the well worn playbooks that I've used over the years. After an intense period of fundraising, I had a good term sheet which would enable us to hire in marketing / sales / development. And it would leave a nice little marketing war chest.
It was all going to plan until my cofounder got cold feet at the point we needed to sign. Faced with the legal requirement to commit to the company in writing for the forseeable future, he wanted out. The raise evaporated and the business was largely frozen as we sought a solution. Once he left, I took time to think through other approaches and how I could scale myself.
Meet Jen 🤖
Jen Cortana (homage to the Halo video game series if anyone played it) is my AI sales agent. Jen acts like a traditional sales development rep, following up with leads, moving deals forward, and getting commitments for the next step.
Jen sent 30 emails this morning and here's a little of what she's been up to:
Today, Jen is fully autonomous with her own inbox and CRM access. She can answer a wide range of questions and share useful resources we have as a company with prospects. She's always polite but incredibly persistent. Jen doesn't stop. She will continue reaching out forevermore until the recipient replies.
This has been transformative to my own capacity because as a company we now spend 0 hours chasing leads or enquiries. Jen undertakes all of this work, directing prospects to agree to a trial or to sign up for a group webinar.
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Want to build you own Jen? I'm running an AI sales masterclass on Tuesday. There's only a few spaces left​
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The 8 Levels to AI use
Jen didn't start out this way. I'm more than a dozen iterations through, starting out with Jen as an email drafting assistant. Step by step Jen's remit has widened. I've worked on her tone of voice, I've expanded her knowledge (known as context window) - first giving Jen more company documents. Then I gave Jen access to the CRM. At first this was read only access. Then Jen got her own email address and inbox. She was able to draft replies which I would approve before sending.
Today Jen is fully autonomous, interacting with prospects multiple times a day, updating the CRM and even moving deals / adding tasks. All of which costs me about £4 a month in credit usage.
AI is overwhelming - I've been dedicating 10-15 hours per week, every week to going deep in it, and it's rare that a week goes by where I'm not a bit frazzled. Because it does SO much and is moving SO fast that it's hard to feel like you've got a grip on it.
What I've found most helpful in approaching the process of building agents is to think of them as interns. Pick a specific area. Upskill them. Give them tasks and check performance. Expand authority only when they're proving able.
Next it's useful to work through a framework when developing an AI agent, I find the one below useful. No framework is perfect so use the one that resonates with you most.
Why this signals the end of traditional business development
Jen is just one of a number of agents I use. I have an agent that manages my Meta Ads. That writes new blogs. That interviews me each week to unearth new insights or directions the business could take. These agents increase my ability to market and sell, but they also reduce costs. I've just halved my accountancy costs thanks to my CFO agent. 99% of support enquiries are answered by an agent (no need for a CSM).
Later today I've got a group demo with 17 schools, all of whom signed up to the webinar as a result of the agent workflows that are running.
Having humans in the sales process is still critical, and something that can never be automated out, but all of the admin and chasing can be. It's a great use of AI and something I believe levels the playing field.
My company is up against CPOMS, one of the most formidable competitors you could ask for (near universal brand recognition from schools), but I'm winning MATs against them because I can keep my pricing so low thanks to my mini agent army. If I went about this in the traditional way, employing marketers or agencies to generate leads, employing SDRs and BDMs to chase them up, I'd need to add hundreds of thousands to my running costs. There's only 3 ways you can do this as a smaller company - increase my costs, raise substantial investment, reduce marketing spend.
Instead I choose to spend £90 per month and outcompete my competitors using AI.
If you'd like to chat about how your company could use AI / agents to improve revenue growth in your company, I'm always happy to have a virtual coffee. It's great to hear what people are getting up to. Drop me an email.
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If you'd like to learn more about this I'm running an upcoming webinar. If you'd like
Just 3 early bird tickets remaining.
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As always, thanks for reading,
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Jay
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