Browsing: ai

Attention, all sales executives. The Digital Transformation (DX) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are here. It took a long time for the collection of technologies and applications referred to as DX (laptops, emails, texting, smartphones, social media technologies, etc.) to move from a conversation to a coordinated business reality. Take note — the adoption of AI and its benefits are moving much faster. The good news is that the application is affordable, even to smaller companies. OUTSIDE SALES IS HARD WORK Outside sales is daunting work. Reps must be focused and able to close business fast to outperform the competition. To…

I currently invest roughly a quarter of my professional time working on applying AI in B2B markets. Given today’s hype cycle, that hardly makes me unique. Fear of missing out (FOMO) has pushed AI to the top of nearly every board agenda. The current AI FOMO is primarily due to Baby Boomer executives being slow to adopt e-commerce and not wanting to miss another big disruption. The billions of silly monies being invested just add more anxiety. The fear is accelerated when an executive has a competitor who goes all in on AI. How would you compete against your archrival…

At recent Compressed Gas Association events—from a lively panel at our Annual Meeting to thought-provoking sessions during the Young and Emerging Professionals (YEP) Summit—one theme kept surfacing: the role of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, drones, and machine learning (ML) in the gases industry. These conversations highlighted both excitement and unease. On the one hand, these tools promise safer operations, better efficiency, and new opportunities. On the other, many in our industry—especially small and mid-sized distributors—wonder what role, if any, such innovations play in their day-to-day work. The truth is, innovation isn’t just for the biggest players. These…

The Customer Relationship I consult primarily with distributors with revenues of $10 million and below. This is a group that succeeds based on its ability to provide exceptional customer service along with its products. Technology has dramatically changed the way these services are delivered. The salesperson’s one-time habit of regular customer visits to catch up on personal and professional information has been replaced by online communications. With so much material available on the internet, salespeople find it difficult to add something technically significant to a sales discussion. Also, digital interactions broaden the time between sales calls, diminishing a rep’s ability…

Part of developing a comprehensive digital marketing campaign is understanding how customers and potential customers are using the Internet to find your products and your website. The graphs and information below all come from Google Trends, which analyzes the popularity of search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The graphs scale “Interest Over Time” which represent search interest relative to the highest point in the chart for the given region and time-period. So, a value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. Another alternative is “Google Keyword Planner.” To use this tool, you must have…

Last year saw the explosion of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), a new mainstream technology kick started by the launch of ChatGPT to the general public at the end of November 2022. Within months, major tech companies like Google and Microsoft, along with a raft of start-ups, had followed suit with rival chatbots. Their impact was immediate, with Reuters noting that “the generative AI craze has disrupted several industries from cloud computing and customer service to movie editing and screenplay writing.” Within this, the market leader, ChatGPT, reached 1 million users in just five days after its launch. That had grown…

ChatGPT and other AI (artificial intelligence) tools represent a major game changer for business in a way comparable to the impact search engines and the internet had on business 20+ years ago. Back then, search engines and digital marketing revolutionized the way businesses gathered information, solved problems, communicated issues and capabilities, and, at the highest level, conducted business. Today, AI tools like ChatGPT can potentially transform how businesses operate in exactly the same ways. Just like 20+ years ago, this change will produce a significant number of winners and losers. It was the early adopters that gained and, for the…