I think there are actually many ways ordinary people can use AI. Let me use sales as an example again.
When it comes to finding sales leads, learning about a customer’s background, and identifying the decision-maker, I think AI can help with all of these steps.
Then there is the conversation with the customer itself. Whether it’s a phone call or a face-to-face meeting, there is a lot of information in that conversation.
We make AI hardware ourselves, so I pay particular attention to what AI can actually help someone in this role do.
For example, when salespeople talk with customers, they use different questioning techniques. They ask about the customer’s background, their needs, and the difficulties they’re facing.
In the past, without a complete record, you might have had to rely on your memory. After the conversation, going back and analyzing it in detail wasn’t easy.
So I think the help AI offers here is not just recording what was said. It gives you something to work with when you go back and analyze the conversation.
Let me give an example from real estate. When customers buy a home, they may have needs that don’t come through clearly in the conversation.
For example, suppose a customer says, “The house is nice. It’s just that dropping off and picking up the kids would be a bit of a hassle.”
You can’t jump straight to the conclusion that this person doesn’t want to buy. All you know for certain is that they mentioned dropping off and picking up their children. You don’t yet know how far they would be willing to travel, or whether this is a deciding factor.
At this point, you can ask AI to help you sort out three things: what the customer explicitly said; what we are only assuming; and what still needs to be clarified next time.
For example, next time you could ask, “How long would you want the one-way trip for dropping off or picking up your children to take, at most?”
So I think this is a place to start with AI in sales. Take a conversation record you have permission to use, with private information removed. Use it to come up with one question to clarify next time, then go back and check the customer’s exact words.
It’s not about getting AI to guess what your customer is thinking. It’s about helping you prepare more specifically for the next conversation.
