Some of us imagine AI as a monster that is raging around and taking away all our jobs, while we stare helplessly up at the sky for someone to help us. Let’s look at it another way: AI can make your job a lot more fun, because you can now have all the stupid stuff done by your own army of little robots.
Since many of you deal with quotes on a regular basis, in this article I will explain how you as a quote writer can embrace and integrate AI into your daily work. And how you can deal with the fear and uncertainty that this change brings. (I went to this together with co-host Saskia Kerkhof and AI guru Edwin Vlems From Offerte Podcast (more in depth.)
Soon robots will take over my job
Therein lies the rub. People are afraid that robots will take over their jobs. Yes, that is true. To some extent. But you can also rethink it. It is a nice idea that you no longer spend hours writing that complex offer. You have your sales pitch, take notes, give them to your AI assistant and she turns it into a coherent story.
Your role is changing. And change is exciting.
People are naturally reluctant to let go of their familiar ways of living and working. Especially when you feel like you have no control over the changes that are taking place. That was the case when the printing press was invented, when televisions appeared in the living room and when the internet came along. We have all recovered quite nicely.
Think of AI as a partner that gives you the opportunity to increase your efficiency. With the advent of AI, new roles, new skills and new ways of working will emerge in sales that can bring out the best in ourselves.
Robot as partner
The traditional division of roles between humans and machines is blurring. AI is no longer a tool, but is evolving into a partnership where human salespeople and AI work together as equal teammates.
Edwin Vlems – AI guru by profession – wrote the book “The Personality Economy”, together with his AI assistant. Two hours. Where he used to need half a day or a whole day to write texts for a web page that is optimized for search engines, he now does it in ten minutes. Ten minutes. Including keyword analysis and metadescriptionWith this first prompted book he even surprised himself with eye-openers about, for example, emotional intelligence.
If that is possible, then it is also possible with quotes. In fact, if you give all the accumulated knowledge about mission, vision, strategy, website URL and your conversation notes to your AI assistant, then she will write 90% of your quote. You only have to polish it a bit, and done!
With AI, your personal assistant is always available. She can help you write texts for your quote. She creates a structure, a coherent story from your notes and also calculates for you how much time you spend per component. She picks out errors and contradictions if you also upload an annual plan in which the mission and vision are described in detail.
Just like with a real assistant, you always check if the output is correct. And just like with a real assistant, you get more done if you are nice to her. That also applies to robots.
The nicer and more human you interact with the robot, the better the result you will get back. Thank the robot for the result, give compliments and make them feel like you are doing it together. The great thing about robots is that they don’t get angry if you are not nice, but the quality of their output goes up if you are. Really, try it.
Consider robots as equal teammates. A collaboration where you understand your AI assistant, know her capabilities and use her strengths to improve your sales performance together. So don’t just assign tasks, but really do it together. Ask your AI assistant targeted questions, listen and learn from her responses.
From hard to soft skills
Your role is changing, because AI is taking over tasks from you. The value of your work is shifting from hard skills to soft skills and human interaction. As a professional, it is good to be aware of this.
We are all shifting from a knowledge economy to a ‘Personality Economy‘. An economy where it’s all about human connections and building relationships that are genuine and lasting. An economy where emotional intelligence, creativity, authenticity and personal branding are essential.
It is no longer enough to just know your products or services. You need to be able to interact with customers in an authentic and empathetic way. This means listening to their needs, understanding what motivates them, and providing solutions that genuinely add value to their lives.
That sounds like a challenge. It just makes me excited. It means I can focus on the fun parts of my job. My AI assistant can sort out all the peripherals for me.
Get started with your AI assistant!
For the sake of convenience, we assume that my previous words have made you think about AI. Now you are ready to write your next quote together with your AI assistant. ChatGPT, Claude AI and Perplexity AI are, in my opinion, the best tools at the moment. Microsoft Copilot makes working with AI a lot more accessible – the offer changes every day.
Take all the information you’ve read today with you to redefine your relationship with your AI assistant. Write your prompts (the questions you ask your AI assistant) short, clear, and with a human touch. Try to adjust your tone, ask if the output can be a bit more informal or formal. If your AI assistant sees information missing from the output, give her that information so she can improve herself. Really work together!
Once you get the hang of it, AI gives you the opportunity to:
- streamline your sales process
- improve the quality of output by having your AI assistant analyze previous successful quotes
- to gain insights that can inform new quotes
- save time generating standardized sections of your quotes, such as company introductions or project descriptions
Please note: always consider sensitive business information. Remove identifiable information from the quotes you include in your prompt, or if there is really no other option, make sure you have permission to use personal data in this way.
Dreaming of my own AI team
AI is really still in its infancy. We have to get used to the idea, but developments are happening so fast that we would do well to make a plan now. Think not only of texts, but also of visuals and videos.
I look forward to the moment when everything comes together and I present my recording of a client call to my own AI team. One person will transcribe, another will write the quote and yet another will provide visuals to support my story. I can then focus on working on my client relationships. And maybe I will finally close my laptop at 5:00 PM.
Source: www.frankwatching.com
