February 6, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode, we’re discussing the benefits of having an AI Task Force at your company and how such a brain trust can be an invaluable resource to ensure that your organization stays ahead of the curve.
Joining Matt to explore it all is Brent Tripp, Digital Marketing Coordinator & Podcast Producer here at CSS.
Brent offers some solid points to think about, like:
- Why it’s essential for everyone at your organization to have a firm grasp on how AI tools function and what they can help you accomplish.
- How having an AI Task Force at your company can help you make decisions and provide recommendations as new tech innovations become available
- And, finally, why if you or your organization is reluctant to embrace AI tools, you just might be missing out on an opportunity to compete with larger teams.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Sunshine (00:05):
Welcome to Improving Sales Performance, a
podcast highlighting tips andinsights aimed at helping sales
organizations realize, and maybeeven exceed, their goals.
Here we chat with thoughtleaders, experts and gurus who
have years of sales experiencefrom a wide range of industries.
I'm your host, matt Sunshine,ceo at the Center for Sales
Strategy, a sales performanceconsulting company.
(00:27):
In this episode, we'rediscussing the benefits of
having an AI task force at yourcompany and how such a brain
trust can be an invaluableresource to ensure that your
organization stays ahead of thecurve.
Joining me to explore it all isBrent Tripp, digital marketing
(00:51):
coordinator and podcast producerhere at CSS.
Brent offers some solid pointsto think about, like why it's
essential for everyone at theorganization to have a firm
grasp on how AI tools functionand what they can help you
accomplish.
How having an AI task force atyour company can help you make
(01:12):
decisions and providerecommendations as new tech
innovations become available.
And, finally, why, if yourorganization is reluctant to
embrace AI tools, you just mightbe missing out on an
opportunity to compete withlarger teams.
With that, let's jump into theconversation.
So can you break down the topreasons why the AI task force
(01:47):
was developed here at CSS?
Brent Tripp (01:49):
Of course.
I mean I think and let me knowif I'm missing anything but I
think the AI task force wasreally born out of a desire to
really ensure that CSS as anorganization was staying on top
of the rapidly developing AItools that were coming out at
the time.
So just a little background.
The task force was developedback in late winter, early
(02:14):
spring of last year when ChatGPTfirst made its big splash.
It kind of entered the publicconsciousness and the tool
itself had been around for aminute, but it was around that
time last year that peoplereally kind of caught on to what
it could do and what it wascapable of.
So, and at that time too, whichit's kind of still the case
(02:35):
today chat that was the name oneveryone's lips, but there were
so many other tools that werecoming out.
It was like a never endingavalanche tools that were coming
out.
It was like a never endingavalanche.
So I think mainly the goal forthe overarching goal was for us
to kind of like go out there,see what is out there and just
(02:56):
make sure that we were stayingat the head of the curve as best
as we could, trying to keep uppace all these different tools
that were coming out.
Matt Sunshine (03:03):
Yeah, there's that, there's that expression
that I know we throw aroundsometimes, that you know you can
do anything.
You probably you just can't doeverything.
And I right, and I think thatwas the when all the AI was
happening so fast, it was likeokay, well, what should we do?
Well, we can do all that, butwhat should we do?
(03:25):
We can do all that, but whatshould?
Brent Tripp (03:26):
we do Exactly, exactly, and not to mention that
, like every other day, therewas a new name you heard, right,
like first it was Chad GBT, andthen you're hearing Bard.
You know, now Bard is Geminiand you were hearing this and
that and you're like, okay, well, what is it?
Is it the same thing?
Why is it a different name?
Is it has it?
Has it have a different focus?
You know?
So, yeah, it was, it was.
(03:46):
It's hard to do everything.
You can't do everything, sowhat?
Matt Sunshine (03:50):
what were you know, as the AI task force got
together?
What?
What were the primary goals andobjectives when, when the task
force first was established?
Brent Tripp (04:03):
Yeah, so when we first started, I think there
were three solid goals that wekind of kept in mind.
The first was really kind of,as I mentioned just previously,
to identify, research, test whatexactly was out there.
We wanted to help, you know,answer the question of what was
(04:24):
available to us.
And so we kind of divided andconquered in that way, kind of
looking at all these differenttools that were out there and
seeing like, okay, we're hearingthese names, we know what chat,
gpt can do, what else is outthere.
That was number one.
Number two we wanted to comeback with recommendations of
(04:45):
specific tools that not onlywere practical but kind of
aligned with our goals here atCSS.
You know, what tools made themost sense for everything we do
here, what tools can make uswork smarter, not harder, kind
of casting a wide net, seeing,collecting everything, seeing
what makes sense, tossing outwhat didn't.
(05:05):
That was number two.
And then three, we wanted to,from the entire process, come
back and educate and supporteveryone here at CSS.
As you know, they folded thesetools into their processes and
strategies and I think we wantedpeople to feel competent when
(05:28):
testing these tools out.
We wanted to make sure theyfelt confident and okay to test
these tools out, to use thesetools out, because, I mean, when
these tools first startedcoming out, it all felt very
foreign to a lot of people.
You know, people didn't knowexactly what all this stuff was,
even the name, like we're soused to the name chat, gpt now,
but at the time, to like chat,what g?
What is a gpt?
(05:49):
People can even say it.
And so, uh, we wanted to makesure that everyone here at css
was educated and felt confidentthat like, oh, this is exactly
what it does.
Matt Sunshine (05:57):
I could put this in, get this out, that kind of
thing yeah, I think that's areally good point that you bring
up is today, almost everyonehas heard of chat GPT, whether
they've been on it or not,whether they've experimented.
It depends on their curiositylevel and those sorts of things.
Pretty much everyone has heardof it or knows someone that has
(06:21):
heard of it Right heard of it,or knows someone that has heard
of it.
When the task force started ayear and a half ago, whatever it
was, there were plenty ofpeople, certainly in our company
, certainly in my circles, thathad not even heard of it that
were like, what are you talkingabout?
(06:42):
Like it is a science fictionmovie.
I mean, right, this wasn't ahousehold name.
So I like the fact that therewere specific goals and
objectives that the task forcesaid this is what we're going to
do, this is what we're tryingto accomplish.
So, as you started findingthese new tools, how did the
(07:05):
task force go aboutinvestigating and testing and
how did collaborating withcolleagues from different
divisions and differentdepartments in the company?
How did that enhance or improveor challenge the task force?
Brent Tripp (07:26):
Yeah, so I'll start with the second part of your
question first.
I mean, aside from any of thetangible AI results we got, I
mean it was just fun because weare for anyone who might not
know, we're entirely a remoteorganization and I think we
already do a really great job ofmaking it feel like we work
(07:48):
shoulder to shoulder with ourcolleagues.
But the fact of the matter isis like there are people that I
don't work with every day.
There's people I don't see thatoften, even in a virtual sense.
So just being able to likeconnect with and see people from
other departments that I maynot have worked with before,
that that was a fun experience.
But segwaying into the actualresults that we found and the
(08:09):
benefits of that, likemulti-departmental brain trust,
if you will, it was like so cooland it made me so honored, in a
sense, to work with people.
I know that everyone at CSSthat we work with, everyone here
, is the best, the best, sosmart.
(08:30):
But just having thismulti-department brain trust
just made me feel like wow, wework with some really smart
people, and I know that because,like, I'm here talking about
the AI task force today, butI'll be the first to tell you I
did a lot more listening inthose meetings than talking a
lot of the times, because therewere people that were far more
(08:51):
educated in the realm of AI thanI was at the time and there
were just so many great ideasput forth, so many great use
cases.
So that really having everyonefrom different departments
directly influenced how we wentabout researching all the tools
that are out there.
So pretty much what we did iswe divided and conquered.
I went off and, you know, kindof looked at all the tools
(09:14):
available through the lens ofthe marketing department what
use cases made sense to kind ofmake our processes more
efficient, what can enhance ourstrategies as a marketing team.
Trey went off and looked atdifferent tools to see how these
things can benefit the salesprocess, benefit our clients,
our sales training.
Kate went off and looked at howthese tools can benefit the
(09:37):
talent and up your culture teams.
And Aisha, you know she wentoff and looked at these tools
through the lens of serving leadG2s clients and how they can
optimize, you know, B2B salesand marketing performance.
So we kind of all went off onour own and that's only to name
a few, by the way, just a fewpeople in the task force, but we
all went off on our own, lookedat these tools through our own
(09:59):
like departmental lenses andcame back and kind of threw
things at each other.
And so I'd come back forexample and say like, hey, I
found this cool thing it is X, Yand Z and I think that would be
great for A, B and C for themarketing department, and Trey
might be like, oh, that's reallycool, but I could also see how
we could use that in, you know,A, B and C with our clients here
at Center for Sales Strategy.
So it was really a really coolway to collaborate and we all
(10:22):
found different things and itwas awesome.
It was really great.
Matt Sunshine (10:25):
Yeah, I would say that we certainly, as a company
, have did, did then, and havenow embraced an AI, embraced an
AI mentality.
Right, I don't think that we'rescared of the technology.
(10:48):
I think we embrace that.
That does not mean that weadopt every single AI that is
out there, but it does mean thatwe are open to looking to see
how AI could help us to improve.
With that said, can you give meor can you share a specific
example, perhaps arecommendation that the task
(11:11):
force had and what it looks liketoday in action?
Have we implemented it?
Brent Tripp (11:19):
Yeah, no, absolutely Absolutely.
So I think the first thing thatI'd say is I think I've already
mentioned a little bit, but Ithink we did a pretty good job,
at least you know, both for theentire organization, also in our
own individual teams kind oflike educating everyone in terms
of how they can practically usethese tools in their everyday
(11:41):
responsibilities, everydayduties.
So so we, when I know I'vealready kind of talked about
this a little bit, but there wasa certain intimidation factor,
people didn't know what this was.
There was a certain leeryness.
It's like what did this tooltakes something that I tell and
it can.
It can generate an entire.
It can generate an entireworkflow of emails for me in two
seconds.
(12:02):
I don't know about that.
So I think we did a good job ofkind of mitigating any of that
leeriness, any of thatintimidation factor that may
have been present in some of ourteam members.
May or may not have been, Idon't know, because we're like
you said, we're very forwardthinking in this way.
So we did a good job ofeducating, but we also, I think,
(12:22):
one of the main takeaways thatwe spread throughout the company
and people probably arefamiliar with this by now I
think it's still relevant, eventhough it might sound cliche is
we emphasize that.
You know these tools arecapable of absolutely amazing
things, but we should not relyon them completely.
You know there's.
You can't expect just to inputsomething, get something out and
(12:48):
be like, ok, that's it, myjob's done.
These tools are here to make usbetter at what we do, not
replace what we do Right, and soso there has to be a, a human
touch involved in this process.
Because if it's just AI, I cantell you just from having
reviewed so many different AItools and AI generated content
it is beyond obvious to me thesedays whenever there is
(13:10):
something that is just raw AIthat was slapped up on the
Internet, like it's these, theyall have different or familiar
ways, I should say, of phrasingsentences, the certain words
they use that are very familiar.
So it's very obvious wheneveryou do not edit and do not add
your own personal touch tothings that AI generates.
So that's a big thing werecommended.
(13:32):
Another thing that we kind ofhammered home and it's still an
evolving process is your promptsmatter.
You know, I feel like when chatGBT first came out, I'm saying
chat GBT a lot, but that's just.
Like you know, it's ubiquitousand it's kind of like the basis
of what spawned all thesedifferent evolutions.
But when tools like that firstcame out, if someone were
(13:56):
curious and they and they'relike, oh, let's see what this is
about, and they typed in asimple prompt, you know, like,
write me an email that does this, does A, b and C.
It might not generate a greatresponse for you.
You might be like, well, okay,I mean, it's an email but it's
not specific, it doesn't?
Well, you didn't write aspecific prompt, you know.
So we kind of hammered home howyou prompt these things matters
(14:22):
, and prompting AI tools is anart form in and of itself to
this day.
And the last thing, that themost tangible and I certainly
can't take credit for this idea,but the initial concept of what
would become this universesales strategies, sales
accelerator AI tool was born outof the AI task force meetings.
And for those who don't know,you know sales accelerator AI is
our own tool here at CSS.
It don't know you know SalesAccelerator AI is our own tool
here at CSS.
It helps salespeople, you know,refine their valid business
(14:44):
reasons, create really greatsales emails to prospects.
You know, generates awesomethought-provoking questions for
needs analysis, meetings, almostany aspect of a salesperson's
daily routine.
Sales Accelerator AI can helpthem work smarter and faster in
that way.
And what's different betweenSales Accelerator AI can help
them work smarter and faster inthat way.
And what's different betweenSales Accelerator AI and, let's
(15:08):
say, gemini or ChatGPT is thatSales Accelerator AI is a closed
tool, which means it's trainedexclusively on our own
proprietary information here atCSS, our own training resources,
that kind of thing, versusGemini, which scours the entire
internet to give you a result.
So, um, yeah, without the taskforce, you know, we we might not
have reached that idea asquickly or at all.
So, uh, that's kind of the mosttangible result from the task
(15:30):
force.
Matt Sunshine (15:30):
Yeah, I, I agree with that exact.
I don't know if we would havecome up with that idea, or or
certainly not as fast as we cameup with it.
That was such a clear,unanimous, very well thought out
idea that the task force had.
(15:52):
Where a problem was identified,a solution was identified.
All everything had been thoughtout.
Where a problem was identified,a solution was identified,
everything had been thought out.
And I remember when the AI taskforce made that presentation, it
was one of those moments that,I think, changes the course of
(16:16):
history for the company.
It was, boy, this is the rightthing to do right now.
We need to put resources behindit to make it happen, and I
think from the moment that thetask force made that
presentation and everyone agreedit was the right thing to do,
to the moment it launched Sixmonths.
(16:37):
Yeah, I mean, we put resourcesbehind it and we built it, and
it's still, I think, probablycertainly one of the shining
stars.
So, whether a company leans in,as you've been describing, to AI
with something like a taskforce or some other version of
(16:59):
that, or they lean out and sayyou know what?
We're not participating in anyof this.
We're going to be.
We're going to sit, we're goingto be on the sidelines and just
watch.
Influences the culture of thebusiness, of the business.
(17:24):
How did, or how has the AI taskforce influenced the company
culture with regard to itsapproach on innovation?
How do you do you think it'smade an impact?
Brent Tripp (17:31):
I think so I mean, and I think the main way it's
made an impact is that it's it'sdeepened and maybe emphasized a
certain mindset that I think wekind of already have as an
organization and you said itearlier which is curiosity,
right, and I think we already doa great job of thinking about
(17:57):
what are the best ways we canadapt as an organization, what
are the best ways we can evolveto do the best work possible.
And I think the AI task forcejust the very existence of the
AI task force kind ofcommunicated that message
throughout the organization.
And one thing that I reallyappreciate is, like, personally,
(18:17):
one of my goals in life is toalways stay curious about
absolutely everything.
Because it's so, it's so easyto resort to judgment or raising
your eyebrow and skepticism ofsomething that's new and like
what I don't know it can do whatI don't think that's right for
us.
You know, I don't, you know it.
Just, you instantly just clamup, feel like whenever judgment
(18:39):
enters the picture, and that'son a personal level, on an
organizational level.
If there's this newfangled AIcraze, well, you want to know
whether it's real or whetherit's hype, and if you have a
(19:00):
company that's willing to leaninto that, to investigate that
and to report back.
You know, I think it just kindof transmits the fact that, yes,
we're a curious organizationand and our curiosity is, will
always be a part of what drivesus, and so I think that I think
it did a good job oftransmitting that to everybody.
Matt Sunshine (19:14):
Yeah.
Last question for you is I knowwhen people listen to this, uh,
there are going to be plenty ofpeople out there that are like,
wow, I think we should do thatin our company, like that would
be a good thing for us to dowith, you know.
And so what advice would yougive to other organizations,
(19:35):
other businesses, who maybehaven't fully explored all the
capabilities that AI, all the AItools out there and all the
different capabilities that AIhas?
Brent Tripp (19:51):
What advice would you give to them?
Well, I'd say that it's not toolate to explore these tools,
because there are businesses outthere, for whatever reasons,
that are still kind of resistantto using these tools.
There's a myriad of reasons,but I'd say it's worth exploring
them because people far smarterthan me have said this and I
(20:11):
couldn't agree more.
I feel like we're living in awindow of time where smaller
teams, smaller companies, all ofa sudden have the capabilities
to compete with much largerteams, much larger companies,
and I don't know if this littlewindow of time is going to last
forever.
I don't think it's going tolast forever, but the sooner you
(20:32):
investigate these tools, thesooner you figure out what tools
can work best for you and whatyour organization is doing, the
sooner you can compete withthose much bigger teams and the
sooner you can make athree-person team have the
productivity of a 10, 15-personteam.
So I think we're living in thatmoment right now and the
(20:54):
opportunity is there for thetaking.
And, if you know not I'm in noway trying to toot our own horn
at all but I think iforganizations are out there that
haven't fully explored thesetools, for whatever reason, I
say maybe try an ai task force.
You don't have to publicizeeverybody, just just connect a
few different people together,your company, see if they're
interested in exploring thesethings and see what they report
(21:15):
back.
They may report back and youmay find things that aren't
right for you.
That's cool.
But they may report back andyou may find out that you can
create your very own tool orsomething or completely change
how you do these differentoperations and stuff.
So, yeah, we're living in awindow of time that you can
compete against much biggercompanies and bigger teams and
it's there for the taking if youwant it.
Matt Sunshine (21:35):
Yeah, and that's exactly right.
Very, very well said, that'sexactly right.
Very, very well said, brent,thank you so much for joining us
today and sharing with us yourperspective of the AI task force
, from someone who was a bigpart of the AI task force.
So thanks for doing that andthanks for being a guest on the
(21:55):
show.
For anybody that wants to getin contact with Brent, brent's
information will be in the shownotes.
You can email him there or linkconnect with him on LinkedIn
there, and I know Brent wellenough to know that anyone that
reaches out will certainly get aresponse.
We're we're always like to behelpful, and with that, I just
(22:18):
want to thank everybody forlistening and for joining us.
We look forward to seeing youon our next episode of the
Improving Sales Performancepodcast.
This has been Improving SalesPerformance.
Thanks for listening.
If you like what you heard,join us every week by clicking
the subscribe button.
For more on the topics coveredin the show, visit our website,
(22:41):
thecenterforsalesstrategycom.
There you can find helpfulresources and content aimed at
improving your sales performance.
Thank you.
Welcome to Improving Sales Performance, a
podcast highlighting tips andinsights aimed at helping sales
organizations realize, and maybeeven exceed, their goals.
Here we chat with thoughtleaders, experts and gurus who
have years of sales experiencefrom a wide range of industries.
I'm your host, matt Sunshine,ceo at the Center for Sales
Strategy, a sales performanceconsulting company.
(00:27):
In this episode, we'rediscussing the benefits of
having an AI task force at yourcompany and how such a brain
trust can be an invaluableresource to ensure that your
organization stays ahead of thecurve.
Joining me to explore it all isBrent Tripp, digital marketing
(00:51):
coordinator and podcast producerhere at CSS.
Brent offers some solid pointsto think about, like why it's
essential for everyone at theorganization to have a firm
grasp on how AI tools functionand what they can help you
accomplish.
How having an AI task force atyour company can help you make
(01:12):
decisions and providerecommendations as new tech
innovations become available.
And, finally, why, if yourorganization is reluctant to
embrace AI tools, you just mightbe missing out on an
opportunity to compete withlarger teams.
With that, let's jump into theconversation.
So can you break down the topreasons why the AI task force
(01:47):
was developed here at CSS?
Brent Tripp (01:49):
Of course.
I mean I think and let me knowif I'm missing anything but I
think the AI task force wasreally born out of a desire to
really ensure that CSS as anorganization was staying on top
of the rapidly developing AItools that were coming out at
the time.
So just a little background.
The task force was developedback in late winter, early
(02:14):
spring of last year when ChatGPTfirst made its big splash.
It kind of entered the publicconsciousness and the tool
itself had been around for aminute, but it was around that
time last year that peoplereally kind of caught on to what
it could do and what it wascapable of.
So, and at that time too, whichit's kind of still the case
(02:35):
today chat that was the name oneveryone's lips, but there were
so many other tools that werecoming out.
It was like a never endingavalanche tools that were coming
out.
It was like a never endingavalanche.
So I think mainly the goal forthe overarching goal was for us
to kind of like go out there,see what is out there and just
(02:56):
make sure that we were stayingat the head of the curve as best
as we could, trying to keep uppace all these different tools
that were coming out.
Matt Sunshine (03:03):
Yeah, there's that, there's that expression
that I know we throw aroundsometimes, that you know you can
do anything.
You probably you just can't doeverything.
And I right, and I think thatwas the when all the AI was
happening so fast, it was likeokay, well, what should we do?
Well, we can do all that, butwhat should we do?
(03:25):
We can do all that, but whatshould?
Brent Tripp (03:26):
we do Exactly, exactly, and not to mention that
, like every other day, therewas a new name you heard, right,
like first it was Chad GBT, andthen you're hearing Bard.
You know, now Bard is Geminiand you were hearing this and
that and you're like, okay, well, what is it?
Is it the same thing?
Why is it a different name?
Is it has it?
Has it have a different focus?
You know?
So, yeah, it was, it was.
(03:46):
It's hard to do everything.
You can't do everything, sowhat?
Matt Sunshine (03:50):
what were you know, as the AI task force got
together?
What?
What were the primary goals andobjectives when, when the task
force first was established?
Brent Tripp (04:03):
Yeah, so when we first started, I think there
were three solid goals that wekind of kept in mind.
The first was really kind of,as I mentioned just previously,
to identify, research, test whatexactly was out there.
We wanted to help, you know,answer the question of what was
(04:24):
available to us.
And so we kind of divided andconquered in that way, kind of
looking at all these differenttools that were out there and
seeing like, okay, we're hearingthese names, we know what chat,
gpt can do, what else is outthere.
That was number one.
Number two we wanted to comeback with recommendations of
(04:45):
specific tools that not onlywere practical but kind of
aligned with our goals here atCSS.
You know, what tools made themost sense for everything we do
here, what tools can make uswork smarter, not harder, kind
of casting a wide net, seeing,collecting everything, seeing
what makes sense, tossing outwhat didn't.
(05:05):
That was number two.
And then three, we wanted to,from the entire process, come
back and educate and supporteveryone here at CSS.
As you know, they folded thesetools into their processes and
strategies and I think we wantedpeople to feel competent when
(05:28):
testing these tools out.
We wanted to make sure theyfelt confident and okay to test
these tools out, to use thesetools out, because, I mean, when
these tools first startedcoming out, it all felt very
foreign to a lot of people.
You know, people didn't knowexactly what all this stuff was,
even the name, like we're soused to the name chat, gpt now,
but at the time, to like chat,what g?
What is a gpt?
(05:49):
People can even say it.
And so, uh, we wanted to makesure that everyone here at css
was educated and felt confidentthat like, oh, this is exactly
what it does.
Matt Sunshine (05:57):
I could put this in, get this out, that kind of
thing yeah, I think that's areally good point that you bring
up is today, almost everyonehas heard of chat GPT, whether
they've been on it or not,whether they've experimented.
It depends on their curiositylevel and those sorts of things.
Pretty much everyone has heardof it or knows someone that has
(06:21):
heard of it Right heard of it,or knows someone that has heard
of it.
When the task force started ayear and a half ago, whatever it
was, there were plenty ofpeople, certainly in our company
, certainly in my circles, thathad not even heard of it that
were like, what are you talkingabout?
(06:42):
Like it is a science fictionmovie.
I mean, right, this wasn't ahousehold name.
So I like the fact that therewere specific goals and
objectives that the task forcesaid this is what we're going to
do, this is what we're tryingto accomplish.
So, as you started findingthese new tools, how did the
(07:05):
task force go aboutinvestigating and testing and
how did collaborating withcolleagues from different
divisions and differentdepartments in the company?
How did that enhance or improveor challenge the task force?
Brent Tripp (07:26):
Yeah, so I'll start with the second part of your
question first.
I mean, aside from any of thetangible AI results we got, I
mean it was just fun because weare for anyone who might not
know, we're entirely a remoteorganization and I think we
already do a really great job ofmaking it feel like we work
(07:48):
shoulder to shoulder with ourcolleagues.
But the fact of the matter isis like there are people that I
don't work with every day.
There's people I don't see thatoften, even in a virtual sense.
So just being able to likeconnect with and see people from
other departments that I maynot have worked with before,
that that was a fun experience.
But segwaying into the actualresults that we found and the
(08:09):
benefits of that, likemulti-departmental brain trust,
if you will, it was like so cooland it made me so honored, in a
sense, to work with people.
I know that everyone at CSSthat we work with, everyone here
, is the best, the best, sosmart.
(08:30):
But just having thismulti-department brain trust
just made me feel like wow, wework with some really smart
people, and I know that because,like, I'm here talking about
the AI task force today, butI'll be the first to tell you I
did a lot more listening inthose meetings than talking a
lot of the times, because therewere people that were far more
(08:51):
educated in the realm of AI thanI was at the time and there
were just so many great ideasput forth, so many great use
cases.
So that really having everyonefrom different departments
directly influenced how we wentabout researching all the tools
that are out there.
So pretty much what we did iswe divided and conquered.
I went off and, you know, kindof looked at all the tools
(09:14):
available through the lens ofthe marketing department what
use cases made sense to kind ofmake our processes more
efficient, what can enhance ourstrategies as a marketing team.
Trey went off and looked atdifferent tools to see how these
things can benefit the salesprocess, benefit our clients,
our sales training.
Kate went off and looked at howthese tools can benefit the
(09:37):
talent and up your culture teams.
And Aisha, you know she wentoff and looked at these tools
through the lens of serving leadG2s clients and how they can
optimize, you know, B2B salesand marketing performance.
So we kind of all went off onour own and that's only to name
a few, by the way, just a fewpeople in the task force, but we
all went off on our own, lookedat these tools through our own
(09:59):
like departmental lenses andcame back and kind of threw
things at each other.
And so I'd come back forexample and say like, hey, I
found this cool thing it is X, Yand Z and I think that would be
great for A, B and C for themarketing department, and Trey
might be like, oh, that's reallycool, but I could also see how
we could use that in, you know,A, B and C with our clients here
at Center for Sales Strategy.
So it was really a really coolway to collaborate and we all
(10:22):
found different things and itwas awesome.
It was really great.
Matt Sunshine (10:25):
Yeah, I would say that we certainly, as a company
, have did, did then, and havenow embraced an AI, embraced an
AI mentality.
Right, I don't think that we'rescared of the technology.
(10:48):
I think we embrace that.
That does not mean that weadopt every single AI that is
out there, but it does mean thatwe are open to looking to see
how AI could help us to improve.
With that said, can you give meor can you share a specific
example, perhaps arecommendation that the task
(11:11):
force had and what it looks liketoday in action?
Have we implemented it?
Brent Tripp (11:19):
Yeah, no, absolutely Absolutely.
So I think the first thing thatI'd say is I think I've already
mentioned a little bit, but Ithink we did a pretty good job,
at least you know, both for theentire organization, also in our
own individual teams kind oflike educating everyone in terms
of how they can practically usethese tools in their everyday
(11:41):
responsibilities, everydayduties.
So so we, when I know I'vealready kind of talked about
this a little bit, but there wasa certain intimidation factor,
people didn't know what this was.
There was a certain leeryness.
It's like what did this tooltakes something that I tell and
it can.
It can generate an entire.
It can generate an entireworkflow of emails for me in two
seconds.
(12:02):
I don't know about that.
So I think we did a good job ofkind of mitigating any of that
leeriness, any of thatintimidation factor that may
have been present in some of ourteam members.
May or may not have been, Idon't know, because we're like
you said, we're very forwardthinking in this way.
So we did a good job ofeducating, but we also, I think,
(12:22):
one of the main takeaways thatwe spread throughout the company
and people probably arefamiliar with this by now I
think it's still relevant, eventhough it might sound cliche is
we emphasize that.
You know these tools arecapable of absolutely amazing
things, but we should not relyon them completely.
You know there's.
You can't expect just to inputsomething, get something out and
(12:48):
be like, ok, that's it, myjob's done.
These tools are here to make usbetter at what we do, not
replace what we do Right, and soso there has to be a, a human
touch involved in this process.
Because if it's just AI, I cantell you just from having
reviewed so many different AItools and AI generated content
it is beyond obvious to me thesedays whenever there is
(13:10):
something that is just raw AIthat was slapped up on the
Internet, like it's these, theyall have different or familiar
ways, I should say, of phrasingsentences, the certain words
they use that are very familiar.
So it's very obvious wheneveryou do not edit and do not add
your own personal touch tothings that AI generates.
So that's a big thing werecommended.
(13:32):
Another thing that we kind ofhammered home and it's still an
evolving process is your promptsmatter.
You know, I feel like when chatGBT first came out, I'm saying
chat GBT a lot, but that's just.
Like you know, it's ubiquitousand it's kind of like the basis
of what spawned all thesedifferent evolutions.
But when tools like that firstcame out, if someone were
(13:56):
curious and they and they'relike, oh, let's see what this is
about, and they typed in asimple prompt, you know, like,
write me an email that does this, does A, b and C.
It might not generate a greatresponse for you.
You might be like, well, okay,I mean, it's an email but it's
not specific, it doesn't?
Well, you didn't write aspecific prompt, you know.
So we kind of hammered home howyou prompt these things matters
(14:22):
, and prompting AI tools is anart form in and of itself to
this day.
And the last thing, that themost tangible and I certainly
can't take credit for this idea,but the initial concept of what
would become this universesales strategies, sales
accelerator AI tool was born outof the AI task force meetings.
And for those who don't know,you know sales accelerator AI is
our own tool here at CSS.
It don't know you know SalesAccelerator AI is our own tool
here at CSS.
It helps salespeople, you know,refine their valid business
(14:44):
reasons, create really greatsales emails to prospects.
You know, generates awesomethought-provoking questions for
needs analysis, meetings, almostany aspect of a salesperson's
daily routine.
Sales Accelerator AI can helpthem work smarter and faster in
that way.
And what's different betweenSales Accelerator AI can help
them work smarter and faster inthat way.
And what's different betweenSales Accelerator AI and, let's
(15:08):
say, gemini or ChatGPT is thatSales Accelerator AI is a closed
tool, which means it's trainedexclusively on our own
proprietary information here atCSS, our own training resources,
that kind of thing, versusGemini, which scours the entire
internet to give you a result.
So, um, yeah, without the taskforce, you know, we we might not
have reached that idea asquickly or at all.
So, uh, that's kind of the mosttangible result from the task
(15:30):
force.
Matt Sunshine (15:30):
Yeah, I, I agree with that exact.
I don't know if we would havecome up with that idea, or or
certainly not as fast as we cameup with it.
That was such a clear,unanimous, very well thought out
idea that the task force had.
(15:52):
Where a problem was identified,a solution was identified.
All everything had been thoughtout.
Where a problem was identified,a solution was identified,
everything had been thought out.
And I remember when the AI taskforce made that presentation, it
was one of those moments that,I think, changes the course of
(16:16):
history for the company.
It was, boy, this is the rightthing to do right now.
We need to put resources behindit to make it happen, and I
think from the moment that thetask force made that
presentation and everyone agreedit was the right thing to do,
to the moment it launched Sixmonths.
(16:37):
Yeah, I mean, we put resourcesbehind it and we built it, and
it's still, I think, probablycertainly one of the shining
stars.
So, whether a company leans in,as you've been describing, to AI
with something like a taskforce or some other version of
(16:59):
that, or they lean out and sayyou know what?
We're not participating in anyof this.
We're going to be.
We're going to sit, we're goingto be on the sidelines and just
watch.
Influences the culture of thebusiness, of the business.
(17:24):
How did, or how has the AI taskforce influenced the company
culture with regard to itsapproach on innovation?
How do you do you think it'smade an impact?
Brent Tripp (17:31):
I think so I mean, and I think the main way it's
made an impact is that it's it'sdeepened and maybe emphasized a
certain mindset that I think wekind of already have as an
organization and you said itearlier which is curiosity,
right, and I think we already doa great job of thinking about
(17:57):
what are the best ways we canadapt as an organization, what
are the best ways we can evolveto do the best work possible.
And I think the AI task forcejust the very existence of the
AI task force kind ofcommunicated that message
throughout the organization.
And one thing that I reallyappreciate is, like, personally,
(18:17):
one of my goals in life is toalways stay curious about
absolutely everything.
Because it's so, it's so easyto resort to judgment or raising
your eyebrow and skepticism ofsomething that's new and like
what I don't know it can do whatI don't think that's right for
us.
You know, I don't, you know it.
Just, you instantly just clamup, feel like whenever judgment
(18:39):
enters the picture, and that'son a personal level, on an
organizational level.
If there's this newfangled AIcraze, well, you want to know
whether it's real or whetherit's hype, and if you have a
(19:00):
company that's willing to leaninto that, to investigate that
and to report back.
You know, I think it just kindof transmits the fact that, yes,
we're a curious organizationand and our curiosity is, will
always be a part of what drivesus, and so I think that I think
it did a good job oftransmitting that to everybody.
Matt Sunshine (19:14):
Yeah.
Last question for you is I knowwhen people listen to this, uh,
there are going to be plenty ofpeople out there that are like,
wow, I think we should do thatin our company, like that would
be a good thing for us to dowith, you know.
And so what advice would yougive to other organizations,
(19:35):
other businesses, who maybehaven't fully explored all the
capabilities that AI, all the AItools out there and all the
different capabilities that AIhas?
Brent Tripp (19:51):
What advice would you give to them?
Well, I'd say that it's not toolate to explore these tools,
because there are businesses outthere, for whatever reasons,
that are still kind of resistantto using these tools.
There's a myriad of reasons,but I'd say it's worth exploring
them because people far smarterthan me have said this and I
(20:11):
couldn't agree more.
I feel like we're living in awindow of time where smaller
teams, smaller companies, all ofa sudden have the capabilities
to compete with much largerteams, much larger companies,
and I don't know if this littlewindow of time is going to last
forever.
I don't think it's going tolast forever, but the sooner you
(20:32):
investigate these tools, thesooner you figure out what tools
can work best for you and whatyour organization is doing, the
sooner you can compete withthose much bigger teams and the
sooner you can make athree-person team have the
productivity of a 10, 15-personteam.
So I think we're living in thatmoment right now and the
(20:54):
opportunity is there for thetaking.
And, if you know not I'm in noway trying to toot our own horn
at all but I think iforganizations are out there that
haven't fully explored thesetools, for whatever reason, I
say maybe try an ai task force.
You don't have to publicizeeverybody, just just connect a
few different people together,your company, see if they're
interested in exploring thesethings and see what they report
(21:15):
back.
They may report back and youmay find things that aren't
right for you.
That's cool.
But they may report back andyou may find out that you can
create your very own tool orsomething or completely change
how you do these differentoperations and stuff.
So, yeah, we're living in awindow of time that you can
compete against much biggercompanies and bigger teams and
it's there for the taking if youwant it.
Matt Sunshine (21:35):
Yeah, and that's exactly right.
Very, very well said, that'sexactly right.
Very, very well said, brent,thank you so much for joining us
today and sharing with us yourperspective of the AI task force
, from someone who was a bigpart of the AI task force.
So thanks for doing that andthanks for being a guest on the
(21:55):
show.
For anybody that wants to getin contact with Brent, brent's
information will be in the shownotes.
You can email him there or linkconnect with him on LinkedIn
there, and I know Brent wellenough to know that anyone that
reaches out will certainly get aresponse.
We're we're always like to behelpful, and with that, I just
(22:18):
want to thank everybody forlistening and for joining us.
We look forward to seeing youon our next episode of the
Improving Sales Performancepodcast.
This has been Improving SalesPerformance.
Thanks for listening.
If you like what you heard,join us every week by clicking
the subscribe button.
For more on the topics coveredin the show, visit our website,
(22:41):
thecenterforsalesstrategycom.
There you can find helpfulresources and content aimed at
improving your sales performance.
Thank you.
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