This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Antoine Wade, a tech sales employee who is based in San Antonio. His identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I started to use AI around 2022 when ChatGPT first launched. It was unlike any technology that I’ve come across and I started to leverage it in my personal and professional life.
Initially, it helped me craft emails. I work in tech sales and I have to do a lot of cold outreaches. My job is to write messages that resonate with various leaders and ChatGPT helped me with that.
Once I started using it at work, I realized that as a sports coach and father, there was so much more I could use it for, like sending post-practice communication to parents, building schedules, or putting together statistics of how the game went. Tasks that used to take me days took me literal minutes.
Now I use AI everyday, and I’ve experimented with different tools. I use Claude to help with business communication and content generation. I use Perplexity for deep research, and Gemini for image generation. I use these tools for a combination of personal, professional, and educational use-cases. I’ve learned how to install an air conditioner and how to teach my son 6th grade math.
My company has also given me access to tools that have been really powerful in sales. It can help with gaining a better understanding of the customer in a minute’s notice.
For example, tools like Salesforce Sales Navigator can pinpoint almost the exact person that may be looking for the product I’m selling. Now when I reach out to that person, the conversation will be more fruitful than it would if it were a completely random cold call.
AI hasn’t helped me close deals — I’m the one that’s built those relationships with customers — but I’ve seen an increase in my pipeline because I’m able to reach more clients with the data and messaging.
When I’m able to understand the customer better, I’m able to communicate more effectively, which leads to building a better pipeline, which ultimately leads to making more money.
I don’t want to share my secrets with everyone
While people may have access to the same tools, it’s still up to the user to put the data together and craft the right prompts. I’ve been experimenting with so many automation tools that I’ve developed a secret sauce.
If I’m creating prompts that give me a better message, which leads to a better outcome, I may not share it with others because I want to see if it works and if it’s going to give me a competitive advantage.
We all have the same amount of time in a day to learn these things. So if I’m putting more time toward learning more about prompt engineering or how AI is supposed to work, then I don’t necessarily want to share those learnings with someone else. In this moment, we’re all competing.
I will absolutely help someone if they ask, but there are certain details I’m not as forthcoming about. I may share some of those learnings with some of my closest friends or people I feel I can learn from, but that doesn’t mean I’m sharing it with everybody.
Sales is very competitive and while companies are choosing to have conversations around AI, some people may not be as comfortable sharing how they’re leveraging it because that may be their competitive advantage.
When people ask if I use AI, I say “absolutely, yes.” But there’s only a certain amount of people that I’m going into a deeper conversations about AI with.
Read the original article on Business Insider
The post I work in tech sales and use AI every day — but I don’t want everyone knowing my secrets of how I use it appeared first on Business Insider.
