Are You Using AI to Write More Emails, or to Better Understand Your Accounts?
Sales reps need to shift how they use these powerful tools
In an industry built on relationships, “AI slop” outreach isn’t going to grow your business. When the cost of generating content is lower than ever, content isn’t an edge; your 753-word email isn’t a business generator anymore.1
Instead, use AI to build context.
Here are 3 ways a sales rep can deploy AI easily and effectively:
Agentic Monitoring: Use “web-browsing” agents to monitor local retail portals and e-commerce listings across your zip codes. Instead of manual checks, set alerts for when your SKU hits zero or a competitor drops price. 🌐
Scaled Social Media Audits: Use AI to crawl and summarize the social feeds of your top 50 accounts. The output is a monthly “Vibe Sheet” that synthesizes their current philosophy—like a shift toward low-ABV or sustainability—so you walk in knowing their values, not just their name. 📱
The Personal Data Analyst: Don’t wait for corporate reports.2 Upload your raw depletion CSVs to a secure LLM to spot “proven patterns” in seconds. Ask it to find the “hidden gems”—accounts with high velocity but narrow distribution—and generate your target list for the week. 📊
The goal? Reclaim 5 hours a week to actually care 10% more. You aren’t competing with AI; you’re competing with the rep who uses AI to serve their accounts. 🤖🤝
I have even seen some retailers send 1,000+ word missives hawking Burgundy. It’s as if they believe a higher word count helps justifies the price they paid for it, and, in turn sell it for. If a sonnet doesn’t demand more than 14 lines, than neither does an email about any product in your portfolio.
The very nature of the monthly report means that you’re not getting it as frequently as you need to for it to be an effective tool.