Tech Insights with Alisha Christian
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Tech Insights with Alisha Christian
AI, Sales, and the Human Touch
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AI can supercharge prospecting and polish your outreach, but it won’t replace the handshake that earns real trust. We sit down with Mercury IT’s Chief Sales Officer, Sally-Ann, to unpack how sales and marketing teams can move faster with ChatGPT, Copilot, and chatbots while keeping relationships at the centre of every deal.
We start with the practical wins: speeding up lead identification, drafting clearer emails under pressure, and using paid AI tiers to protect sensitive data. From there, we dig into what machines still miss. Sally-Ann explains why in-person meetings and live events outperform online calls, how a buzzing room lets you bring specialists into conversations on the spot, and why that depth builds confidence you simply can’t manufacture through a screen.
We also talk readiness. Many companies assume staff aren’t using AI when they already are. We share how to set policy, secure data, and train teams on ethics so AI enhances judgement instead of eroding trust. You’ll hear a rapid myth-versus-fact segment on chatbots, forecasting, and whether AI will replace sellers (spoiler: no), plus guidance on when to use automation for triage and when to switch to a human voice.
If you care about pipeline quality, realistic forecasts, and relationships that last beyond the signature, this conversation will help you balance efficiency with empathy. Subscribe, share with a colleague who lives in their CRM, and leave a review telling us: what part of your sales process should never be automated?
Hi Selly Ann, welcome back to the podcast. Hi, how are you? Good. Very good, thanks. So for those that don't know, Cellyanne is our chief sales officer at Mercury IT. So appreciate you coming along again. We love a bit of girl power.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
Alisha Christian :So today we're just having a bit of a chat. I mean, obviously, your sales, I'm marketing, and we've both seen like a lot of impact with AI in our job roles. So yeah, we're just having a bit of a chat today about how it's impacted and what we like about it, and maybe what we don't like about it.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
Alisha Christian :So when I say to you, AI and sales, what's what's the first thing that sort of comes to your mind?
SPEAKER_00:I think what AI brings to the sales process is exactly that. It's a process. Salespeople are notoriously bad at following sales process. I'm number one being really bad. And I think the AI stuff now, I mean, for example, you can go into Chat GTP T is just one clawed, there's a whole plethoraage of applications out there these days. And you can just turn around and say, for example, show me all the CIOs in Melbourne that have been in tenureship longer than 12 months, and you'll get a whole list come through pretty quickly. And it will just go and often if you direct it to LinkedIn, then it goes to LinkedIn or wherever wherever you want it to search. It gives you that instant response. Um, so it's gonna speed up that um identification of prospects a lot easier. Um, but it's also gonna make sure it does it in an efficient way for you. So yeah.
Alisha Christian :So prior to that, um, prior to AI, how long would something like that have taken you to work through?
SPEAKER_00:A long time, a long time. So it's gonna it's gonna just change up the the the tempo um of giving you opportunities um just using the tools available to you.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, and I mean I think we both talked about the tools and you know the benefits of using them. Like I know for myself, I'm a one-man marketing department, so I definitely find Copilot to be uh very beneficial. Uh don't like to lean on it all in, but it definitely uh assists and speeds up the processes for me too. Um also helps if you're having a bit of a a day where you can't come up with any ideas is a good brainstorming tool.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it is.
Alisha Christian :That's for sure. And um, do you find that your team are using AI um to help sort of speed up the process for them?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely. I I I think where I find it is like rewinding emails or write me a response in a polite but friendly, professional manner, and it can give you a response to if you're just a little bit under the pump or whatever it's like that, you have to obviously check it. Please check everything that you run through AI. Chris has drummed that into us enough, so um it's very, very important. And um and encourage I encourage most companies to go to the paid version of Copilot as well, so therefore you're you're just protecting your data a little bit more. Um, but certainly it's it's certainly a tool that everyone's using across the board.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, absolutely need to go for that paid version though. Yes. I think we've talked about that many times on uh on this podcast. We are all yes, listening to Chris telling us that we need to do that, so yeah, it's definitely some um good advice there. And do you feel like um AI is going to take over sales roles, or do you still feel that that um face-to-face is important?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely sales. Um, there's no way a machine learning, which is what AI is, can actually replace the human touch. Um sales is all about trust. And you when you're in sales, you've got to be very, very nimble, what I call nimble and agile. We talked about agile in my last podcast. Um, but salespeople have to be agile. For example, you don't know what the pain point of the client you're speaking to, they're all unique. No managed services or no no services are identical across any two businesses because two businesses are fundamentally different on the way they operate, on the way that they want to get outcomes, uh, and you have to align your IT to those business outcomes. So it the personal touch is fundamental to sales and will always be that case.
Alisha Christian :I guess it does come down to um that transparency as well, uh, trust, because if you've got AI eventually doing your cold calling, doing your outreach, people are gonna start to be like, Well, am I actually talking to a person or am I talking to a bot? So do you feel like it's gonna be become more important to have those? Because I know you love face-to-face. Yeah. I do know that you like to have that connection with people, maybe that's the old school, which I love it too. Um, do you feel like it's gonna become more important as the further AI goes along?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and and you're right, there's a lot of online type meetings now. I'm I'm very much of the old school. I like face-to-face because you can actually um get a feel, and as I say, you just need need that rapport with people.
Alisha Christian :Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and you you just got to show up. I mean, that's the first part of selling is showing up. And I believe that face-to-face is always the best.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, and I mean I guess we even see it with our um events that we host, like we do online events and then we also do in-person events, but you could definitely say that the in-person events um are just way more successful due to having that opportunity to have those, you know, face-to-face conversations and just get to know people. Whereas with an online event, it's just like a little icon on the screen, they're listening to you know, whatever it is we're presenting, but not having that opportunity to kind of interact on a more personal level.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, and it also demonstrates the depth of an organization as well. So, for example, the last event we did, we had a lunch in in, I think it was Brisbane, and uh we had 50 companies there. Um, and the room was buzzing and it was just a hive of activity. And I could get Chris to come and speak to somebody, or Martin, or or AJ, or somebody else, that has a different skill set to what I have, and then therefore you can demonstrate what Mercury T has to get has to offer as an organization. Um, and you can get that that warmth from um those those conversations and and just again build the trust. I keep coming back to trust. Yeah, it's all about you know having that um that ability to depend on your on your your partners.
Alisha Christian :Oh, it definitely is, and just being able to build that rapport. Um, I was also at that event, and yeah, it it does go to show because that was probably one of our bigger ones that we put on for a while, and I think we all sort of walked away going, yeah, I think in-person events are are really back, people are wanting to network in person. I mean, Teams is great, Zoom is great, but I don't think you pick up on those same social cues that you do when you're in person, even sometimes when you're on one of those meetings and there's say four faces on there, it's hard to know who's gonna talk next. And it's yeah, and you get distracted as well.
SPEAKER_00:Uh you know, you I I know when I've I've done uh I've been on an online meeting and I will absolutely own it. Um I get distracted sometimes and an email might come in or something else that's more important. And um, you know, you just you get distracted a lot more easily, but but when you're actually engaging face to face, it's a lot, it's a lot more, you know, you achieve a lot more um with those discussions, I feel.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, I definitely agree. Yes, the old online online can give you the opportunity to do the uh sneaky multitasking. Yes, absolutely. It's not always a good thing. Um, so no, I couldn't agree more with that. So um with AI, what's your favourite tool? What sort of tools are you using um for your work?
SPEAKER_00:Um I I do use Chat GPT. Um I actually find it easier than Claude for myself personally. I use Dali A as well for for a little bit of the graphic stuff that I like to do sometimes. Um, but realistically, it's picking up the phone and having a conversation and and just AI is never gonna replace that. Yeah. So, and you've also got to be aware that you can only trust chat GPT to a certain certain point.
Alisha Christian :That's so true.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so you're gonna have to double check everything. So you make sure you have a bit of time to do that and get in that process of doing that. It's is that's one of the biggest things you've got to do. Uh, don't just blindly send something because you'll get undone pretty quickly.
Alisha Christian :Oh, that's so so true. You definitely need to be fact-checking whatever, whatever the AI is telling you because they don't always get it right.
SPEAKER_00:No, well, I mean, for example, I'm known for being a little bit blunt sometimes and to the point. Um, sometimes I can say to Chat GPT, stop in this email for me, because um it may come across as a little bit, a little bit to the point.
Alisha Christian :Oh, yeah. Well, I'm probably the opposite. Mine are probably gnolly too warm and fuzzy. Yeah, I need to make mine more to the point. So yeah, it definitely does help with um with wording sometimes. And yeah, I mean, you just got to use the tool to the best that you can without letting it take over from that human connection. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's evolving. I mean, everyone thinks that this is the the latest and greatest, but it's not. AI has been around for decades. Um, so it is it is ramping up now uh at a rate of knots. Um, so it the landscape is going to be ever changing and evolving. Um, and if you're looking to implement AI in a business, you've got to make sure that you've got your ducks in a row. Um, and make sure that um you've got a partner that can go on that journey with you. Yes. Um, and don't just think once you've solved one process, that's it. There's always more and there's ways to tweak it and get it better and more improved and everything else as well.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, because I guess something that um Chris and I have talked about quite a bit um on the podcast too is just that AI readiness and making sure that um it's all well and good to use these tools, but just to make sure that you know your data is locked down and that all your security parameters are in place because otherwise it could be the undoing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, that's why you pay for the paid version of ChatGPT or Copilot or whatever you're gonna do because um you can use the AI for data analytics really well. Um, one of the things, again, salespeople are notoriously bad at is actually spotting the detail and and doing that analysis. So um that's where it can once again help salespeople do that data crunching for them and give them the the answers that they need. But again, you've still got to check it.
Alisha Christian :Yeah. And I guess um doing that automation and um those sorts of more tedious tasks does free up your time then to have more in-person conversations and getting out, networking, attending those events. It's um yeah, I guess it frees you up from those more mundane tasks, which yeah, there's always those.
SPEAKER_00:And salespeople will tend to swerve around those.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, I don't know if marketing's much better. Um, so we've got something a little bit different today. Um I have some myth or fact questions for you. Okay. So I'm just going to ask you a few questions and you can let me know if you think it's a myth or a fact. Okay. What do you think? Your game?
SPEAKER_00:We can try it.
Alisha Christian :Okay. All right. AI makes sales more personal.
SPEAKER_00:Myth.
Alisha Christian :I thought you might go that way on that one. Uh, chatbots can qualify enterprise leads effectively. Fact. AI will replace human sellers in the next five years.
SPEAKER_00:Big myth.
Alisha Christian :Big myth. We all hope that's definitely not gonna happen. Uh, database intuition in complex deal negotiations. Fact. Clients care more about speed than empathy.
SPEAKER_00:Myth.
Alisha Christian :Probably depends on the client too. Yes. AI improves sales forecasting accuracy.
SPEAKER_00:Fact.
Alisha Christian :Look, you survived. There you go. Um, so a few other things I've got here is would you be more inclined for a cold email or a warm intro?
SPEAKER_00:Warm intro.
Alisha Christian :Yes, I think so too. Um speed or depth?
SPEAKER_00:Depth.
Alisha Christian :Predictive analytics or relationship mapping?
SPEAKER_00:Relationship mapping.
Alisha Christian :I think I could probably answer these ones for you. You probably could actually, you know me well enough. Chatbot for first touch or human from the start?
SPEAKER_00:Both.
Alisha Christian :Both?
SPEAKER_00:There's a ton and place for chatbots and it's evolving. Yeah.
Alisha Christian :Um sometimes they can be, you know, especially on websites and that sort of thing. If you're looking on a website and it just pops up with the little, can I help you, you know, that initial contact to get you to the right.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's nice to have the option of both. Yeah. So if you do want to speak to somebody, you can just, you know, pick up the phone. Yes. Um, but there is always times when some people just don't have the time for that. Yes. Chatbots can add.
Alisha Christian :Well, sometimes they can answer the question for you. Exactly. And it might just be something simple that and you maybe don't want to engage with the real human.
SPEAKER_00:Well, there are there are some humans that don't like to talk to other humans, but yes.
Alisha Christian :Yes, so I agree. Uh, quarterly pipeline reviews or weekly deal huddles.
SPEAKER_00:Both.
Alisha Christian :Both?
SPEAKER_00:Hmm.
unknown:Yeah.
Alisha Christian :Interesting. Um, so that kind of really wraps up our our AI conversation. I did want to ask you though, if there's any um things that you feel kind of worried about in the years to come with AI. Like, you know, I know when I always talk to my husband about AI, he's thinks the robots are coming to get us. Which That's a myth, too. You know, I don't know if I agree or disagree with that. Time will tell, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:Well, do you have a um a robot in your house? You absolutely do.
Alisha Christian :I don't think I do, but I probably need one to clean my floors.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, there you go. So I mean, it's AI is here to help and aid and assist, it's not here to take over.
Alisha Christian :And it is obviously getting better and better, so hopefully it works to our advantage and not against us. Absolutely. Excellent. Is there anything else you'd like to add, Sally Ann?
SPEAKER_00:No, everyone sort of is getting used to me now on these podcasts, but I'm always around for a conversation. Um, I'll get Alicia to put my mobile up there if anyone wants to have a conversation around it. Just AI readiness. That's what I'm spending a lot of my time doing with our clients at the moment, just making sure they're ready for when they're ready to implement AI.
Alisha Christian :Yeah, because there are some people that aren't implementing it or they think that their staff aren't implementing it, but they actually are. So it's um important to make sure that everyone's on the same page with policy and that sort of thing across the company.
SPEAKER_00:So and education. We do a lot of um educating boards at the moment around AI and ethics and um just having the conversation at that level because that's it starts at the top and it filters down.
Alisha Christian :So it absolutely does. Yeah. Um, well, I'll put your details in the uh show notes anyway, and thanks again for joining us. Thank you. Thanks, Leisure.
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