AI in Sales: What to Automate vs What to Keep Human

Virtual selling didn’t just “grow” after 2020, it took over. We share a stat that over 90% of B2B companies have shifted to virtual sales models thanks to better sales process efficiency and modern management software, then we zoom in on the exceptions. South Korea and Japan still lean more heavily toward face-to-face business meetings, which sparks a bigger question: when does digital selling build trust, and when does it quietly drain it? 

From there we get hands-on with voice AI agents. We’ve tested an AI that handles inbound telephone calls and it’s shockingly close, but the weird part isn’t the answers, it’s the rhythm. Those tiny buffers, awkward pauses, and moments where the bot jumps in too early reveal the hardest problem in conversational AI: knowing when to speak. We talk about why timing is a human relationship skill, how tricky multi-part questions are, and why even a 0.5 second delay can change the feel of a conversation. 

We also map out where AI sales automation makes the most sense right now: faster B2C interactions, and B2B lead qualification instead of full relationship selling. Then we shift to AI marketing productivity, reacting to a story about building video ads, landing pages, and email follow-up sequences in a single week with tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot. We’re honest about the trade-off too: speed is real, but granular control and “perfectly on brand” details still trip AI up, especially in enterprise compliance environments. 

If you’re rethinking your sales strategy, marketing funnel, or lead qualification workflow, this one will give you clearer guardrails for what to automate and what to keep human. Subscribe, share this with a teammate, and leave a review, then tell us: where has AI saved you the most time so far?

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Transcript

The Virtual Sales Shift

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Um all right, so the late the next stat I would like to share with you, um, this will be my last stat. This will be another one that's really interesting to you. I really like worth it. Since since 2020, over 90% of B2B companies have transitioned to virtual sales models driven by enhanced sales process efficiencies and advancements in management software. But South Korea and Japan remain the exceptions with a higher preference for face-to-face business meetings despite the global shift to digital selling. How do you feel

Testing Voice AI On Phone Calls

SPEAKER_01 0:36

about that?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Interesting. Yeah. Um makes sense to me. I mean, look, there's so many good AI agents out there now. Um we tested one the other day, which was for inbound telephone calls.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

And yeah, the person sounded probably 90% legitimate, I would say. Oh, that's really close. It's really close. That's really close. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

And and obviously, you being um very articulate, uh, your 90% is probably someone else's 100%. Potentially.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

There were some pauses and there were some pauses and things where that where they have to sort of buffer and process a little bit. Yeah. And that's, I think, where they need to tighten. Like, and they will.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Do you think there's a cap limit? Do you think the buffers and the um and the little pauses are a result of the internet connection? And that's just something that we're gonna have have to live with. I don't think AI is ever gonna overcome that.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yes and no. Like, what if it's a really tricky question? Like, or what if you load up three questions in one? Ah, yes, yes, yes. And so then you go, okay, well, then there needs to be a pause. Yeah. Because you don't want to cut the prospect off. Yeah. Mid-sentence. So you kind of need to know where they finish and be able to say, all right, I'm not gonna cut them off here. I'm gonna let them talk. Maybe there needs to be a little bit of a pause. But the more and more people use it, and the more people become accustomed to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

And the more they're AI guess educated as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yeah, yeah. And and you go, okay, well, all right, it's obvious I'm not talking to a real person here, but in this instance, you know, I do the same when I'm talking to my telco, I do the same when I'm talking to this. If I don't have a burning problem that needs to be solved there and then that I'm, you know, upset and angry about, yeah, maybe this agent can actually help me because it works for me in with this company and that company and that company. So there's a few different thoughts there, I think.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

You're making me think because a couple of things. Um, when I'm talking to someone, I find that two of the hardest things is um, number one, and obviously listen, but number two, um, that which is just as hard as knowing when to jump in to say something and when not to say something and not have an awkward pause, especially when something's complex. So I think you're onto something uh that possibly when it comes to voice AI possibly is a final frontier because clearly AI's got the data now. And if it doesn't have the data, it could be educated within days, anything that it needs to know. So it's got the data, it just needs to do the timing, and that's a human relationship thing. Yeah. And that's a nuance

The Awkward Pause Problem

SPEAKER_01 2:52

that's a lot harder. Do you ever talk to your phone?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

No, no. I switched serial a couple years ago, so I'll stop talking to it.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Oh, okay, you're an Apple user. All right, I use Samsung and I I use Gemini. The default setting is 0.5 seconds before it kicks in into a conversation. But even at 0.5 seconds, it's really awkward. Sometimes uh I have free flow ideas, I have free flow conversations, and I could free flow very easily to Gemini. At other times, I've got a complex thing, I'm thinking, okay, what's the right word here? What's the right context here? And in just that split second, 0.5 second splits to be precise, is enough to throw the conversation off where it's either jumping in and and maybe it's jumped in and I said five more sentences, and then it doesn't register, and I'm going, it's so annoying. And I need to repeat myself. So the nuances there, it's very, very tricky, I think.

B2B Trust Versus B2C Speed

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yeah. And I think uh I think it also probably depends on the type of business. I mean, if they're if you're a B2C company, there's probably less of um less of a need to be building relationships and and and that kind of rapport because it's a bit more transactional.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Now I think that that then opens up an opportunity for a B2B to C company to be um more relationship driven. But for the most part, I think it's probably a lot easier to sell B2C using AI than it would be B2B, where you've got to sit down and have a thorough conversation and like each other and trust that you're both on the same page.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

And how how about using B2B just as an initial teaser, just to I wasn't worried here, you know, how when marketers bet whether they're suitable client qualifying, yeah. What about a qualifying tool? Do you see uh it useful as a qualifying tool? I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

But we're testing it out for a finance and lending company. And we're thinking, yeah, this is probably the way to go, just to ask the initial questions, um, you know, find out what they need, whether it's a business loan or a residential loan, um, and maybe just some really basic periphery information. And that, you're right, that'll help qualify and say, well, is this person legit? Or or are they just you know trying to find some more information, which the AI is not going to reject them? The AI is gonna then direct them to, okay, well, on our website we've got this information about this, that, and the other. Yeah. Maybe something specific. They might have a very specific question that they want to ask, um, and the AI can point them in that direction rather than selling them the mortgage over the phone, but I'm sure it'll happen. Eventually.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

So that's that's my last stat.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Do you do you have any more stuff on

AI Builds Funnels Fast But Lacks Control

SPEAKER_00 5:08

that? I read a post from a LinkedIn viewer, and in a nutshell, he was saying that he could achieve more by himself using AI in one week than an agency could previously in three weeks. Now, what was he referring to? So he was talking about so making video ads, the editing, the publishing. Wow. He was then talking about yeah, which is which is what I'm looking for at the moment in particular. He was then talking about the landing pages, then the email follow-up sequences, the whole marketing funnel, he built it in a week. Amazing. And that was from a guy that hadn't had experience building them before using AI. Like he built them using all the other tools and all the different fragments and tools that are around. Um, and I thought that was really interesting because, you know, he was using Claude. He mentioned Claude. And I'm gonna mention Claude because the best one out there right now. I think it is as well. And we we use Copilot and ChatGPT exclusively for about 12 months. And then I spent 30 minutes on Claude and I said, that's it. I'm moving over, bought the paid plan. It was doing all this design for me that I could have never imagined I'd even be able to do on Canva, you know? And Canva's a fantastic tool, but the way that it just picked up, I I uploaded my logo and it did the rest for me.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I I think when you you utilize an AI tool to do things, I find that uh granular getting granular control is almost impossible with AI. So that's my hurdle. When I'm using it, yeah, I could create create the campaign and generally it's gonna look great. But if there was just something, you know, maybe a word I needed to be changed, or maybe an image, maybe instead of waving, I want that person to have their hands in their pockets. Yep. No amount of prompting is able to change that. And so that's the my biggest gripe. And in those instances, I've needed to take the collateral or the JPEG or whatever it is, and to then take it to a designer and say, Oh, design, can you now make the edits and Photoshop the hand so it's not waving, it's in the pocket. So granular control is my only piece, but as all things AI, they move so fast, I'm sure it's literally a day away in order to get the granular control.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Definitely. And it'll be interesting. I mean, I I work within small and medium businesses, so I've got a bit more flexibility around, you know, does this look precisely on brand or does it look slightly off-brand, or are we even worried too much about that? Um, as opposed to a big commercial, large enterprise, they're going to be very particular on there would be compliance, oh yeah, colours, typography, um shapes, everything. Everything gets scrutinized and has to go through a process. Yeah, exactly. There's so much red tape. So works for me, but in that instance, but for larger organizations, there's probably a bit of a hurdle.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Wouldn't it be amusing when then when the larger organization, the person that is in charge of the compliance and the bureaucracy is actually an AI engine. Yeah, an AI engine produces a piece of work, submits it to another AI engine in order to have it approved or not approved. Then if it's not approved, it's pushed back to the AI engine. Then they keep on talking about it. Um before they spit something out. Wouldn't it be funny if one day they behave like humans or such a baker?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

It'd be ridiculous, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_01 8:05

They can't agree on a piece of artwork, and it just goes on and on, and two months down the line, or maybe a week later, the project has gone over and above budget and it's um it's passed as due data already.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Exactly. And then one of them's called into HR to explain themselves. It's just incredible. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it'll be incredible where it where it gets to.

Marketing Gets Easier And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_00 8:23

I think um certainly in the marketing space, like from a corporate marketing perspective, there's a lot of marketing managers that are now building, you know, they'll they'll be building their own emails, for instance. If if email is one of their big tools, they'll be building their own emails, they have access to platforms, and that's only going to get way more streamlined and become a lot more efficient and much easier to use. Less tech skills required. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell what to do when they go and do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah. So it's time played. So so we're kind of depth. Well, thank you for listening to another episode of the Promo Playbook. Stay tuned for Fushi episodes. Have a good day, everyone.