Your Business Is Asleep. Your Competitor's Isn't.

Every minute your phone goes unanswered, your competitor is getting richer. 

Joe Downs and Peter Swain tear apart one of the most expensive blind spots in small business  the missed call, the after-hours text, the contact form that sat unanswered until morning and make a compelling case that AI is no longer a "nice to have" at the front desk, it's a survival tool.

Joe breaks down exactly what a missed call costs in his self-storage business ($800–$1,200 per customer, per year), while Peter challenges the myth that "nobody answers better than me" by pointing out the brutal truth: at 9 p.m., your humans aren't there at all. 

From the hairdresser who's become the most expensive receptionist in history, to the Uber driver who turned a business card into a $300-a-day private gig through personalized service, Joe and Peter map out how AI can not just answer the phone... but proactively generate revenue, recover lost relationships, and become the always-on, never-bad-day front door your business has always needed.

Listen For

3:23 What does "going dark" actually cost you when a ready-to-buy customer can't reach you?

10:30 Why is the busy hairdresser secretly her own most expensive receptionist?

13:29 How can an AI agent know every question your business has ever been asked?

37:42 What's the one ChatGPT prompt that proves AI can run your front desk?

45:50 Should your AI tell callers it's an AI and what actually happens when it does?

Links Mentioned

Peter's Free AI Business Audit | Storagemoguls.ai | Claude | ChatGPT 

Email the “Idiots” Joe and Peter

idiots@successfulidiots.com 

Joe Downs

Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | Email Joe:joe@belroseam.com 

Peter Swain

Website | Email | LinkedIn | X

Transcript

Joe Downs (00:00):

Boy, would it be nice if I was sitting here and on a Thursday a couple weeks from now and I got a text, "Confirm the appointment for tomorrow at noon if you want it. " That'd be amazing to me. What does a missed phone call actually cost you? If you run a marketing agency, it's the prospect who reached out on a Thursday afternoon, didn't hear back, and signed with someone else by Monday morning. If you're in business development, it's the partnership conversation that never happened because the window closed while your phone was going to voicemail. If you're a business coach or consultant, it's the client who was already decided, who just needed someone to pick up and your silence read like an answer. In self-storage, I could tell you exactly what it costs. That's my business. We've got facilities across multiple markets and when someone calls on a Saturday afternoon with a truck in their driveway and a unit to fill, that call is worth 800 to $1,200 to us in one year.

(01:08):

Sometimes more when you factor in how long that customer stays. Miss that call and that's not a missed call. That's a missed customer. One you'll never know you lost because they just went somewhere else and never came back. And look, it's not just calls anymore either. It's text messages. Contact form submissions at 10:00 PM. The channel doesn't matter. What matters is whether your business responds or goes dark. Today we're going to talk about what going dark actually costs you and what's now possible so it never happens again. I'm Joe Downs with me is Peter Swain. We're just a couple of successful idiots using AI to simplify our lives and optimize our businesses. Peter, good morning for me, good afternoon for you. I know where you are. It's like halfway

Peter Swain (01:56):

Between them both. It's all of them.

Joe Downs (01:58):

It's all of them. True or false, I'll call you back is legally binding, which is why British AI was invented so someone would actually follow through.

Peter Swain (02:12):

I object to this. We are great at following through because it's like queuing. We're

Joe Downs (02:17):

Fantastic

Peter Swain (02:18):

At queuing.

Joe Downs (02:19):

You are so fantastic at queuing. Claude wants me to use a cue joke every time I ask for British humor jokes.

Peter Swain (02:27):

And that's testament to the power of Claude.

Joe Downs (02:29):

I get three options and queuing is always one of the three. Hey, quick thing before we get into it. Folks, we don't run ads. We don't even have a sponsor to think at this point, but what we do have is you. So if you've taken anything useful from this show or well, if you take anything useful from this show or previous shows, the single best thing you can do for us and we greatly appreciate it, is actually leave a rating, a review when you're listening, wherever you're listening. A review would be great, but a rating would just be awesome. So you don't even need words, just hit the stars. The more stars, the better. We'd appreciate it. Peter, today we're going to show the world what's actually possible when AI becomes the front desk of their business. I think some of the listeners are going to have a genuine, wait a second, that's a thing moment here.

(03:23):

So I'm actually really, I'm intrigued about where this show's going to go today, but I want to start here because before we talk about what's possible, I think we need to sit with what's happening right now and really uncover it and unpack and acknowledge it. The pain that we're living through that we've been ignoring. And it's what's happening right now for a lot of small business owners and solopreneurs is that they're invisible to their customers at the exact moment those customers are ready to buy.

Peter Swain (03:53):

100%.

Joe Downs (03:54):

And it's not their fault, but it is their fault. It's not their fault because we all have lives to live. You might be asleep when that customer's ready to buy or on another call with another customer or doing something productive that you just can't pick up the phone or respond to an inbound message. And that's what I mean. I don't mean they're invisible in some sort of abstract marketing sense. I mean, literally the phone rings, nobody answers. The text comes in, like I said, nine o'clock. Well,

Peter Swain (04:22):

It's not their fault, but it is their responsibility.

Joe Downs (04:25):

Good way to put it. But when you miss it, a customer's gone. And then I can tell you in self-storage, they're not coming back. And the referral's

Peter Swain (04:35):

Gone as well.

Joe Downs (04:38):

The lifetime value is way more than just the initial value, especially if you run a really good business. I'm assuming if you're listening to this, it's to get better at running your business and using AI to get better at running your business. So I'm

Peter Swain (04:52):

Assuming you care about your business listening to this is happy and comfortable to throw away a thousand dollars, then we'll put some in the show notes, some wire information. You can send it this way. If you don't want that, because in any business, the lifetime value is at least $500, if not closer to $1,000, regardless. When you start focusing into the referrals, the network, the posts, the socials and as you said, it's the fact that they're calling to say, "Hey, I'm in the truck on my driveway. I've got to get this in somewhere. You guys say you're open on the website. Can I just sign up at the facility?" That's how close they are to the purchase.

Joe Downs (05:39):

Or before I drive there with this truck I've never driven before, can you confirm that I have a unit and it's going to be ... So for us, it's 800 to 1200 depending on rates and where we are and the size of unit and that stuff, but the lifetime value is more than that and that's just storage. So think about so many other businesses where not only it's not just the cost of the transaction or the revenue from the transaction, but the referrals as you so adequately put the reviews which lead to referrals you don't even know about because you didn't get the review from the customer who was thrilled you picked up the phone and solved their immediate problem that day. For us, it would be the, I got a truck full of stuff. So that review leads to more customers. It converts more customers because you answered the phone.

(06:30):

So that's what I want to unpack for folks is what is the real cost of going dark here? Because I think most people underestimate this number. So what say you, Peter, because it's not just a transaction here, what are we really missing?

Peter Swain (06:49):

It's such a great question. There's so many ways and places we can take this conversation, but the number one block that we have found that people have in the world of AI is honestly, it's their imagination. It's the fact that, as you said at the beginning, you can't even conceive that some of the things are possible that are now possible. Now, if you go back two, three years, voice AI, for example, was pretty crappy. You could tell instantly, but I'm willing to bet that every single person that hears this has spoken to an AI in the last 60 days. If you called any company of any merit, I reckon you've already spoke to somebody that wasn't a human because this is the other thing that I'm kind of just trying to debunk stuff that I know I've already heard from other people and this is one.

(07:43):

One of them is that, well, AI can't possibly be as good as my humans. First of all, that's actually not true anymore for a start, number one. Number two, the cost of the interaction with an AI agent on SMS or WhatsApp or via the phone for you as the business owner is measured in the sense on the dollar, not in dollars, tens of dollars, 20 of dollars. It's measured in cents. So it'd have to be pretty terrible to not be a good return on investment. But here's my biggest one, Joe. Whenever we talk about AI, one of the big ones, and this is my parallel, one of the big ones I hear is, "Yeah, but AI hallucinates," which is just a nice word of way of saying that AI lies, which it does and it's about 25% of the time, but people don't do the full apples to apples, which is yeah, humans lie 10% of the time.

(08:44):

So if we're going to make a comparison, fair, but the emission of truth in a court of law is regarded as a lie. The emission of truth is a lie. So if we're going to tell the full truth, the full truth is, well, how well are your humans doing? Because here's something I'm not going to ask you to give the exact number, but you would only know the value of the missed call if you were missing calls because you would have never looked up that data point if every call was getting answered. You'd be like, "This is great." So by the very nature of the fact that you are aware of what the number is, it means there has to be some missed calls because there has to be. Humans can't operate in that kind of 100% efficient way. So if somebody says, "Yeah, but I don't think the AI can do as good a job as my humans," but your humans aren't doing the job.

(09:41):

That's the point. At 9:00 PM, at 12:00 PM, at three o'clock on a Saturday, there isn't anyone. So even if AI was just the front of house for the hours that your humans weren't available, you're up. That would be what I'd say is people aren't kind of seeing.

Joe Downs (10:00):

For sure. And then let's add the hours that you are available. Why are you answering the phone? So you said it costs a couple cents, right? It's a rounding error of a cost. What is not included in there is, well, if I stop to answer the phone as the business owner, that means that's time that I'm spending as a receptionist now.

Peter Swain (10:29):

And

Joe Downs (10:29):

You were just talking about

Peter Swain (10:30):

This before we went on air of the hairdresser who is doing really, really well and it's growing and then now opens seven days, but she's still answering the phone. The value of the time when she's cutting hair is 50 bucks for every half an hour, whatever her price point is. It depends

Joe Downs (10:51):

Men or women. For me, it's 35 bucks. It's a half hour. So at the very least, she's making $70 an hour if she's booked solid. So

Peter Swain (11:00):

The most expensive receptionist in the history of ever.

Joe Downs (11:03):

And that's my point. So if she just had an AI receptionist to answer the phone even during working hours, she could be booked solid all day making $70 an hour and that's just her. She's also got employees there.

Peter Swain (11:22):

And how much

Joe Downs (11:22):

Would the

Peter Swain (11:22):

Tips go up as the experience goes up?

Joe Downs (11:26):

Right?

Peter Swain (11:26):

Because

Joe Downs (11:27):

Now she's fully

Peter Swain (11:27):

Focused on you instead of being distracted by this, this and this.

Joe Downs (11:32):

Exactly. So for me, the front end is that's when you're open. Why are you even answering the phone? And to your point, well, it's because no one can do it better than me. Well, that's nonsense. If you want to talk about a storage facility, we had this conversation last week not realizing that this is an episode we were going to do, but I think it's relative and I'll bring it up. So we have call centers for self-storage because we know the value of missing a call. We cannot miss a call. So we have call centers in the Philippines and they speak very good English. They have maps of our facilities. They know every facility's different. They know everything about every facility. They're very good, but they can't be as good as AI. And now you might say, "Well, what do you mean?" Well, AI today is not going to have any accent at all.

(12:27):

We have a little bit of an accent in the Philippines. That's okay. Most people are fine with it. I know. Well,

Peter Swain (12:33):

Actually, Joe, I would tell it to give it the local accent of the area that the call came in from.

Joe Downs (12:39):

For sure. And I'm sure we could measure that difference because some people will just prefer it. But my point is I know when I'm calling a business, if it's a call center or if I get a call center, I'm not expecting to ... Well, I'm not expecting you because that would be odd to have an English person speaking on the line, but I'm not expecting what kind of uppity business is this. They're paying for an Englishman paying up for this accent. But I accept the fact that I'm going to get somebody in India or Pakistan or the Philippines. I expect an accent. I'm okay with it. I'm not saying that's even the measurable part. I think it's a piece, but it's not the biggest measurable difference. The biggest measurable difference to me is as good as whoever answers that phone of with all the tools they have in front of them, and again, we're only talking about a self-storage facility.

(13:29):

These are metal boxes with different sizes that people want to rent. But what that person can't possibly be as good at that an AI agent could is knowing every question ever asked every time a phone call is made to that facility. Hearing those questions and knowing, "Hey, if you're asking that question, you might be more like the person that called 493 calls ago who asked this similar question and this is where we put them or this is what we told them in terms of the perfect size unit for them based on the contents that they just told us about. " Sure, we could put them in a 10 by 10, but I think you'd be better off in a five by 10, which will save you $9 a month or $12 a month or whatever it is and they're happier because we didn't upsell them a bigger unit.

(14:24):

I'm happier because I filled up a unit that's maybe a harder unit for me to fill up. I got a happy customer in there and I've got the more expensive unit ready for the customer that needs that size so when they do call, I'm not out of that size sitting with a five by 10 open and a bunch of 10 by 10s filled with five by 10 worth of contents. That's on example of what an AI agent can do that a human being in the Philippines and India and Pakistan cannot do. AI doesn't have a bad day.

(14:58):

They can't have just had something happen at home or with their kids or whatever, or they wouldn't have just gotten off a call with an angry customer still reeling from how did that person scream at me, that jerk and put me in a bad mood. There's so many things that the AI agent can do better that the human can't, that it's in storage, we're not there yet, but it's coming and that's just on the phone. What about text messages, SMS, contact forums that come in at two o'clock in the morning because I'm on the East Coast and it's only 11:00 PM on the West Coast. I'm not answering those, but wouldn't it be nice if you got a response immediately with everything you needed to know in that moment because you're in that moment to buy? We don't have humans for that. Now you could argue we could have people in the Philippines working around the clock for that, but they're still not going to be as good.

Peter Swain (15:59):

So the other thing I'd also say is the reason that I was so excited when we kind of planned this episode is because right now there is an opportunity to accelerate above and beyond your competitors. Right now you can go, "You know what? I'm going to be the hairdresser in Clark County that essentially can make a booking twenty four seven, 365." But there's the other thing, Joe, that you and I speak about quite regularly, this will become house stakes. So if you don't get on this train, you can get on the train now and go, "Okay, well, how do we actually do that and research more or listen to us more or call me or whatever, however it is that you pursue those next steps." Or you can go, "You know what? This isn't for me, but you are going to make the decision that we're suggesting at some point in the future because you will not have an option."

Joe Downs (16:56):

Or your competitors making it for you.

Peter Swain (16:58):

Your customers will grow the expectation. It will no longer be optional to be able to take money at four o'clock in the morning.

Joe Downs (17:07):

Right. And if you don't believe that, if there's doubt in what Peter just said, just look at how we get our goods delivered to us Amazon and Walmart know they lose 25% of sales. If you order something by 20 PM wherever you are that day and you don't get it the next day or they can't promise it to you the next day, they're losing 25% of sales. Consumers are driving that behavior. This time next year, it'll be same day. Consumers are driving that behavior. We do expect it. You are right, Peter. We're the ones that are creating the expectations. So if your business is not set up to deliver immediate results while you're sleeping, your business is asleep and your competitor's business, if they're listening, is not or won't be.

Peter Swain (17:53):

Yeah. When Amazon, because obviously this has been the space I've been in for all my life now, when Jeff Bezos announced Amazon, he was laughed offstage. He was laughed off stage. When they invented the Kindle, people said, "No one will ever buy that. Books are better." And I actually spoke to the inventor of the Kindle and I was the same. I was like, "How can you tell me that I'm going to use this over a book? Books are better. They feel good. I like them." And he went, "You're making an incorrect comparison." I'm like, "Okay, teach me. " He's like, "We're not competing with the book. We're competing with the process end to end of a book. We're competing with getting in the car to go to the mall. Speaking to the 17-year-old respectfully knows nothing about you or these 10,000 books, so you're choosing based on a cover.

(18:44):

We're competing against you then having one in the downstairs bathroom and one upstairs and you can't actually get the right book at the right time. We're competing with you going on holiday and having to choose which book you take. That's what we're competing with. We're competing with the process of consuming a book." And I was like, "He's right." When I make that comparison, it's different. People laughed at Uber. I bought my last car sight unseen online.

(19:17):

I bought a car online for 12,000 pounds.

Joe Downs (19:25):

This isn't even in my show notes, but you just said something that I didn't think of. I'm thinking I pictured walking into a Barnes & Noble or what was the other one? Oh, Borders. Barnes & Noble's still around, by the way. Borders long gone. But I'm picturing walking into a Barnes and Noble and talking to the 17-year-old clerk, whatever, store employee. And I'm picturing being in a hyper specialized section the way you might've been 50 years ago in a true old-fashioned bookstore with a bookstore owner who knows every book in that bookstore. You're not going to have the same level of conversation with the 17-year-old about which book to buy or which is the best book for this research project I'm doing or this, that, whatever that you might have 50 years ago with the true bookstore owner. The ability to have that is largely gone because those bookstore owners are, unfortunately, they were put out of business, probably by Amazon.

(20:35):

That experience, and I'm using the bookstore experience to explain all experiences, I think. Think about even if you have a receptionist, now maybe if you have walk-in traffic, you probably need a human being there, but if we're talking about phone calls or contact form inquiries or whatever, you're outsourcing, you, the business owner with all the knowledge are outsourcing the booth, the vendor booth, the front of your business, everything your business is about to the 17-year-old, regardless of the business. And in your example, it was at a Borders Bookstore or a Barnes & Nobles. Now picture you're the hair salon, right? I got my haircut earlier today. We're talking about that experience. You're now outsourcing everything about that business, all the knowledge of that business between customer and you to someone who's not you. Wouldn't you be better off if the knowledge base of your business actually came from you?

Peter Swain (21:43):

100%.

Joe Downs (21:44):

You want to book this hair appointment at this ... No, I'm just a guy who needs clippers up the side and a little off the top, right? But if you were a woman who needs the right colors and I don't know what women do with all the funky stuff in there with their hair, I don't even have hair anymore, barely, but you know what I mean? The information about the color, dye, this and that process, do you really want to outsource that to a 17-year-old who's getting paid 12 bucks an hour or whatever? Or do you want that information to know when the right time to get that appointment? You're going to want that appointment at night because the owner will be able to do it and it's going to take longer and she specializes in this or that.

Peter Swain (22:26):

Well, what about just, "Hey, last time I see in the diary last time you book with Christie, Christie actually doesn't work Thursdays. You set an appointment on Thursday. Can we move you to another stylist?" Or actually Christie is available on Friday morning because it has not just infinite access to the generic records of the company, like the who, what, where, when. It also

Joe Downs (22:48):

Has

Peter Swain (22:48):

Full access to the person that's calling. So it can go, "Oh, okay." See, the other debunk I'd like to offer is people go, "Well, I don't want to speak to AI." Okay, I actually do understand that. But again, when I've walked this through with people, they're making an incorrect comparison because it's not that the human is available to talk to you. It's that the human is available to talk to you in Bangladesh. So actually what I find is when I walk through this with my customers, 99% of the queries they have are very simple queries and they would rather have an instant answer from AI than wait 15 minutes with a thank you for calling, insert blank big bank here, press one for this, press two for this, say clearly what it is that you want. Transferring you, you're in hold, your call is important to us.

(23:55):

Everybody has gone through these experiences. I don't think there's a single person in the world that hasn't sat through this and it's 25 minutes to just go on when I send you a wire transfer, do I put this account ID or do I put the invoice reference? I just need an answer to this one simple question and I've been on hold for 25 minutes

Joe Downs (24:20):

Confirming who I am four times that is irrelevant because I just need to know this information that's not relevant to me.

Peter Swain (24:28):

But

Joe Downs (24:28):

Even back to the ... Go ahead. I

Peter Swain (24:30):

Think the other thing that we're not even talking about is even if we're just talking about in customer service and sales, this then frees up the customer service and sales to actually do the high value work that actually does require the conversation and

Joe Downs (24:43):

The

Peter Swain (24:44):

Human touch and the human intent. British Airways did this study and they found that 90% of all customer support inquiries fought into 12 buckets of questions like, "What is my luggage allowance? How do I cancel?" There was literally 12 unique questions for British, for one of the largest airlines in the world. I am very doubtful that anyone that's listening to this, that you have a more complex business than British Airways and they only have 12 questions. There's variations and permutations of those questions, but there's 12. So to me, if you were to make every decision, this is a really good thought process for people. If you were to make every decision in your business as if the customer was watching you make the decision, you would probably make a lot of money because if you just have that thinking of like, well, our customers want to be able to say, "I just want to check.

(25:49):

Are you on the side of 5th and 49th or 49th and 6th?" Because the map says a different thing from the thing and you can't answer that question, they're going to go somewhere else. I think they want instant access to the information and I think AI, even a year ago was a trade-off, but now it's not even a trade-off. It's just net positive on every single metric.

Joe Downs (26:18):

Yeah. And I don't think people realize that, and that's why we're doing the show, that this is possible and you don't need to be Elon Musk to pull this off and we're not going to get into the step one, step two. I just want to inspire people, business owners, entrepreneurs to know the front door to your business can be opened by an AI agent that knows and acts and talks like you. It can be a clone of you. It doesn't have to be a 17-year-old who didn't sleep last night because they were on social media all night or whatever. I'm thinking about what my kids do. Heard noise last night at 12, 15 and I'm coming downstairs, my 13-year-old's eating chips. What are you doing? That's who you're outsourcing the front door to your business to or worse, I think worse, you've just accepted the fact that you're losing that business because you can't afford to hire a 24-hour receptionist and it doesn't have to be that way.

(27:34):

That used to be the acceptable trade-off. It's not an acceptable trade-off anymore unless you've just determined to allow your competitors to put you out of business because I think that's what's going to happen, Peter.

Peter Swain (27:49):

A hundred percent. There isn't an option. Well, actually that's not true. Let's talk about the borders and Barnes and Noble type example, right? Yeah, sure. Because when you get something at this level of, and few people that have seen this, I've been watching Paradigm Shift technology since for the whole of my life. It's literally all I've ever done successfully. That's what I've ever done. The reason I'm an entrepreneur is because I'm eminently unemployable, but what I saw was it's the middle that gets removed because Walmart is earning more money in the Amazon era than they were before because their disfensible advantage is that they have squeezed every single cent out of every single transaction. You can't do it cheaper than them. And then you have Louis Vuitton who are doing even better than ever because they're still able to persuade people that a handbag is worth $20,000, even though we all know for a fact that the manufacturing cost is 65 bucks if that, but it's still $20,000.

(28:58):

So what you see when tech disruption hits is the middle market disappears because they don't have a defensible advantage. They don't have a speed advantage, they don't have a cost advantage, they don't have a brand advantage. So the Bed, Bath & Beyonds, the pottery barns, the Toys Auras just fade and disappear so it requires a radical rethinking. So if you think about the Barnes and Noble example, I went to a Bonds and Noble when I was last in the States, there are sofas. It's like, yeah, sit and literally take a book off the shelf and sit and read the book for free. There's a coffee shop. People are walking around a bookstore with coffee and literally they're hanging out like it's a mall. And I was like, "This is crazy." But then I started thinking about it and going, "Hang a second. If I was a parent in the States and my kids said they want to go meet their mates at Barnes & Noble, I'm probably okay with that.

(29:58):

I That sounds like a wholesome environment, but it required a radical rethink from Barnes & Noble to say, "We're not going to be a bookstore anymore. We're an entertainment venue that sells books." So in each of the web, then the mobile, everything gets reset because the speed of delivery becomes the absolute requirement. So if you're just, and I don't mean this to somebody listening as an insult, but if you're just a hairdresser, you're not going to survive with the $30, 30 minute clippers and back with all this chaos model. It just doesn't exist. Because Joe, I heard you say something and it made me chuckle because I was thinking about a recent experience when you said, "I guess if you have foot traffic, you need somebody to answer the door." And on the way back, I was driving, I took my kids out for the weekend, I was driving back and we stopped at a service station inside of the motorway.

(31:08):

There was a McDonald's and a KFC in the food mall. You can't order from McDonald's from the person in the UK anymore because I only had cash. So I was like, I can't use the TVs with the tap of the order. I was like, "Hey, how do I actually order? Because I only actually have cash because my card had got frozen anyway. It's a big story, but I literally only had cash and they're like, yeah, we can't take your order." I'm like, "What do you mean you can't take my order?" And they're like, "You have to use the TV." I'm like, "This is insane." I'm like, "I want to give you money." And they're like, "Yeah, we don't do that anymore." So even that in the next few years is going to get eradicated out and it's going to be a different experience.

Joe Downs (32:01):

The McDonald's near me, you can only order after whatever hours via DoorDash for the drive-through. They don't even have a person there. They just put food out. They don't take orders in the drive-through anymore.

Peter Swain (32:16):

You know that 30% of DoorDash restaurants, it's just a fun deal fact. I don't know if the statistic is true anymore, but 30% of DoorDash restaurants are what's called shadow kitchens. So they're like massive, massive kitchens and they will have 50 brands and it's just a marketing play now. There isn't actually a restaurant anywhere. They have no fun of house.

Joe Downs (32:41):

We have a chain that popped up called Wonder that does that. So it's one location, multiple brands, and they have their own foods. And for anyone listening, I don't frequent McDonald's. That was for my kids late at night.

Peter Swain (32:55):

But all of these changes and this is why I think one of the reasons we started the podcast, when it was web, these changes took a decade to come in. And when it was mobile, these changes took three, four years to come in. AI is a technology that works on itself. So we're not talking, "Hey, it's June 2026. You've got three years to get on this train." It's like, "No, no, you've got months. This is happening and it's happening now." But I don't want to just lean into the fear because as we've been talking about, the advantages of it are so profound because it's going to free you to do the thing you want to do, not the thing that you have to do in order to do the thing you want to do, which is fricking cool.

Joe Downs (33:50):

On your Barnes & Noble example, tangentially different, I kept thinking, so Barnes & Noble is now an experience, not just a transaction, if you want it to be. I kept thinking so they've evolved. I kept thinking about the hairdresser as I was sitting there and she would pause and go answer the phone and I'm thinking, "My goodness." And I know the chains that you can go online and set your appointment and whatever, but I kept thinking for her, all these small businesses out there, it's not just even that the AI could answer the phone and set the appointment for me. It now has my phone number. It could text me next month and say, "It's been 30 days."

Peter Swain (34:41):

Two

Joe Downs (34:42):

Slots

Peter Swain (34:42):

Open.

Joe Downs (34:43):

Two stop, right? I notice you like to come around noon on Fridays. I've got a slot open in an hour. It's been two weeks or three weeks. I mean, it can start to produce revenue for you, not just solve the inbound. It then takes on a life of its own to outbound. And this is just the hairdresser. Now think about, and that's this $35 transaction. She's making $70 an hour plus tip, right? Think about the much bigger transactions, recurring business, outbound. Boy, would it be nice if I'm like a two to three week guy on the haircut. I like to keep it tight. Boy, would it be nice if I was sitting here and on a Thursday, a couple weeks from now, and I got a text, "Confirm the appointment for tomorrow at noon if you want it. " It'd be amazing to me. Instead, I have to stop, think about it, call, which means I'm not on a call or recording a podcast or doing something.

(35:51):

Get her on the phone. Which times are going to work? Is three o'clock work? Is it 12? Can I move this meeting? Just lands in my lap. No, noon next Friday doesn't work. How about two o'clock? It just starts giving me options. I'm not on the phone with somebody. I don't want to be on the phone with somebody for this transaction. That's a waste of my time in theirs.

(36:13):

And again, I'm only talking about a haircut right now. Think about your business that has much higher stakes than a

Peter Swain (36:22):

Haircut. It's profound when people start working through the loops. It's like, okay.

Joe Downs (36:32):

So we've addressed the need. Can we walk ... I don't want to get into step one, step two, Peter, because I think everybody's going to lose in that scenario. It's going to be hard to remember and I don't want anyone to start and get frustrated. I just want you to know you can do it. It's possible. How should they find out on their own short of going to peterswain.com and joining your mastermind or going on one of your free deep dives, how, which I'm not saying they should stop short of that. I encourage you all to do that. Before that, if I want to get a taste of how this could work, if whatever my business is, I'm in disbelief at this jerk Joe Downs and what he's saying to me- I

Peter Swain (37:23):

Thought

Joe Downs (37:23):

You were an idiot,

Peter Swain (37:23):

Not a jerk.

Joe Downs (37:24):

Sorry, idiot. Successful idiots, not jerks. The idiot Joe Downs and the guy with the fancy British voice, if I'm still in disbelief that it won't work for my business, what's a simple exercise with my favorite AI tool that I could walk myself through?

Peter Swain (37:42):

Yeah. Let me see if I can ... I just want to word it perfectly. I would open up ChatGPT, Claude, whatever it might be and I would say, "I've just listened to this podcast and these two idiots have told me that AI can handle my front of house. Starting with just my email, give me a step-by-step guide as if I'm a sixth grader." Simple as that-

Joe Downs (38:12):

What do you mean start it with just my email for inbound email traffic?

Peter Swain (38:15):

Yeah. So the reason I would like them to start this is, as you said, we want to see the possibility of what can happen and the connect, what are called MCP Connect technical phrase, but what the connectors are between ChatGPT Claud and email are very, very simple to set up and something the average entrepreneur with some resilience could get through quite easily. When we start looking at SMS and WhatsApp and we start looking at voice, you're probably going to need to bring somebody in to get some help. The rewards are there, but you're still going to probably need to ... That's going to be a bigger project. So don't go and try and get the whole win in one. What if tomorrow morning, you listen to this and tomorrow morning AI starts picking up all the emails and answering within 30 seconds or less for the inbound info@type inquiries.

(39:10):

That would be a win.

Joe Downs (39:11):

All right. Idiot one here. I'm going to give my cheat code to this. Two screens. Everyone has two screens at this point. On one screen, you don't have to have two screens, it just makes it easier. On one screen, open up your AI favorite tool, chat, clog, whatever. On the other screen, open a second window, second AI browser window. You can even use chat to be your instruction and Claude for what you do, for what you're going to connect. Doesn't matter. On one of them, ask how do I connect my Gmail, my email, whatever it is to insert favorite AI application, whether it's ChatGPT or Claude. It will give you step-by-step instructions. Treat me like a sixth grader. I will tell all of you you don't even need it. This is just if you really don't believe us, open the two screens, get the step-by-step sixth grade instructions.

(40:16):

It's not even that hard. It will walk you through it. You will be connected. And then from there, Peter, now that we're connected, what am I saying to the AI tool that is now connected to my email?

Peter Swain (40:32):

Yeah. So I think it would be, "Okay, I have it connected. How do I get this to monitor these emails and answer the questions in the way I need it to be answered?" And again, just go step by step.

Joe Downs (40:48):

Review similar emails I've received and how I've responded to them?

Peter Swain (40:52):

It will tell you. It's going to say, "Hey, you need to upload a codex." And then I'm almost willing to guarantee it and say, "But I can go and scan your reexisting email if you want me to. " And you're like, "Yeah, that would be good." And it comes back and says, "Got it. I've looked through all your emails that you've ever sent and ever received and this is what I now understand."

Joe Downs (41:12):

And how about things like, "Hey, am I missing any opportunities for emails I received?" I'm trying to think of what I would say. Yeah. Are there past opportunities I've missed on? Are there people I should be reaching back out to and following up with?

Peter Swain (41:29):

So mine is obviously a slightly more advanced version, but I have an AI agent that every morning presents me with five opportunities that I've missed in the last two years.

Joe Downs (41:43):

Every-

Peter Swain (41:44):

Every

Joe Downs (41:44):

Morning. Say that

Peter Swain (41:46):

Again. I ask it for five fresh new opportunities from my email. Go and find me five brand new opportunities from my exist because I've had the same account for 20 years. I can literally say, "Just go and find me five." And it'll say, "Hey, you haven't connected with this person for a year and a half." And they're doing some interesting stuff. I'm like, "Oh yeah, forgot about them." And then it will say, "Would you like me to craft the email?" I'm like, "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good." So I'm not yet at the stage of automating it fully, but I'm probably a week, two weeks away from it where I'm willing to just say, "Just cook. Just find the five and just send the email."

Joe Downs (42:33):

Yeah, I think people will have some trepidation about allowing it to just send ... So start with step one. Not that you should have trepidation, I just know you will. Step one, get the win, have it tell you what it's telling Peter, "Hey, this email from two years ago, probably a good time to follow up with

Peter Swain (42:54):

Them." Oh, and also, Joe, sorry, just because when you get them, I remember one I saw literally yesterday and I was like, "Oh man, that's embarrassing." I'm embarrassed.This was somebody I used to go to networking events with and the last email from them was pit me up because I'd love to chat about da, da, da, da, da. And I hope everyone, if they're being honest with themselves, could admit to this, one day went past, then two days went past, and it got to the point where I was embarrassed that the time had gone past so it was easier to just pretend it never happened and archive it and just eventually forget it. So when it came up, I was like, "Oh no." And he said, "Should I just draft the email for you? " And I'm like, "Yeah." And it wrote the, "Hey, Brian, it's been too long.

(43:42):

Looking through my emails, I saw that it was on me that I dropped the ball. My bad. How are you doing? What are you up to? Would love to catch up." Now I would have never written that email because of the embarrassment.

Joe Downs (43:58):

You know what a better email is? "Hey, Brian, this is Jett, Pete's AI assistant." He clearly dropped the ball here, but he's only human. But

Peter Swain (44:16):

He's only human.

Joe Downs (44:18):

Cut him some slack.

Peter Swain (44:19):

I've had to add a disclaimer to my email because the other day Jet replied to the school. They'd sent out a, it's the end of ... Olivia's just about to leave primary school, year six and going to year seven and they sent out this Zoom, it's a celebration thing and it didn't have the Zoom link and Jet replied to the school saying, "Hey, Mr. Insert blank here." Literally, as you said, "Jet here, Pete's AI sidekick. It would help if you provide us the link." And I'm like, "Okay, we need to put some new rules in here, Jet." The British sarcasm that I love, and I'm really happy you have it, when it comes to the school, we need to dial that down a bit. But I've now added a footer on her emails that says, "PS and AI just replied to you. Welcome. Isn't it wild?

(45:17):

Welcome to the future." Because it's true.

Joe Downs (45:21):

But seriously, for anyone listening, if you get to the point where you set that up, I actually think you should, first of all, you should disclose that it's the AI responding. I agree. But have some humility with it because if I got that email from you that said, "Hey, Pete dropped the ball, he's only human after all, " I'd be like, "Huh, well, he's right. We all make mistakes." And then that awkwardness is diffused and you actually have something to talk about in the next conversation when you connect.

Peter Swain (45:50):

I'm glad we brought that up because it's actually one of my fundamental rules. Whenever I have AI either answering calls or making calls or answering texts, one of my in- house rules is that the AI identifies itself as an AI. What I have found is that humans, if they sense something is wrong, have a lack of trust. Whereas if you call, say one of your storage facilities that goes, "Hey, it's Lisa here. I'm one of the AI agents over at XYZ facility. Can I help you or do I need to get you to one of my human counterparts?" People don't care because they

Joe Downs (46:31):

Just

Peter Swain (46:31):

Want to know, are you on the corner of 48 and fifth or 48 and sixth? They just want that answer.

Joe Downs (46:36):

But they want authenticity and they don't want to be lied to. Even if, like you said earlier, the emission of truth, right? You're better off disclosing it, telling them, offering the human. No one's going to take it unless it's really specialized. I have to talk to the owner because I'm trapped inside the storage facility and I can't get out because the gate won't open. Okay, understood. But other than that, I think they're thrilled to just get quick answers without going through anything else.

Peter Swain (47:06):

Every implementation we have seen and done, that has been the results.

Joe Downs (47:11):

I couldn't grow. I was excited about today's episode because I think it's so fundamental and basic. It's literally the front door to the business and AI is so exciting. Yeah. We're coming up with ways to use it in so many other ways, but if the customer's not walking in the door because your door's closed, what are we optimizing for?

Peter Swain (47:35):

Oh, imagine the sandwich-

Joe Downs (47:36):

Got to optimize the front door.

Peter Swain (47:37):

We seem to love talking about sandwich shops, but it maybe says something about our way science. But imagine if the sandwich shop pinged you back and said, "Hey, you've ordered the same sandwich five days in a row." Do you want me to have it ready for you for 11:30? You'd be like, "Yes, I do. " I very much do.

Joe Downs (47:53):

I noticed every Thursday you order X. Would you like it prepared for you this Thursday? Yeah, that'd be freaking amazing.

Peter Swain (48:00):

Yeah. And you've just secured the client who then didn't go, "Oh, I'll go to X, Y, Z today." No, they're going back every single day, so you can focus on your mustard.

Joe Downs (48:09):

Would you like me to send you a text on Wednesday for your Thursday order? Yes, please. Or Thursday morning for your Thursday lunch. Yes, please. And

Peter Swain (48:18):

If you're worried about DoorDash taking you out of business, this is how you win.

Joe Downs (48:22):

Way to lock up that customer every Thursday, right?

Peter Swain (48:24):

Personalized service levels with AI efficiency is the answer to the Amazon problem, the Walmart problem, the DoorDash problem, the Uber problem. Joe, I was just remembered, I had a driver when I came across to, it was actually Dallas and he gave me his card and said, "Listen, I know you can use Uber." He was an Uber driver. I know you can use Uber, but literally if you text me, I'll be there within 15 minutes. So he's like, "So if you know you're going to leave, just give me a shout." And he had the water in the cooler and he had the phone charger and he asked me the one question, he's like, "Hey, listen, I don't mind either way. Do you want to chat or do you just want me to leave you be? " And on that occasion, I was like, I've just flown in.

(49:11):

I'm like, "No, just leave me be. " He's like, "No problem. Water's there. There's some candy there. There's some wipes there and there's a TV in the back of the thing." And I called him back. I texted him and went, "Hey, can you pick me up?" And after the second day, I'm like, "Hey, are you available just on a day rate?" He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Fantastic." From Uber to $300 a day versus for that because of thinking through those touches and that efficiency to make my experience the best experience he could make it. And that is available to the sandwich shop, to the hairdresser, to the dog grooming palace. Yo insert blank here that is available.

Joe Downs (49:54):

So true. It's exciting and it's not that hard to set up. 100%. All right. So recap what we did here. If you ask yourself what a missed call costs you, it probably stings a little if you've actually gone through the exercise. And if you haven't, you need to do it because then you'll know how important this episode is. And again, it wasn't a how to, but it's a, you need to. There's multiple ways to do it. There's no way for us to tell you how to do it because every business is different, but now you know. And it's not just calls. It's every text, every after hours inquiry, every contact that went dark because your front door, your front desk doesn't exist yet unless you're sitting at it or ready to answer the phone and it can and it doesn't have to sleep and by the way, can produce revenue for you.

(50:46):

The marketing consultant missed Thursday callback, the business development rep who lost the Monday window, the coach who silenced Red Lake and answer. They didn't have to. So now you know. So go build it. Go ask AI, how do I do this for my business? What would make my life easier? How do I grow my revenue? Can you grow my revenue? Ask those questions, you'll be blown away by the answers. Keep the emails coming idiots@successfulidiots.com. We appreciate them. Again, please remember a rating would be phenomenal. I think it lets you go up to five stars. I don't know why I wouldn't put them all. We appreciate it. For Peter Swain, I'm Joe Downs. We are your successful idiots. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.