Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Basic Business AI, a podcast dedicated to simple AI strategies for businesses who don't want to get an advanced tech degree or hire some marketing bro. I'm your host, William Downs. We bring regular business owners like you and me to discuss practical strategies, ideas and perspectives about AI without getting too far into the weeds of the tech. Basic Business AI is sponsored by anabots. Did you know companies that were what Basic Basic Business AI is sponsored by anabots. Did you know companies that respond to customer inquiries in less than 1 minute have a 400% higher chance of closing the deal? Our AI powered assistants have an average response time of just 5 to 7 seconds. Meaning you can close more sales without more leads. No tech skills are required and you can get started in less than five minutes. Go to Anabots AI.
So today's guest is Dionne Major. She is a 25 plus year sales veteran and executive. Dion leverages her superpower of recovering perfectionist and people pleaser to teach leaders and sales professionals how to have sales with soul. She's helped organizations create and deploy sales ready programs that shape teams to be agile, confident and prepared. She's the author of the Stepped approach and a sought after speaker. Dion, how are you doing today?
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Good morning. I am fantastic. Will, how are you?
[00:01:30] Speaker A: I'm doing good, doing good. Got a little bit of a nap problem. So if you see me do this, I'm not waving you hello or anything. It's a gnat coming by. I don't know what happened.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Yes, the world is crazy these days.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: About a little bug zapper. I don't know if it'll do it, but I was like, I was like, I gotta get rid of you little buggers anyway. So. Well, so. Hey, sorry I set myself on a little side trail with that. With that. I'm super adhd by the way.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Most of us have something that is undiagnosed.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Well, hey, so from your perspective, Dion, how is AI reshaping the future of your industry?
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great question. And everybody is talking about AI these days.
And I always, when I talk with clients and I talk with folks just in general. Right. Is let's get some perspective. AI isn't new. And I think so many times something new comes onto the scene and we're like, oh my gosh, it's new, but it's not. So I think sometimes is we have to think past the very first emotion we feel when something is new. So that's my cautionary tale for all of us these days. Right.
But what I see in working with clients. So is it's reshaping the industry because people are finally using it and figuring out how to use it well.
And the gap between people using it well and using it to continue to automate their really crappy email sequences is widening.
So that's, that's the biggest way that I think it's, it's shaping the industry.
And if people are interested, Gartner just came out with a report. So for, as a sales veteran, right. I'm always interested in what is the best sales motion look like. So just for context for people and Gartner came out with their latest report of the three traits of high performing sellers. Something like that. And one of the traits is AI competency, for lack of a better term. If you go to their website, I'm sure you can, you can see it and get the actual verbiage, but it's really, oh, it's AI prompting. So how well does your seller actually use AI to enhance an already great sales process and motion and conversation?
So that's really what we're seeing is that gap is really widening as people that want to continue to do really well are figuring out how do I leverage this best to have really great personalized conversations. And then other people are still like, oh no, let's just use the spam cannon and send out 500 messages every day. It'll be great. We'll just use AI. And that is the really big difference I'm seeing right now. Does thoughts on that? What are you seeing?
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I agree with that. I think, you know, there's also the, there's, there's like, there's been, in my experience, there's two camps of people with AI and it's, I'm sure there's more, but there's the, oh my gosh, look at this new toy. I have to use this. I can already see how I can use it.
Guilty.
And then there's the people that are like, this is going to take our jobs. This is going to do this, this is going to do this. And it's bad for the environment. And, and there's a million different ways to look at it. And I look at it like the Internet. The Internet brought us some terrible things. Absolutely horrible things. But I don't want to say like we shouldn't have the Internet. I think the Internet has done a lot of good for the world. It has connected people. There's a lot of things for that. And I think that's kind of where we're going to event the newness Dies where, like, because generative AI is relatively new with the text bots and stuff like that. That's the, you know, that's the part that everybody's like, wait, what? You know, and, and I think, you know, there, there is some fear of that. And I, I think, you know, I, in some ways that's. It's good. It sometimes is good. Even with, like, when the Internet. I was around when the Internet became a thing in business and I was like, hey, we have to use this. This isn't like, you know, it started out maybe meh. And then it became like, pretty, pretty good to where now it's like, you know, I used to call myself a computer guy and now it's sorry. And that just flew by. I call myself a computer guy. People ask what I do and I'm just like, ah, you know, you know, and it's like the truth is like everyone's sitting at a computer now or a phone or a tablet, and so like, that means nothing. Now it's fully been brought in to where we use it and we benefit from it and we find the areas where we need to have a one on one conversation. Zoom helped a lot with that. To where we didn't have to drive there and we can still have a one on one. It's not email or text or whatever, but even then there's certain things where it's like, no, I need in person for this thing.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree with that. Right. It's everything that's old is new again and everything that's new becomes old. And I think if you're going to do something, try to do it right. But there's also Moore's Law, right, that talks about the early adopters to the late majority.
And I think there's something to be said for that. And every executive I talk to right now is, yeah, we want to do something with AI, we just don't know how to harness it yet.
And I get it because it can be helpful. So I think if people are in that camp, the Gartner report is really helpful.
We have some sales enablement programs that we run with folks and with our clients that talk about how do we bring AI and using AI into our playbook for our team. So we're putting guidelines and guardrails and expectations around it because in the absence of structure, we end up with a very large Lord of the Flies environment, if anybody remembers that book from high school. And so our teams and ourselves, right, our brains just crave structure.
So even if you're not 100% sure where you're going with AI, that's okay. Call it a V1 and say as of today, for the next six months, here's our program guidelines for how we're going to use AI.
And in highly regulated industries, you can't.
And that's a really broad statement. Those of you that are in highly regulated industries, you know more about what I'm saying. And so I think just make sure you've got guidelines and guardrails around it, set really clear expectations and test and measure. It's very simple. But I think right now, you know, again, what I'm seeing is a massive disruption, but the chasm between good and great is growing. If you don't want to be left behind, put some guidelines and guidelines and guardrails in place.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: So, so is that something that you do with your, with your clients? Maybe you could talk a little bit about your, your clientele and what you do, your, your process and maybe start with how that guidelines process would work.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So I. My background, I've been in sales and tech for 25 years and I've always had a heart for coaching.
And so that's what I do is at Revenue by Design, we are coaches and consultants. We offer both to our clients. And I also speak and run workshops. Exactly. On this. So as a speaker, one of, one of the highly sought after talks right now is Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist.
And it's exactly what we talk about. Yeah. Because we all struggle with something. And so that's what I offer. What Revenue by Design offers is coaching and consulting services to really help people set the right foundation at a very fundamental level for themselves as a leader in their team. And so we do that through I speak. I've got a couple skos coming up next year that I'll be speaking at or running workshops. I'll be at the Revenue Enablement Society conference this year just next week leading a workshop on managing versus leading. So we've got a couple different talks that I give workshops that we run and then we also run virtual masterminds for people as well. So we've got a little bit of every little bit of something for everyone at the end of the day, as long as they're interested in some coaching.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: Yeah, so, so let me ask you this to keep it kind of in the AI space. Yeah. How, how, how would you say you, you're currently using AI to help you with your speaking?
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good question. And I steer clear of using it to write A speech, write and write a talk at the end of the day.
Because I don't think that's appropriate. Right. People are like, oh, you can use AI to write a book in 14 days. And I think. I don't. I don't know. I don't. I just. That doesn't feel genuine to me. Maybe I don't know enough about it. So what I do use AI for is more contextual setting.
So I'm going to go and give a talk at an HR conference. What do HR people care about? Can you give me. Cite me some sources and things of that nature. So I'm using it more to capture information from reputable sources, but then I'm also testing and measuring it at the end of the day, because who knows what you're getting Sometimes I'll use it to help me craft questions, things of that nature. So I'm using it more deliberately and intentionally than just, hey, write an article for me. So I'm using it. How are you using it?
[00:11:14] Speaker A: The same. I mean, I use it a lot for, like, the intake process. So I'll take like a call and put it in there. Or I'll even record a voice note and I'll basically throw the transcript of the voice note into chat and say, hey, turn this into a structured note. And it's always going to, because it doesn't know what's in my head. It only knows the words I said, and sometimes it misses the words or doesn't understand the context.
It's a great starting point. I think you're right, though. The problem becomes when you just go, oh, I just want to flip a switch and hit go make podcast. I, you know, I mean, you know, I think in some ways you can do that. Like as an example, this book right here, I spent five minutes just giving it some ideas. Giving a. It was a gag gift thing. And it was like, oh, write a funny book and you don't have to write it. Like, I've never read this and will never read it. It's terrible. But it's about. It's about. Like, it was a joke. Like, I just wanted to be like, hey, I made a book. Yeah, Sold out. My.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: The one copy that is so funny. I. And I think that, to me is the not. I'm not going to say the right perspective. I don't think there's a right or wrong. I think it's more an issue of integrity and ethics. You know what I mean? Like, don't. It would be disingenuous to say this is A bestseller. And like the Bible, you should read it. But then in the flip side, you're like, oh no, it was a gag gift. Right. So just call it what it is at the end.
So to that point, that's really funny. So two things. So one, I actually, I'm a really big fan of Microsoft's co pilot. I love that platform. I'm a Microsoft gal. I grew up with it. Worked for a Microsoft partner, really like their co pilot because part of. In our workshops we have workbooks for people and worksheets and things of that nature. And I am not that creative. And so I used Microsoft Copilot to take my slides and help turn it into a worksheet. And that was really interesting to have a running start. So I think using AI to kind of give you a running start and something to edit from versus create is, at least for me, kind of where I'm going with it is it's sometimes hard to start from a blank sheet of paper. But if I can give the AI my ideas and shape it appropriately and it's still in my voice, I feel like I'm. I'm good with that.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But that, that reminds me that I was trying to do some writing a while back and I would have AI write kind of a basic idea based on some stuff and then I would rewrite it in my own. And I'd heard that that's what I think it's. Benjamin Franklin used to take somebody that wrote something story and then he would write down all these notes from it and then he throw it all away and then he rewrite it to see if he could make their story better or whatever. Like he would learn from, from that.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: And I'm like, that's what the way. That's the way I want to use AI. But yeah, it's like, it's like, like it's a spell checker. I don't want to turn it off. I want to use it.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: But. But yeah, if you just literally want to just hit on your phone like the next word in predictive text, you're just going to get nonsense. And it may sound a lot better than that would have. But yeah, like this book is a great example. Like, actually I go to an improv class and I want to read some passages from it because it's just so, like, it's just blather like it, you know, and I didn't really put any time into like trying to make it so I just. And I didn't make it seem like a Gag in the sense that I didn't, like, make it just completely stupid. It's about mental health and AI. You know, like, it's just.
But like, it just goes on and on. But anyway.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh, that is so funny. I love the word. I love that you use the word blather.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Such a great blather needs to make a comeback.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: It does need to make a comeback. Very much so.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Well, talk to me about sustainability. You mentioned in your intake that you said, how do, how do you reconcile sustainability with the amount of power AI needs to work? Do you have some thoughts on that?
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Well, I think I would love to hear everybody else's thoughts on that because. And I don't know how well that's known by us in the mainstream. Right. I had no idea until I read a couple articles on it. And I'm by no means an expert. And so I'm sure somebody really smart somewhere is figuring it out.
That's my question. Is power that AI needs is outrageous.
And so for.
I think the question I have is like, how do you reconcile somebody who loves the environment but is using AI all day long?
Because the amount of power is just, is crazy. And maybe I'm not thinking about that the right way. But to that point, there's an article previously, I think it's Amazon or Microsoft, they're actually firing up the Three Mile island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania for power, for AI.
So we're going nuclear again. And it's really interesting to me, and I'm just, I would love, you know, for the, for folks that are listening, like, how is that working? What does that reconciliation look like? How are we still going to take care of our environment while using all this power? And again, it's just a broad question and maybe I'm not asking it the right way, but it's, it's a big question that I have for sure.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Supposed to have sustainability policies.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: That even mean, like, can you go carbon neutral and still have an AI play? I don't, I don't know.
So.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. Do you do like, do you do an offset or what is it? And I know like on the big picture, like you've got people like Sam Altman saying, oh, we're going to figure it out and we're going to let AI help us figure that out. And we, but we need AI to get smart enough to where it can help us out, figure out the solution. But, but yeah, it's, it's.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: I don't know if I agree with that. Right. We got Here without AI. I don't, I don't think that's the answer.
I'm a simple gal, right. I'm a Midwesterner, I'm from Chicago. I still like paper and pen. It doesn't run out of batteries. I don't need wi fi. I don't think we need wi fi to help us with that. I think, I think we need to be smarter than that and smarter than the machine at the end of the day because at some point, right, I go to my kids little league game and, or his soccer match or my daughter's silks tournament and it's nowhere to be found.
So I just, I don't think that tech is always the answer. Sometimes it requires thinking and creativity and a non technical solution.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that.
I love that. So tell me, tell me just a little bit about, so tell me just a little bit more about revenue by design. Can you give me just a little bit more background?
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Sure. We came to market about 10 years ago and we came to market as inside sales by design. That is my background. I built and scaled a bunch of inside sales teams and as you can imagine, will, the world has changed drastically not only in the last 10 years, but in the last seven and exponentially in the last five. So earlier this year we rebranded to revenue by design and really morphed more into coaching and work workshops and speaking.
And so that's what we're doing. We're working with the entire revenue go to market team that literally didn't exist five years ago. So the team that's in place today, sales enablement, rev ops, marketing ops martech marketing, product marketing. The team itself literally didn't exist. So we're, we're doing a lot of that work. And my specialty has always been creating those systems and bridging the gap between the different teams, who does what, where, and especially bridging the gap from our senior leaders at a strategy level have all these really great ideas and that's their function down to bridging that gap down to our frontline folks who are like that's awesome. You just for an example issued this edict, our illustrious leaders that we're going to amplify our voice.
There was literally no operationalization underneath that.
And so your frontline wraps are going, I don't know what that means. I still need to just make a sale because I need to feed my family. And so I specialize in working with organizations. I call it the great translation to help with that translation and get that gap crossed at the end of the day. So that's what we do. We do that through speaking. I do that through speaking in workshops with it, with. With organizations and putting programs in place. It's a lot of fun.
[00:20:18] Speaker A: Nice. Nice. I love. I love systems. I benefit quite a bit from systems in place. I like to question them when I'm allowed to figure out how to improve it. But. But, yeah, it's hard to come into something and just go, go.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: It's really hard.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: And sometimes set up to fail.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Yeah. And so it's. We talk a lot about that. So I work with clients, and they'll say, my team just isn't doing what they're supposed to be doing. And my very first question is, walk me through your leadership system.
Walk me through your team system.
And nine times out of ten, there isn't one.
And so that's. The work that we do is okay. It's okay. It's not a problem. But it's. If you're in charge, you need to be in charge and set the standard and set expectations, and a lot of times we don't do that either. So a lot of times I get called the great sales therapist, which is fine, too. So I do a lot of therapy work because it's just. It's. How do we. How do we reconcile these things? How do we orchestrate and harmonize? I need to lead my team. I need to do this, I need to do that. We're pulled in a thousand directions.
So. So I come in and I work with organizations to bring the noise level down, put systems in place and roll it out.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Love that. Love that.
So. So, Dion, what would be the best way for people to reach out to you?
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I. For people who are interested in talking with me further, the best thing to do is definitely connect with me on LinkedIn and there is a link to my calendar there, but connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm happy to reach back out to you. We can set up some time to talk further and go from there, and we'll just kind of see where the. Where the discussion takes us.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: All right, perfect.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: Dion, did you have anything else you wanted to add here at the end?
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Love your podcast. I think it's amazingly beneficial for folks. Just have a simple conversation because sometimes it's hard to do.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, thank you very much for being on the. On the program.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: You bet.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Thank you.
So that's it. We're going to wrap it up. Thank you, Dion. Major for a practical conversation about AI and its potential for business. You can learn more about Dion by going to revenuebydesign.com that's revenue-by design.com or going to her LinkedIn. Dionne Major is her name.
D I O N N E M E J E R It'll be in the show notes.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Let's see here. So I think that's it.
Sorry, there's something else I'm supposed to read here.
So.
Yeah, all right. So if you run a business of so so and thank you to our listeners. If you run a business of any size or have some ideas or strategies around the topics of AI, we'd love to have you on a future episode as well. We interview business owners of all levels of experience and exposure to AI so we can so we can represent all voices, especially the 90% of us who are curious about AI but not trying to be tech geniuses. You can apply to be on a future episode of basic business AI by going to basic business AI.com and one more time, if you want to install a 24.7ai sales and support team in less than 10% of the cost of a single employee, get yourself an anabot. Learn more at anabots AI. See you next time on Basic Business AI. Oh, and by the way, if you like this episode, tell your friends.
