Make your pipeline visible to AI.
Every AI tool for sales needs the same three things: who your customers are, what happens between interest and sale, and whether it's working. This guide shows how to fix each one, in the order that pays.
Fix them in this order. Data first, because process runs on it. Process second, because the numbers come out of it. You can start each step in an afternoon, and none of them needs new software to start.
One place for every customer.
If your customers live across inboxes, phones and notebooks, no tool can see them, and neither can you when you're busy. Every automation starts by asking: who is this person, and how did they find us?
Start in an afternoon
- Pick one placeA simple CRM (Attio, HubSpot free, Pipedrive) or even one shared sheet. The tool matters less than having only one.
- Move everyone inExport contacts from email, phone and old sheets. Start with everyone who bought or asked in the last 12 months.
- Merge duplicatesOne record per person. Check your three most recent customers: if any shows up twice, merge before you go on.
- Add a source fieldWhere did they come from: referral, LinkedIn, website, trade fair. Fill it in for every new contact, every time.
Good enough looks like
You can export everyone who bought in the last year in under ten minutes, each contact exists once, and you know where last month's new customers came from.
What AI can do once it's there
Enrich new leads automatically, spot your best customer type, and send the right follow-up to the right person without you sorting lists.
Follow-up that doesn't depend on your memory.
Many deals aren't lost to competitors. They're lost to silence: the quote nobody chased, the enquiry answered three days late. If the steps live only in your head, automating them means automating guesses.
Start in an afternoon
- Write down the pathFrom first contact to paid invoice, in five to seven steps. Enquiry, reply, call, quote, follow-up, yes or no.
- Put a name on each stepWho does it, and by when. If the answer is always you, that's the first thing to change.
- Set a 24-hour ruleEvery enquiry gets a first answer within a day, even when you're away. A template and an auto-reply are enough to start.
- Keep notes in the recordAfter every call, three lines in the CRM: what they need, what you promised, next step and date.
Good enough looks like
If you were away for a week, someone else would know which follow-ups are due, and every quote gets a nudge after three days.
What AI can do once it's there
Agents draft replies, chase open quotes, book calls and remind you, while you keep the conversations that need you.
A few numbers, every week.
Without numbers you find out sales dropped when the bank account tells you. A handful of numbers, checked at the same time every week, turns a gut feeling into something you can improve, and something an agent can act on.
Start in an afternoon
- Pick three numbersNew enquiries, share that become customers, and revenue by channel. Nothing else yet.
- Make them come out of the systemIf your data and process are in one place, these numbers count themselves. If you count by hand, go back one layer.
- Check every MondaySame time, same place, ten minutes. Write one line: what changed and why you think so.
- Test one thing a monthA new channel, a faster reply, a different offer. Keep what moves the numbers, drop the rest.
Good enough looks like
You know last month's enquiries without counting, your conversion rate, and which channel brought the most revenue last year.
What AI can do once it's there
Weekly reports that write themselves, alerts when something drops, and a clear answer to where your next euro should go.
Then it becomes a loop.
With the three layers in place, sales and marketing run as one loop: test, measure, learn, automate. That's the GTM engine I build with small businesses. If you'd like a second pair of eyes on your weakest area, book a free check-up.