The Edge Your Team Needs - Especially Now

A sales leader recently said to me, “We’re not losing because our people don’t care. We’re losing because they’re outmatched.”

She wasn’t talking about their ability to deliver or their pricing.

She was talking about preparedness, the kind that separates sellers who simply try to survive economic headwinds from those who are winning in spite of them.

And right now, the pressure is real.

Deals are slower. Budgets are tighter. Buyers are harder to reach.

This is when skill gaps become abundantly clear – to both sales leaders and unfortunately, the prospects! 

What Smart Leaders Are Doing Right Now

They're not asking, “How do I cut costs?”

They're asking, “How do I make every rep more productive?”

And if you have not been living off the grid completely, you can probably guess that I am going to share why AI matters more in a down market.

In stable times, average effort might be enough. In uncertainty, only value rises to the top.  And sellers who know how to…

• Research accounts faster

• Personalize outreach with precision

• Anticipate objections with confidence

• Communicate value with data

• Automate the parts of their workflow that don’t add value to spend more time solutioning

… are the ones buyers are paying attention to.

Not because AI makes them robotic, but because it helps them be more relevant, more strategic, and more consistent. And isn’t that what really matters to the buyer?

The truth is sad. According to Grammarly’s latest AI Literacy report, 52% of professionals feel unprepared to use generative AI effectively at work. That means more than half of your team could be missing out on the one tool that helps them move faster, think smarter, and show up stronger when it counts most.

Smart leaders aren’t waiting for corporate to roll something out. They’re teaching their teams how to:

• Use ChatGPT to build more thoughtful territory plans

• Summarize meetings faster to follow up better

• Create customer-ready content that sounds human

• Offload the administrative work to someone (something?) better than them

• Most importantly, they’re removing the stigma and fear that AI is “too technical” or “someone else’s job.”  They’re making it normal and expected.

Three Things You Can Do This Week

Whether you lead a team or carry a quota, here are three fast ways to gain ground:

1. Choose a deal that’s stalled.

Use Generative AI to reframe the value proposition from the client’s point of view. Ask: 

“What would a CFO care most about in this situation? What data points could support this recommendation?”

2. Upgrade your outbound with smarter prompts.

Instead of a generic message, try:

“Write a series of 3 short emails, to a VP of Operations in logistics who is likely dealing with [insert industry pressure]. Include a stat, a question, and a relevant solution.”

3. Don’t wait for perfection, experiment and have fun.

Create a Slack channel, Teams thread, or 15-minute huddle called “AI Wins” where people can share what they tried. No pressure. Just progress.

In fact, if you want to have a little fun, create an action figure of yourself or of someone in your top targets and send it to them. Use the prompt at the end of this blog post! 

The Cost of Doing Nothing

If you're not building AI literacy now, you're creating a bigger gap tomorrow. Because this isn’t going away. Buyers are expecting better. Leaders are being asked to do more with less. And your competitors are figuring it out while your team is “getting comfortable.”

Butler Street Can Help

We teach teams how to sell smarter with AI, EQ, and repeatable habits that work in the real world, no matter the economy. Not theory. Not tech talk. Proven tools and coaching that help your people win in uncertain times.

We work with salespeople, account managers, recruiters, and leaders every day who want the same thing: Confidence that they can grow—even when the market shrinks. If that sounds like you, let’s talk.

Because AI isn’t just for the future. It’s for right now.

When the pressure is on, preparation is everything. Make sure your team has what they need to compete…and win.

PROMPT TIP OF THE WEEK:  Creating an Action Figure (upload any pictures/images/logos and reference them in your prompt if you want ChatGPT 4o to use.:

Please create a full-length action figure image, to appear in clear plastic packaging, using the attached image.

Details for the action figure:  Make sure the action figure is head to toe, [INSERT BODY TYPE SPECS HERE], standing, wearing [INSERT PREFERRED OUTFIT DETAILS HERE]. 

Color scheme: [INSERT SPECIFIC COLOR SCHEME SPECS HERE]

Brand to appear on packaging: [INSERT ACTUAL BRAND OR MADE UP BRAND - OPTIONAL]

Action Figure Name: [INSERT FUN, WITTY ACTION FIGURE NAME HERE]

Tagline at the Bottom: [INSERT FUN, WITTY TAG LINE - HUMOR WINS THE DAY!]

Accessories: Add descriptions of accessories. (Example for the Erika's pictured right - one large mug in white with TEA written on it in orange, one cell phone with the OpenAI logo on it, one Zoom screen with faces on it, one book called The AI Bible, and one book called Atomic Habits (use image attached)