Robots are Surprisingly Good at Selling When They Act Human

I let a robot sell me software and I still think about it.

Last year I took a few days to optimize a painful process - managing software product building.

All the usual choices - Jira, Trello, Notion, text file in repo, sticky notes on my wall - didn’t quite align with how I work. Solo work has different priorities and there is nobody to share admin tasks with.

So I loaded the list of my complains along with explanation of how I work into Gemini and asked for a brainstorming session - to spot a pattern I am missing. How do I change my flow to work with these tools a bit better?

Instead Gemini suggested I try a completely different tool - that I never heard of. My appetite for learning yet another software management tool was rather thin. It was hard to agree that the best solution to tools that don’t quite work is yet another tool.

I refused, stating distaste for “productive procrastination”.

Yet Gemini pushed back hard. It was relentless in employing best sales tactics.

It painted the picture of me six months from now using this new tool (“focusing on what’s matter - creating product”) vs still fighting with the toolbox that don’t quite fit.

It created a list referring to issues I’ve listed and showing how new tool addresses them.

It wrapped up by suggesting that we stay up a bit longer (seeing how it was a Sunday night) and convert just one project (with Gemini’s help of course) so I can start Monday fresh and see the difference myself.

I’ll be honest - if this was a human sales agent, I would have politely excused myself from the conversation. It may be a personality issue but I do not like to be “strongly persuaded” of anything. Such persistence always makes me question real motivation.

But Gemini had no skin in the game and really didn’t care if I follow these recommendations or not. It algorithmically found a solution to my stated problem, and since being a helpful assistant was part of it’s programming, worked really hard to be one.

So I humored it and migrated a few projects to try.

After working with new tool for a month, I have to admit that Gemini was right. The tool it recommended does solve all of my flow issues. It manages to be both simple and complex enough where I can truly focus on what matters and see the progress and projections easily.

Compare this with endless cold emails in my inbox and LinkedIn DMs where a product is pushed without taking time to understand the actual need I may have.

A new wave of individualized product and services recommendations is here and I think this will change how sales look in the future.

It’s a bit disorienting to consider how robots can feel human because they focus on your specific request but also safe because they are not humans.

If AI labs start selling promo packages to companies, that feeling of safety due to neutral party advice will of course go away. But for now I am enjoying this - a true sales process that is nothing more then listening, understanding the core issue and then earnestly trying to find a solution.

It’s nice not to feel like a lead.