Episode 328: Why the Human Touch Still Matters in an AI-Driven World with David Connors

GUEST: David Connors, Co-Founder and CEO of The Swarm

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It's no surprise that AI is becoming increasingly dominant in various industries, including sales.

AI has the potential to revolutionize the sales process by automating tasks, analyzing data, and providing valuable insights.

However, despite all the excitement and hype surrounding AI sales, the human touch still plays a crucial role.

Today's question:

How can you leverage the power of human relationships in the era of AI sales?

To help us with this today, we have David Connors, Co-Founder and CEO of The Swarm, a Go-To-Network platform that gives companies and investors the keys to their extended networks and the relationship data they need to accelerate sales, recruiting, and fundraising.

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Can AI Ever Replace the Power of Human Connection in Sales?

While AI can handle repetitive and low-value tasks, it allows us to focus on high-value interactions that build trust and drive success, especially in sales where genuine connections are key. As AI tools become more common, the value of human relationships will only grow, making our role more critical. AI can assist with data processing and research, but the irreplaceable element of human-to-human interaction remains vital for fostering trust and closing deals. Embracing AI as a tool to enhance, not replace, our human touch is the way forward.

“There's gonna be more AI assistance, more AI tools that will help to do the low-value tasks that humans don't like doing and free us up to do the more high-value tasks.  So where is the human in this world of AI that's swirling around? And I think it's that every human has this AI assistant little helper that can do a lot of this heavy lifting in the background. But at the end of the day, it's still gonna be humans talking to other humans.”

David Connors, Co-Founder and CEO of The Swarm

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Harnessing Your Network for High-Impact Sales

Transitioning from the "growth at all costs" era, where mass email tools and power dialers led to inbox saturation, it's essential now to adopt a Go-To-Network approach. This means leveraging relationships around your company, including those with your team, investors, advisors, partners, suppliers, and customers. Start by mapping these connections and identifying strong supporters. For instance, instead of cold emailing a massive list, focus on warm introductions through existing relationships, significantly boosting meeting conversion rates. Additionally, encourage XDR roles to build personal brands and engage with their communities on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, helping to foster trust and scale outreach effectively.

“The Go-To-Network approach looks at the relationships that sit around your company. It's not just your team's networks, but it's also your investors, advisors, partners, vendors, suppliers, customers, and then also things like the candidates you're talking to, the alumni at your company. And when you start thinking about all the different people that sit around your organization, there's actually a lot of networks that you can start tapping into.”

David Connors, Co-Founder and CEO of The Swarm

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From Contacts to Champions

Your network is your net worth. Building authentic, long-term relationships rather than chasing quick transactions is key to turning customers into loyal advocates who promote your business. By investing in understanding both business and personal outcomes, you create raving fans who will not only return but also recommend you to others. Focus on nurturing and maintaining these connections authentically, and you'll see your network truly become your greatest asset.

“I think for some firms, the network could be the greatest asset that they have. It's this defendable mode that you can leverage, that's proprietary, that's just for your firm that your competitors can't imitate or compete with.”

David Connors, Co-Founder and CEO of The Swarm

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The Future of Relationship Management

To truly succeed in leveraging your relationships, past attempts failed due to limited data and shallow insights. With new regulations like GDPR and CCPA opening up access to user data and the evolution of platforms like LinkedIn shifting focus, we now have the tools to build a next-generation platform. By integrating insights from LinkedIn, Salesforce, and other sources, you can create a unified solution that offers deep, actionable relationship data. This way, you can move beyond basic connections and truly understand and manage your network effectively.

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Keep Your Data Secure

When it comes to privacy and security, it's natural to have concerns about sharing your email, calendar, and LinkedIn connections. However, The Swarm platform is designed with your privacy in mind. It only focuses on work relationships and never reads the content of your emails or messages. It uses your LinkedIn connections, which are generally public and has advanced privacy controls to ensure your data stays secure and private. The system also offers a feature that maps out work overlaps from a vast database, giving you a valuable overview of your network without needing everyone to sign up.

‍Now that you know how to leverage the power of human relationships in the era of AI sales, discover the full list of episodes at The B2B Revenue Executive Experience. If you enjoy the show, instructions to rate and review it are found here.