AI Ain’t the Hero—You Are.

How to sell smart tech to smart folks…

without ever mentioning AI.

A friend of mine is sittin’ on a damn good use case.

He built something slick—something that actually works.

An AI-powered call handler that scoops up missed leads for service pros... HVAC techs, plumbers, the one-man-band businesses running on fumes and elbow grease.

Miss a call?

That prospect's gone.

And if the job was worth $15K (as many of them are), that’s not just a missed call.
That’s money bleeding out the side of your business (OUCH!) 😟

Jake's tool stops that.
It scoops the lead, confirms the details, fires it over in seconds.
It works.

But he tripped on the same wire that fks up a lot of innovators:

He led with the tool instead of the truth.

"AI Isn’t the Hook. Pain Is."

You say “AI,” and here’s what they hear:

❌ “Sounds techy.”
❌ “Too complicated.”
❌ “Probably expensive.”
❌ “I don’t wanna be someone’s guinea pig.”

YEP!

You’ve lost ‘em—and they haven’t even seen the magic yet.

Because you’re lighting up the wrong part of their brain:
The skeptical, overwhelmed, this-isn’t-for-me part.

But these folks ain't dumb.

They’re smart.
Practical.
Resourceful.
They’ve just had their time wasted by shiny objects before.

What you need to know is this:

They’re NOT buying “AI.”

They’re buying revenue that didn’t slip through the cracks.
They’re buying peace of mind when they’re under a house or in the middle of a job.
They’re buying Friday beers, not lost leads.

So don’t make the tool the hero.

Make them the hero.
Their business.
Their livelihood.
Their reputation.

Flip the Frame

Here’s how:

❌ Don’t sell the “AI Call Saver.”
✅ Sell “The $15K Missed Call Recovery Line.”

Don’t tell them what it is.
Ask them what they want.

“Would it help if someone answered every missed call and sent you the lead in under 15 seconds—before that customer called the next guy on Google?”

Boom 💥

That’s a T1 hand-raiser.
Now they’re leaning in.
Now they’re thinking, “Yeah… why don’t I have that?”

That’s your in.
Not the tech.
Not the specs.
Not the dashboard.

The outcome.

Once they’re interested, don’t pitch.
Demo.

Let ‘em hear what the customer hears.
Let ‘em feel the “oh damn, this thing works” moment.
Show, don’t tell.

Want to Go Next-Level? Borrow Trust.

Here’s where it gets good.

Let someone they trust tell the story.

A local operator.
A trade influencer.
Mike down the road who they know ain't no fool

Let him rave about it.
Let him say, “I don’t miss a job now, even if I’m elbow-deep in a water heater.”

That’s credibility you can’t buy.
And it flips the script completely.

Now it’s not some “AI thing.”
It’s the thing Mike uses.
And if Mike trusts it, maybe I should too.

This Isn’t About Convincing.

You’re not trying to rewire how they think.
You’re just helping them realize this is what they’ve always wanted.

They just didn’t expect it to come wrapped in 1s and 0s.

So next time you’ve got something slick?
Something smart?

Don’t sell the tech. Sell the transformation.

Lead with the pain it solves.
Show the peace of mind it delivers.
And hold off on the “AI” talk until they’re begging to know how it works.

Because at the end of the day…

They don’t want a tool. They want a result.

Let them be the hero.

Let the tech stay invisible.

Let the wins speak for themselves.

Want me to help shape your pitch to match the real story your prospects are ready to hear?
Let’s jam... you know where I am 😁