What Amplifies Skill or Exposes the Lack of It

Before 9 AM this morning, 14 sales emails landed in my inbox. At least 10 of them started the same way: "I hope this message finds you well."

At least half of them had emojis sprinkled throughout and one even closed with “💪 Let’s crush Q2 together!” I don’t mean to sound cynical (okay, maybe a little), but the real issue is that I couldn’t tell what any of them were actually trying to solve for me.

That is exactly what’s wrong with how many salespeople are using AI right now. They think Copilot, ChatGPT, or some CRM plugin is going to do the selling for them. They ask AI to “write a sales email” without thinking about who it’s going to, what that person’s top-of-mind problems are, or where they are in the buying process. 

They hit “send” 50 times and are happy at how productive they feel. Then, at the end of the week, they are left wondering why their open rate is flat and their number of meetings hasn’t increased. 

Here's what they are missing:

The gap between activity and effectiveness expands in the absence of skill.

• They copied and pasted their AI-written messages with lightening speed, without adding their EQ.
  

• They emailed a VP of Operations using the same message they sent a Director of HR because the prompt didn’t include the persona’s priorities.
  

• The script was generated in seconds, but it didn’t captivate, differentiate, or validate their solution.
  

• They technically “sent a touch,” and probably performed more outreach than ever before, but fewer messages were actually read.
  

• They relied solely on email, avoiding making phone calls and having real conversations.
  

They assume the tool is broken. It’s not. The inputs were. AI made it easy to mass send, and it also became a shield to avoid rejection.

More Outreach ≠ More Meetings

That’s where skill meets scale. Their intent was good. The tools are powerful but without knowing how to apply them, instead of amplifying results, they will just multiply what doesn’t. The result may be more touches, but it results in less connection.

Research from Gong shows that including the phrase “hope all is well” in email correlate to a 24% increase in meetings booked.*

The key point missed by the AI algorithm likely referencing this research when crafting messages is that it needs to be personalized. Not all personalization is created equal, and AI doesn’t always know the difference. AI combined with Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is what will drive sales success. While AI can generate content quickly, it is the salesperson’s EQ that ensures the message resonates. 

AI + EQ + Habits = Sales Success

The best sales professionals verify the details, adjust the voice, and personalize the message to ensure that every touchpoint feels authentic. Without the human layer of insight, even the most efficient outreach will feel transactional, ending up unopened or unanswered.

At Butler Street, we help both new and experienced sales professionals sharpen their prospecting skills, secure high-value meetings, and win more new business, with greater speed and confidence using AI. Through our Become the Only Choice framework, we help align sales outreach with each buyer’s priorities, operating reality and stage in the decision process and we teach how to layer in AI to scale what works, not guess at what might.   

Contact us today to learn how we can help your team leverage AI for scalable, sustainable success.

As for those emails in my inbox this morning, normally I would have deleted all of them without a second thought. Today though, they were useful. They are proof of what happens when AI is used without skill.