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AI Is Changing Sales: Will Average Salespeople Become as Good as Top Performers? · 10X AI with Julius Neil

• Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Good day, everyone. I'm now here with another episode with Tony Mendez. So Tony, you're part of the Data Chi series of my podcast. So I'm really also looking forward to this. We've been delayed for quite a few weeks now. So Tony, can you introduce yourself? What's your part, your responsibility in taking Data Chi in the global market? Tony Mendez: Hi, my name's Tony Mendez. I'm the UK country manager for Data Chi I'm responsible for those markets specifically. I've spent a lot of time, big chunk of my career working in technology sales and working for industry giants such as IBM, R Recall, DXC Technology and Essentia. in a sales capacity. Now the common theme that runs through through that is that my career has always been focused on helping organisations embrace digital technology to help them work work more efficiently and work and work smarter. And the solution which I'm going to be talking about today which is Datogy's solution is something which I've got personal experience about. So I've been the rep which is seven o'clock on a Friday evening, still typing notes into CRM when I should have been home spending time with my family. And and it's important to understand that what Data Chi is, how it actually, you know, brings back back time to the sales rep. So think of Data Chi as a Formula One driver. This is probably the best analogy I can give for it. So As a Formula One driver, the driver still races and wins the race, but he works with a pit crew. Now that pit crew will is responsible for changing the tyres, he's responsible for for changing the fuel and responsible for giving the di the driver the Data so that all he needs to focus on is driving. Now, Data Chi is like a pit crew for a salesperson, it'll take all the admin of that salesperson and and and this is primary what Data Chi was actually built to do. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: So in your experience, how, for a salesperson, for example, how much time you are entailing when it comes to those things that are not sales-related, but are things that needs to be done from your side? Tony Mendez: Yeah, so from my size I I I can quote some interesting figures. I can quote Salesforce, I Julius Neil Buenconsejo: huh. Yeah. Yeah. Tony Mendez: can quote, you know, Salesforce and I can quote Gartner as well. So so Salesforce themselves, I did a study back in twenty twenty two, Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: with seven thousand and seven hundred salespeople and they came up with the figure that that less than thirty percent of that salesperson's working week is actually spent selling. The rest of the time is spent doing admin. Right and when I say admin, I'm talking about email follow-ups, I'm talking about prospecting, I'm talking about logging things into CRM and I'm talking about booking meetings. I'm talking about all the stuff that gets you bugged down as a salesperson. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, so you talk about this. So I would like now because we have talked about this before with Vidrai also and then Sharif. And then now I would like to dig more on the details of how it works in DataCheek, for example. So for example, in the emailing side, how is DataCheek helping follow up email and how is DataCheek giving value to the salespeople now in your current Tony Mendez: Yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: clientele? Tony Mendez: Yeah, well let's not just take emails, okay? Right? Let's just Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yes. Yeah. Tony Mendez: right, right so so Data Chi gives a sales team its own team of virtual virtual teammates. Okay, right. So one does email and prospecting, okay? Right, so these are specialist team mate teammates that do specific jobs. One does does Email them prospecting, it goes and finds and researches prospects. Two listens to buy in signals. Now buying signals could mean some kind of change in the organization. There's been a a recent hire, right? There's been a new round of funding, or it could be you know some expansion, right? So so that's a buying signal. Third, right, is Follow up emails, so who to chase, when to chase, remembering what to say, and the fourth sits on your calls, takes notes, and then suggest follow up actions from there. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, so buying signals, can you give more details about the buying signals? How is it being done by DataCheap? And how is it different from other sales AI in the market right now? Tony Mendez: Well, the truth is it's no difference but but but y you have to take take what Data Chi actually does. It automates the process from end to end. Don't look at it as an isolated tool. Now this is a big difference to what Data Chi's approach is and other other offerings in the marketplace today. So prospecting and research, there's tools that do this quite efficiently out there in the marketplace today. Absolutely, but they're an extra tool for that salesperson to manage. Don't forget the real problem that we're addressing here is administration. Okay? If you're giving the salesperson extra tools, so so Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: four extra tools: an emailing, prospecting tool, an outreach tool, and everything else, you're just giving him extra tools to manage, which is just going to slow up his job. It's not automated from end to end. So so to try and compare us with a solution which is out on the market, I would say the big difference is automation. We automate the emailing and prospecting, which is linked together with the buying signals. And buying signals, I mean imagine if you're a client and you've got a problem, okay? Right, imagine then to receive an email at precisely the right time which addresses your problem. So that's like you to be warm, okay? Right. So so you know, once you get a response back from the client, then everything is automated from there. Right. The AI assistants will book meetings in your diary and give you a call brief so that when you actually join the call with the client, you're fully aware of the client's situation and what to say. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, so can you walk me through the cycle of this? For example, in a traditional way, when you were doing the sales calls, from sales calls perspective, then buying signals, and then emailing, and all these processes. So traditionally, this is going to be like, for example, one to two weeks. I'm not sure. It depends on the of the same cycle. And when they use, for example, data-chi right now, what is the big difference? Tony Mendez: Big difference. Okay, I'm gonna take you to two scenarios, right, of different workflows. So scenario number one would be traditionally. So when I first started in sales, right, many, many years ago I was given a laptop, a phone, and a spreadsheet, yeah, and a diary, okay? And Julius Neil Buenconsejo: You Tony Mendez: it was off you go, right? So so it was up to you to do your own research. you try and read up as much about the company, you try and understand their annual reports, right, to Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: see where their goals are. You try and do as much research as you can and you can imagine how much time that takes. And then you've got to figure out an angle. What would this customer likely respond to if I was to reach out to them? Okay? And you've got to hope and pray that that you actually reach out to the right person and Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: and that you're offering Is something that they want to hear about. Okay. Move that over to Data China. Okay? Alright, so so all that admin is taken off the table. So so you've got an AI that will do that prospecting for you, identify certain clients in a certain industry or or according to your ICP, okay? and then it will reach out to them when the time is right. When the time is right, it will all depend on the right buying signals. And I've listed a bunch of buying signals just before. It could mean a change in the organization, it could mean something that they've posted on social media, it could mean a new strategy which they've announced, it could mean a bunch of things. But the point is, right, the agent will pick that up, understand whether that's a a buying signal to reach out to them, it will craft. an email specifically that is weighted towards what their issue is and and to introduce data and then the the workflow is all automated from there. So as soon as the client responds a meeting is booked a meeting is booked before you attend that meeting you get a call brief that drops in your inbox and that call brief will actually tell you you know what, where and how you know so that you don't have to go and do all that research yourself. You walk into that room or into that online meeting fully prepared. There's a difference. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, can you give me, even though it's anonymous, can you give me one client right now with a data cheat that you wowed? For example, like, okay, this is what we're doing right now. And then you gave them the data cheat system and then they say, wow, this is really astounding for us because from one, for example, from 10 hours to 12 hours, it becomes one hour or even 30 minutes of their daily task. Tony Mendez: I can talk about one customer. I I can't talk about the statistics yet but because we're still actually working with them right now so the final numbers aren't in yet, but Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yes. Yeah. Tony Mendez: but I can give you a background, a taste of what was changed in i in their environment. So customer, okay? All right, let's let's call her Jane. So Jane runs a small B2B IT services company in Luxembourg. Now, she has a team of 12 salespeople, she has a good product, and the salespeople are all good, they're not lazy, right? They're all doing their jobs, okay? Now, when she goes through her CRM on a Monday, she finds out that it's like trawling through archaeology, okay? Right, the CRM's out of date, it's got stale leads in there, right, and it's hard to actually figure out exactly where a deal actually is or if the deal is ri is real, it's just that difficult the c CRM is not clean. and she she then takes a look at what her staff are doing and and her staff, you know, the team of twelve salespeople, they're doing good work, okay? Right. It's just that they're busy going from meeting to meeting and then preparing for the next meeting and then And then having that meeting and then writing up the call notes for the next meeting and then jumping into the next meeting and so on, it's relentless. And so things are slipping. She even speaks to her best salesperson. And her best salesperson, let's call him Neil. Okay. So so Neil only does only gets time for proper selling on a Thursday afternoon, can you believe it? Right? Because that's when the Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: time that yeah he has most. Right, to actually spend on on on proper selling. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: So for five days, for the whole week, he can only work Thursday afternoon for proper selling. Everything is Tony Mendez: For Julius Neil Buenconsejo: like administration. Tony Mendez: for proper selling, what I'm actually talking about is proper selling face to face time, having deep Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yes Tony Mendez: having deep conversations with with yeah, s so so doing things like cold calling and and trying to reach out, I don't co you know, class that as as proper selling. I'm talking about once you've got a prospect and you're having meaningful conversations with them, that is what I would call proper selling, building relationships and earning your way to to being a trusted advisor. So he he only really had time on Thursday afternoon to do that. So so we gave a data chi, right? She started off small, okay? Right. She didn't want to boil the ocean all in one go, right? Because salespeople they don't like change. So she just picked a small Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Ha ha. Tony Mendez: sub yeah she just picked a small subset of of four salespeople and she just picked the the most painful workflows and those workflows were follow-ups and CRM updates, okay? Now it wasn't immediate, okay, because you know it takes time for for things to change, but within a week, right, she started seeing that the CRM was starting to clean up, okay? Right? And and that deals had started to move forward. Her her forecast calls, right, then over a period of weeks, right? Her forecast calls moved from asking the question, you know, where is this deal? To how can we win this deal? It was a totally different conversation. Now we're still working with that customer because they're still in a pilot phase at the moment, but it's looking very, very promising. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, in this customer, what is the first few challenges when giving them this data sheet or any for this technology? What's the first challenge that you have? Tony Mendez: Well, the first challenge the first challenge is that's a really good question, let me think. Like the first challenge that we find by actually giving them that achieve, Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah. Tony Mendez: right, I would say is adoption. Everybody's used to doing things the way that they've been doing. And the thing is, right, what you've got to realise is that is that admin was never part of the job. Admin was never part of a job, okay? Alright. In my 20 odd years of selling, the things that matter most, what makes a customer buy from any individual is trust and whether that person understands their business. Everything else can go out the window. It's it it boils down to those two things, okay? Right. So what you want is is of when you hire a salesperson, these are the qualities that you're actually looking for. You're looking for qualities right that but soft skills, soft skills that build relationships. But yet over the the decades what we've done is we've piled more and more admin onto the salesperson, right, because there was no other way to actually get that data through a business. So the salesperson had to do it. And that became part of a job, but that was never ever really part of a job. What data G does is it takes that admin away from that person so the person can begin and free themselves up to start doing real selling, do the job which they were employed to do, which is generate revenue. Now, the difficulty, going back to you know, what's the hardest thing is is adoption. Okay? Right, which is why w we can't just roll it out there. We need to prove that it works with a pilot. Okay? Right. Once it works with that pilot, then it's very, very easy, right? We've got the buy-in of b of the whole organization. The reps can see it working. They've got time back. they can have deeper conversations with their clients. f they can become real human beings again. We have a a a term internally called more human than humans. And that's not that the Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, yeah. Tony Mendez: AI is more human and human. It gives the the human back his humanity. Okay? It makes them more human. That's what that actually means. so so yeah, I would say adoption is is probably our our main challenge, but once we've got past that hurdle, it's downhill pretty much all the way. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: How do you do the training and then the adoption for most of your clients? What is the process of the onboarding? Tony Mendez: right, so the onboarding isn't too difficult actually. What we do is you give them a month, right, to get started. We start off small, like I said, with all organisations, okay? Right. We prove it works and then we roll it out. Now, right, by rolling it out, what I mean is is that you won't get the the full benefits of data cheeky unless you connect your your email and your CRM and your calendar so that the AI can then go out and do the work for you and start booking meetings in your diary. So let me run you through like a typical workflow of Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: of a could be any day of the week. Call it Tuesday for argument's sake, okay? Alright. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay. Okay. Tony Mendez: So so overnight, okay, right, the your your chief of staff and I'll get on to what a chief of staff is At the moment, he's he's the one who controls all of the specialist agents. But anyway, the chief of staff will prepare a brief right for you for the next morning. Right, okay. So so that brief right is going to tell you all about your clients, right, so you don't have to do your research. If you've met them before, it will give you a summary of what you've spoken about before in the meetings. what actions are in that meeting, what any suggested goals for the following meeting which is coming up. and you that means that you can go into that meeting fully prepared, okay? Right, fully prepared and fully confident. Right. There's no need to take notes, okay? Right? Because what we find, well me as a salesperson I always found that I was half present in in these sales meetings because I'm trying to listen, I'm trying to give good questions, and I'm also trying to take notes. That's a very, very difficult thing to do and it takes some time. Okay? Right, right, yeah, this is right. So Julius Neil Buenconsejo: I know, I know. Tony Mendez: right, so so the data tree system enables you to be fully present in a meeting, okay? so so you can use those key skills that you've gained over time by listening and judgment, okay. so so 10 minutes after the meeting's over, right, you've got an email draft right of of all the actions, all the follow-ups, etc., which is ready to send to your customer. Right, it just needs your approval. One click. The CRM is already updated, and if it's needs moved moving on with you know into the next sale stage, it does that too. So What used to take f thirty thirty forty minutes of typing up notes now takes thirty seconds with a simple yes or a no with the sending of that draft email. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, so this note taking, how does it work? Is it integrated inside data sheet also? Tony Mendez: Yeah, integrated inside data tree. It's actually more cleverer than that. Right. So so the Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: right, so this note system i it's actually a bit of a cheat sheet. So so yeah, I Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: mean everybody's seen these politicians when they're talking, they're giving speeches and they've got these things in front of them, these like teleprompters right. So they're just reading off a teleprompter. This does Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, Tony Mendez: something pretty similar, but it does it in real time. Okay? So I could be meeting with you right now. Okay? And on my screen, right? my agent he knows all about the customer, right? He knows who they are, he's done the research on them, whether it's a new client or existing client, and he will suggest questions which I can ask because quite often, and and this is something which you know people find when they spend time doing sales for any length of times. You lose deals not from not not from any other reason than you've not asked the right question. So sometimes you lose deals and you think, How the hell did I lose that? I had that, you know, I was forecasting that at ninety percent. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah. Tony Mendez: That was a a dead cert, but you know, you find out that it's gone to a competitor, it's gone to someone else. And that's Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: because it's sometimes the questions that you don't ask in a meeting that can actually lose you the deal. This This system here, this this note taker, this teleprompter thing which I'm actually talking about, this sits on your calls and it will run down and and suggest all the questions that you need to ask. It will follow the medic sales philosophy so that it ensures that you've got all the ticks in the boxes, okay? Right, you've got the sponsor, you've got the budget holder. You've got, a all of these questions that are required to ensure that a to a deal is rock solid. It will actually make sure probably not in the first meeting, but in subsequent meetings it will capture all of that data and put it into CRM. Now, y you could call it cheating because it is cheating, right? But but it's the way that we're moving. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, so it's happening real time. So for example, I'm a client Tony Mendez: Yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: now, I'm inside data sheet, and then you are having just teleprompter about what I'm saying, what we are discussing about. Tony Mendez: Teleprompter. Teleprompter what you if you mention anything to do with a competitor, then boom on my screen. and by the way, it's invisible to you. You don't know it's there. Okay? Right, but Julius Neil Buenconsejo: yeah. Tony Mendez: yeah, right, but on my screen, right, if you mention the competition, then boom, within a few seconds, right, I'll have a comparison table up there that pitches data chi against the competition. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mmmmm Tony Mendez: Against that particular competitor. So I'll be able to to and also as well objection handling too. It'll help you out with objection handling, it'll tell you what to say. so well guide you what to say I I'll just put it like that. But but Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Ha Tony Mendez: right, but the point is you can see that this is very powerful, and this is just one part of that to G. Okay, right. This Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: is the part which actually sits, take notes, and it allows you, like I said, to be fully present on that call. With your client. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: And that is, this is very powerful tool. This is a very powerful system, right? This is very powerful Tony Mendez: Yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: system. I never asked that before during our podcast. Usually most things are, on the surface. So now I wanted to dig more into the system. So it's really good. It's really good. Tony Mendez: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: example, even though I, for example, I'm a fresh salesperson and you give this to me, then I will have that confidence, facing that client because I know I have all of this data. beforehand. And while I'm talking to that person, I'll have that teleprompter and all the data and then handling also the objections, which is another part of the training of the salespeople. If it's already there, you know what I mean, right? Tony Mendez: Yeah y yeah y yeah I mean like y y you are exactly right. Exactly right there because we talk about data she giving salespeople their time back, okay? Right? But there's a consequence to that, okay? Right? That c right Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: it's a good consequence, okay? Right right the consequence is that it makes salespeople Better salespeople because they can just focus on being salespeople, just like that Formula One driver analogy, which I said. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, yeah. Tony Mendez: Okay, he can just focus on driving that he doesn't need to think about the fuel, he doesn't need to think about the tires, right? Every time he pits, they get changed, and they're not changed by him. His job is to drive. A salesperson, their job is to sell. But right, and I say but right, there's a more powerful, there's a more powerful message, right? Because what it's going to do is well, it's going to clean your pipeline. So that stale pipeline that you had that hadn't been updated, those those contacts which don't even work for the organization anymore, right? Over time those are going to get clean. You're going to have a clean system which you can probably forecast under, okay? and also as well, with getting more and more qualified leads turning into opportunities, and then what's that going to do for your business? As a company, it's going to is going to increase your bottom line. Salespeople are there to generate revenue and to build revenue, right? So, this is what is going to make salespeople into super salespeople. I always say to sales leaders, what would it mean to you if all of your team went to club this year? Because it can happen. All of your team went to club because right, because it's not just taking them on a holiday, no. Everybody going to club means that he himself He takes the credit for that. He takes the credit for busting his number, right, and and and you know doing good. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah. So now, so maybe there are some startup companies who are listening to us right now. So we've been talking about, you know, companies, your clients already have this business established. So if I'm, if I'm a startup company, if I'm a startup founder right now, I only have like one or two person right now starting. Can I use this system for me, for my, for my company? Tony Mendez: No reason why not. Right. It'll work just the same for you as it would do for a a hundred, two hundred, three hundred person company. you know, it's it it'll work just as well. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay. How does the business model work for your site? For example, if I'm a startup founder, how would I onboard on that? How much would it cost me, for example, to start this? For example, is it subscription-based per person or is it an enterprise model like, okay, this is the system we have, you can use that. Tony Mendez: So it's subscription, it's per licence, okay? Right. I mean for for big deals we can always negotiate, okay? Right. But but generally, right, per seat it's round about ten thousand euros a year. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Perceived. Okay. Okay. Tony Mendez: yeah. Yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: So this is regardless of how much, how many clients they are processing. Or is it 10,000, this number of clients? Tony Mendez: Mm it's there's no cap. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: okay. That's good. That's good. So maybe there are some, you know, startup founders who are listening to us right now and wanted to, for example, you know, to start... his sales team to do better and to have the shortcut, for example. And is there a limitation on which industry is this going to work on? Is this specifically for sales training industries or any industry can use this system? Tony Mendez: Yeah, it's i it's sale it's industry agnostic. This is just specific this is just specifically designed for sales and and the the underlying messaging is is i is is so simple. We just take the admin away from the salesperson, which enables the salesperson to do what they wanted w you know, what they were employed to do, which is to sell. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay. getting back to the history of the sales cycle, because you told our viewers and listeners that you have been 25, you have this 25 years experience in sales. And you also Tony Mendez: Mm-hmm. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: mentioned that most of the salespeople, don't want change, right? So for over 25 years from now and before AI, did something change or still the same? Tony Mendez: I'd say it's still the same because this is still in its early stages, this revolution. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: You see, over time, innovation has come to you know different parts of the organisation. CRM, procurement, you know, ERP, you know, all of these systems came along and it and it it changed exactly how A business operates it, makes it more efficient, in marketing as well. But but the point is there's never ever been in innovation pointed at the revenue generators sales. There's never ever been that. And I think this is the first stage and that's what I'm very, very excited about. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Why do you think that administrative works remain such a significant burden for salespeople? Tony Mendez: I I think that over time, well, over the decades, like I said, you know, this this data was needed. This data was needed so that, you know, organisations could could forecast properly, so that on a on a Monday morning or or you know, Tuesday, whatever day it was, right, the sales leaders, right, had the information that they could follow up to for next level, for next level above that, and eventually these figures would be published on Wall Street, okay? Right, you know, it it's in it's as important as that. Now, now it's always been a salesperson's job. Well it hasn't always been a salesperson's job, but it became a salesperson's job because because these organizations figured out well the best place to actually get this information is from all of these guys at the bottom. But but the price of getting all that information from the guys at the bottom, I mean I'm talking about the sales, is that the salespeople have got to keep feeding the machine, keep feeding the machine so that the the the leaders on a Tuesday afternoon or a Tuesday morning for argument's sake will have a nice pretty chart to look at and say we're on track or we're we're not not on track, so on and so forth. And that's been the price, you know, you imagine, okay? Right, you've got thirty fields right of a CRM to fill out and it and it's seven o'clock at night and you've got more than what one of them to do and you just but it it's just relentless all of these things aren't hard but because it's relentless that's what makes it hard and that's what makes it a burden and and I think that over time what we've given salespeople is more tools to do their jobs rather than asking the question what Can we what tool can we deploy that takes away all of this admin from them instead of giving them more tools? Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, so you talk about the successful clients who actually sign up for DataCheek. Can you also give us an example of certain clients who just rejected the idea of using DataCheek and what is their reason why they don't want to use DataCheek? Tony Mendez: well, to be honest, we haven't had too many of those. I mean like it's been Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: yeah very warmly achieved but but the idea of what we do isn't new, okay? and there's many organizations out there that are some way down the road of actually writing something Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: right you know, in-house that does something similar to what Data Chi does. Okay? Right. And I would say that if if we get any pushback or any pushback which we've had, it's been from those specific organizations. But once we point out the risks, right, to what they're doing, around security, okay, right, because you Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: know, you could write something in Claude and Claude will do it, right? But once you upload that data into Claude, then let me tell you, Claude stores it forever. Okay? Right. A and and if you're in the EU and your data needs to be data sovereign then you can't even do that. Okay? Because Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: because you won't be EU sovereign it right as soon as you do that. Right. yeah, so but so what we've found that organizations that do that they can build parts of it but you know, by by by, you know, getting tools. you mentioned, you know, before there's tools out there that do the prospecting. Okay. There's tools out there that do the follow-up, etc. But these are all separate tools and you have to bolt them together, right? There's no cohesion between the two. They don't really talk to each other. So what you end up doing is you get end up giving the the salesperson more tools. There's no automation, right, between Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yes. Tony Mendez: them all. So so it's the automation that but actually gives you that magic. That workflow which I spoke about where the night before the chief of staff sends you a call brief. You've got that call so you're ready for your call in the morning, you know, before your first cup of coffee, okay? Alright. You get on the call and you're totally present. Right? You've got your notes already taken for you. You can just focus on asking the right questions. And if you're not asking the right questions and there's some more suggested questions, it'll be right in front of you, right there. Okay? After the call's finished, boom. Your notes are already typed up automatically you've got an email in your inbox approval queue ready to send, which has already been drafted with all of the action points and all the salient points from that meeting ready to be sent to that customer. All it needs is a yes from you. Click, yes. Okay? so you know, on to the next meeting. It makes it that easy and it's that automation that DataGee brings which which When we've spoken to organizations that have already gone down that path of trying to write something in-house, they quickly start to backtrack and start to bit right bit because it's not a huge investment. Okay? Right? Ten thousand pounds or ten thousand euros of license is not a huge investment when you consider the payback. Okay? Right? If I can get all of your reps. So that they're hitting a hundred percent, hundred and twenty percent of their numbers, then it's a real small investment. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, yeah. So you mentioned about the data security and data integrity. So how does Data Chi handle this, like for the EU regulations? Tony Mendez: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, right. So so that's a good question, okay? so so data security. So we've got our specialist team, okay? And each of the specialist each each member of a specialist team, these AI assistants, okay, can only do the jobs which they are are are are programmed to do. Okay, and I spoke about this. One does the prospecting, one does email follow-ups, one does drop down. They can't do anything outside of that at all. Okay? Right? So they're ring fencing what tasks they can do, number one. So that's security number one. Okay, so you can't get any agents going up and doing something that they're not supposed to. Okay. Number two, when our agents are spun up and called upon, right, they're spun up in their own virtual machine. In their own database, right? They've got their own database and their own computer memory with inside that virtual machine, right? Enough to continue that task, to finish up that task. As soon as that task is finished, we kill that virtual machine. That virtual machine is only alive for literally a few seconds and then it's killed. So that if there's any malicious intent, right, anybody tries to hack, anybody manages to hack, right, into that, then it'll be very, very short lived because it's gone in 30 seconds, okay? Right? So like just like a proper smoke. Woof gun. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Ha ha ha. Tony Mendez: Right. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: You Tony Mendez: right s for security EU with GDPR GDPR compliant, Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: okay? and anything which is sensitive, well that or but needs human interaction. or requires any human interaction and what I'm talking about things, I'm talking about things like pricing information, I'm talking about contractual terms, anything which is sensitive, right, has to have human oversight. So security wise, whilst ramping up, I would say this, right, when I've worked with clients and we've got Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: this pretty nail down, right, is that is that at the start, right? because nobody's gonna trust this system at the start, right? I wouldn't trust the system at the start. But what we do, what we advise and how we get things set up is that everything has an approval by a human. So even the drafting of an email, right, even the follow-ups, etc., they all have to go into an approval queue, so a human has to approve them. Once you actually start to trust the system, then these things can go automatically. But the things which which need human oversight, the sensitive stuff which I've spoken about, those will always need human oversight because it's it's the human that is ultimately responsible for what goes on. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay. So previously I have a guest about also sales, but they are handling AI sales calls. Does Datachi have also AI sales calls? Doing the, AI agent doing the calls and you know. Tony Mendez: there's there's there's talk about introducing that me personally I'm against that, okay? Right, right, so there's Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: a big discussion inside. I believe that but Julius Neil Buenconsejo: haha Tony Mendez: that what should be selling, right? What the selling part should remain human. I spoke to you before I I mean I sp spoke spoke before about about the part of sales which which hasn't changed, okay? Right The tools have changed all around it, but the actual job of sales hasn't changed at all. Right? So what makes people buy from from a person that it's it's someone that they trust and someone who they think understands their business. Okay? So it boils down to to listening, judgment, and trust. These things are human. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: So you are against the AI agent doing all the calling and then the prospecting. Tony Mendez: yes, I I I mean the the only reason why I'm against that is because I put myself in the client's position. Okay? Would I like to receive a robocall? No, I wouldn't. And even now, when I receive a robocall, do you think I give it seconds? It it gets literally it gets a nanosecond, a nanosecond before I hit the red button, right? And and I would expect that from mo most humans. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, I understand. We've been talking about administrative tasks for salespeople. For example, for every salesperson, for example, working tomorrow, which three administrative tasks you wanted to eliminate first and why? Tony Mendez: no, there's a question, right? And and it's always the same things that keep coming up, actually, right? We've found right. If you was to ask you know your team of salespeople and and this Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: is this is actually very interesting you actually asking this question because this is what we ask we ask all our clients to do, okay? Right? We ask all our clients to ask their their own salespeople. Right, because this is important, okay? Right. ideally on a Friday, ask him this question What task, what task have you done this week that you would never like to do again? It's as simple as that, okay? Right. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. Tony Mendez: And then watch the answers coming, right? And all of them are gonna fall into one or four buckets, right? Is it it's always the same, right? it's always CRM updates, Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: okay. Right. It's always call follow ups, okay? Right. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: right and these two are the big ones, okay? Right. These two are the big ones. Some you know, prospecting, okay, right, and say you know, something else, yeah, around that. But it's always centered around both things. I mean I've said three but because can't think of what the other one is, right? it always comes back with more or less the same things. Okay? No now taking it one step from there, okay? instead of trying to bottle the ocean in one go, and this is what we did with with That client which I spoke about, right? We picked specific workflows. We didn't want to boil the ocean in one go. And what we did, we did CRM updates and follow-ups, okay? Right. And we automated those, right? Because we could automate those systems fairly, fairly quickly, and and fairly accurately from end to end. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: So there's pretty much no no human touch whatsoever. Now, once you actually get past that then that's when you start to build trust. And I would say, yeah, that's what most people would say, those things, those things which I just spoke about. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay. So you also describe, you did not dig into deeper into the Chief of Staff. So you describe an idea of a Chief of Staff coordinating operational taskhouse. What does that mean in terms of practical terms for a salesperson, a real salesperson and the data Chief of Staff? Tony Mendez: Yeah, so so it's it's it's really important actually because I've spoken about the specialist tasks for get done. I've spoken about your prospecting, the CRM updates and l listening and taking notes on calls and sending follow ups, okay? I've spoken about that. Right. but that's again, right, is is four tools, okay? You have a chief of staff which you interact with which orchestrates all of those specialist agents underneath him. So Chief of Staff sits on top, right? It orchestrates those those activities that go underneath him. So you only ever have one conversation with your chief of staff. Just one. Okay, right. Instead Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Okay. Tony Mendez: of managing all these tools, right? The results come out from the chief of staff. It's the chief of staff that's gonna prepare your call brief. It's the chief of staff that's gonna come back with any of the results which you've asked for. it's the chief of staff that you have that relationship with. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay. So the value of FuzzData is giving to the salespeople is giving them more time to build relationships with the clients, right? So if Tony Mendez: Precisely. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: this salesperson reclaims 10 hours every week, so where should those 10 hours go to create the greatest business impact aside from business relationship or client relationship? Tony Mendez: well, I I'll tell you where it shouldn't go. It shouldn't go on the golf course, right? Right. Right. Right, so so right, so this is where we come down to the crux of things. Yeah. We can actually Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: give the s we can actually give your salesperson back time, but it's important that but any client actually measures the results and the measurements are going to be seen in the how many of these initial prospects were actually turned into qualified leads. How many of those leads then then turned into opportunities which which closed into real business okay these things are measurable okay all right Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: and once it's automated then that's obviously gonna make the salesperson's life a lot easier in which case he's gonna get back his time. Okay? We estimate or What we've seen is up to 20 hours a week, which is half the working week we're giving them back. Okay. what does he do spending that time? Okay, well, it's important that you flagged this because this is a very, very important question that you're asking, right? Because Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: he should then reinvest that time, okay, right? having deeper conversations with your customers, not just doing more for cold calling. but having deeper conversations with the customers that really matter. Okay? Right. that's that's so important. By giving people back their time incrementally, it also means that that that there's a crucial there's a crucial part of a salesperson's life that has been lost. And I call this reflection. Okay? Right. So At the end of a call, a meeting, it's important that that salesperson asks himself, what went wrong there, what went right there, what could have worked differently? Okay, reflection. Okay, who was in the room, who wasn't in the room, how could I have i I mean, w what is it that I need to say, you know, to get these people to yes? So it's reflection and And it's thinking time and and it's important that that actually happens because if what you're doing is just going from one meeting to the next to the next to the next, you're actually not thinking and you're not improving. You're staying the same year after Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay. Tony Mendez: year, year after year, and just doing the same things, you know, doing more and more admin, right? And just doing those meetings year after year. You're not improving as a salesperson. So giving people back their time, and it's important that you actually measure it and and you reinvest that time in into sales, having deeper conversations. with the Dazatree system, you should have more qualified leads coming through. So therefore, more opportunities to engage with clients. It will mean that your salespeople become more productive and if they become more productive. then a benefit of them being more productive is means that they're gonna bring in more revenue, hit their numbers, go to club. You have you have a a f a team which is inspired and energized to come to work. I mean there's winners all round. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay. So since everything will be automated, there's another question that I wanted to ask you. How should the KPI be restructured based on this automation? Tony Mendez: Well, it's like I said, I think that the things that should be measured are are you know, should be pretty easy actually. What's your bottom line like compared to what it was before? You know? Yeah, right, number one, that's an important measurement actually, okay? Right. It's easy it's easier to see, right? the difference between Q one and Q two if Q two is your data chain. Okay, number two, right, is asking a human question. Now, this is a another KPI which is probably getting missed, right? Asking the human question to your sales reps, ask them out straight. Since we've implemented this system, are you having more meaningful, deeper conversations with your clients? Okay, that's another one, right? the other ones, the other KPIs, yeah, very, very easy. Okay. leads coming in, right? okay, leads coming in, are they rubbish leads or or are they good leads? You know they're good leads if or i i if they turn into qualified opportunities, okay? Those qualified opportunities do they turn into real business? Do they close, you know, you know, real close business? Is the intelligence that you're getting from your CRM is it up to date? Are you able to accurately forecast where you wasn't before? Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. So for example, for example, they touch this one system, there's another competitor doing the same thing. So if everyone is using the same thing, do you see that there will be, how is the sales target going to be different in the future? Will there be an increase initially and then there will be plateau or you can still see the increase over time. Tony Mendez: over time do I think people are gonna receive higher targets? I wouldn't be very popular if I said that, right, would I? god. Right right, but but but I suppose in reality yeah, it depends on the company's goals. If I'm Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: if I'm the CEO or the CRO of an organisation, I'm responsible for that number, okay? right, if I'm the CRO. and and it's my job to to grow that number so it depends on the ambitions of that organizations in my view every company has to grow if they don't grow if they don't scale and and you know scale scale is something which is relative to them okay if they don't grow if they don't scale they're gonna stand still and eventually get caught by the competitors and fall behind. This is what happens it's dog eat dog out there. So so you've got to keep innovating, in my opinion. So what will happen to the salesperson, right, in that? I I think that the salesperson is just gonna get more and more more and more efficient. Gartner themselves, right, have said that have said that by twenty twenty eight, every salesperson there's gonna be, you know, ten agents, ten agents for every salesperson. This is what Gartner says, right? But Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Wow. Wow. Tony Mendez: yeah, yeah. But interestingly, in that same report, what it also says is that only forty percent of those salesperson will actually say they feel any benefit in productivity, and that's because we haven't touched on another problem. that's because an organization's might have fragmented systems c CRM which isn't up to date, etc. And if you and if you put agents on top of all that, then all you're gonna do is just make that chaos, ten times worse, okay, with those ten Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Hmm. Tony Mendez: agents. We do things slightly differently, okay? Right? We clean the data as we're going along. So over time your data becomes clean by by having all of these AI taking your call notes, getting new contacts into the CRM and And everything will become cleaner over time as you're actually working with the system. So so getting back to your original question around sales targets and what's gonna happen to the salesperson, there might be an increase now but companies realize that that hey, you know what I mean, these guys can be so much more productive and bring in so much more revenue. I suppose. The sales leaders might start thinking, wait, well let's hike their numbers up because they're getting to their numbers, the numbers which we set too easily, their everybody's overachieving target, so they might want to stretch them a little. but that's down to the individual organisation. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, so another question is because the system will be there for, for example, state that you will have the same system, you know, the same, the same models are the same tools that is going to be used by the salespeople in the same organization. Do you think the top salesperson will still have that advantage or the other salesperson who are bottom dwellers will be able to, you know, to increase the revenue and eventually overtake the top salesperson? Do you still? Tony Mendez: I think that gap, yeah, I think that gap, I Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Yes. Tony Mendez: think that gap will shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, and shrink. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: Right. And it will come down to a matter of of of like because you've got to understand, right? What is that top salesperson doing right now? but these other guys aren't doing. Well, well, for a start-off, right? The data cheat system will actually bring all the best practices learnt from from many, many years of sales using the best. industry standard sales methodologies like Medic, MedPIC, Bant, right, which is all all integrated within Data Chi to actually qualify deals and bring deals through their sales cycle until they're mature enough to get closed. Now, this is something which a a mature salesperson would do automatically, but probably not as as quick and as clean as what Data Chi will do. So I think that that gap between top sales person and and bottom dweller as you call that's gonna close and that's gonna close very rapidly. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, that's why I'm also thinking that it will be like that. it boils down to what you say, the relationship. If that client trusts this person, that's the trust Tony Mendez: Mm-hmm. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: this salesperson, if they like this salesperson, they will go with that salesperson. It's all about relationships. Everything will be there. Yeah, all the questions Tony Mendez: Ye y yeah, yeah. It's all about yeah. Yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: will be answered. All the data will be there. But at the end of the day, if that client doesn't like you, they won't buy from you. Or if you don't have a good relationship with the client, they won't buy from you. Tony Mendez: You're absolutely right because like I said, you need to be the person that understands their business. You know, right, that's another key. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah. Tony Mendez: It's about you know liking you, they've gotta like you, they've gotta trust you. But also as well, all right, they buy from the person who understands their problem, understands their business, understands their specific problem. I understand you, you know. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yes, yeah, that's why. So that is a very good conversation with you. I learned that from you. So we will go now to our last part, the rapid 10x round. So I will ask you 10 personal questions about AI. Okay, Tony Mendez: Okay. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: wait. First question, what's one AI tool you actually use every day? Tony Mendez: Claude. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: What's one task AI has already 10x in your life? Tony Mendez: one task it's already I would say follow up emails. Ha it Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah. Tony Mendez: i i it is a absolute joy. An absolute joy. Yeah. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, what's one human skill AI can ever replace? Tony Mendez: relationship and building trust. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: If you could automate one annoying thing forever, what would it be? Tony Mendez: That's a good question, yeah. If I could also make one annoying thing for her, does it have to be sales related? Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Anything. Anything, anything. Tony Mendez: god, it if I could also make one annoying thing. yeah, I there's a million things running through my head and I've gotta keep it clean. Right. I've gotta keep it clean so I'm gonna say shopping. Okay? Shopping. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay, that's good. So what advice would you give someone who wants to become 10x starting today? Tony Mendez: if I wanna become ten X starting today, right, in regard to data tree? Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah, either any any part. Yeah Tony Mendez: okay well well anybody who wants to become 10x starting today, okay, right? This is Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Yes. Tony Mendez: gonna take a lot longer than rapid fire, but like it there's a lot to this one, okay? Right? Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yes, yeah. Tony Mendez: It's incremental steps. Nobody becomes a good salesperson by attending a course. Okay? Right. You can attend two, three courses, five courses, you will not become a good salesperson by that. What moves the dial is small. steps, tiny steps, okay? Writing one better email, one slightly better email. asking one slightly better question, okay? Right, listening for one nanosecond longer to answer the question. Okay? Right. These things compounded over time, if you do those, you know, one thing every day, right, then then that's three hundred and sixty five percent Right, improvement over the year, right? Compounded, that's what nearly thirty-seven times better, which is Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: where the 10x comes from. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, okay. So what would you tell your younger self about the future? Tony Mendez: To to have invested in Apple when I had the chance to invested in Apple and Nvidia when I had the chance. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: yeah. The other day I was recording, I in Tony Mendez: Mm-hmm. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: another podcast with another guest from, he is from the US. I asked the same question, you know what he said? He should have not sold his Nvidia stuff. Tony Mendez: Ha ha ha! Julius Neil Buenconsejo: 20 years ago. Imagine that. He sold this in video. Tony Mendez: well well I've got an even worse case for that and this is something which I've gotta live live with yeah Julius Neil Buenconsejo: huh. Tony Mendez: right so so I remember being called by a recruiter. This was when I was working at Oracle by an Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Uh-huh. Tony Mendez: e an NVIDIA recruiter. Now this was back in the time before they were, you know, they were just graphic cards. I just knew NVIDIA Julius Neil Buenconsejo: wow. Tony Mendez: was just graphic cards. Graphic cards, I'm I'm not gonna but and he was talking about AI and I was just thinking mate you're dreaming Julius Neil Buenconsejo: my- Tony Mendez: you're dreaming right just so I dismissed it I I never even took it to interview or nothing. I basically said I'm not interested, I'm I'm staying a horrible I I I can't believe yeah right but Julius Neil Buenconsejo: You could have, you could have a stake on that company, Yeah. Tony Mendez: But opportunity comes to all of us, doesn't it? It's just recognising it. You know. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Yeah. Yeah. So it's the same thing. Same thing for that, from that guest. He also told me that he should have that sold, you know, his NVIDIA stocks 20 years ago Tony Mendez: What's the Julius Neil Buenconsejo: because he said he might, you know, he's already retired if he's just kept on, you know, investing on that NVIDIA stock right now. And what can we do? Right. So what's one book, podcast, or resource that shaped your thinking about AI or innovation? Tony Mendez: so I li listen to a a podcast on the BBC actually. I I listen to a lot of podcasts on the BBC. This one's called The Artificial Human, and Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: it's it's short, it's half hour long, and I talk about different different subject matters, but like it's all based on AI and I still listen to that now, I find it really interesting. So it's not about IT sales, it's just Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: around AI in general. and yeah, yeah, I s still listen to that and and that's pretty much shaped shaped my thinking about AI. Absolutely. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay, if you had to bet on one AI trend that will be massive in three years, what is it? Tony Mendez: It's gotta be this one. It it has to be this one. Not just that orchy because I believe that there's going to be many, many solutions within this particular area because a conversation on Friday which I had with the CRO over in Switzerland, Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: you know, in the opening five minutes of our meeting, he said to me, You know that you're pushing on a sweet spot, don't you? This is these were Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: his words to me. I mean like talk about a buy in signal. Okay, all right. and and he was you know part of an organisation part of an organization that that had built the you know solution based on Claude but it was clunky, it was a bit like a Frankenstein, Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: which didn't talk to each other, it wasn't automated. So he knew he Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tony Mendez: knew the value of what we were talking about instantly. So so I believe that we are in a sweet spot and I think that this in in three years time, this particular market is going to be huge. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay. My last question in one sentence, what does 10X mean to you personally? Tony Mendez: 10x means to me personally is is is is getting you know better every single day okay so it's like these incremental steps that I was talking about these tiny steps you're not gonna do it overnight okay but but by you know compounding those those steps you know constantly doing are it might not feel like it but you're constantly improving and that's the only way that you can actually get to 10x He said what I believe. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: Okay. Okay. Okay. So thank you very much for that. Wrap it to the next round. if there are startup founders, CEOs, or some people who wanted to get in touch with you or work with Data Chi, how can they connect with you? Tony Mendez: Yeah, well find me on the data chi, come to my website, website www.datachi dotai. Open a conversation with me, you can connect with me on my website, you can book a meeting with me, book a demo, or reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm always happy to hear people, hear from people, always happy to hear from people about, you know, just just tell me about what are your most, you know, hated tasks, yeah. admin tasks to do as a salesperson. I'm collecting them right. So please, right? Yeah these are the best ways to actually reach out to me and I'll more than happy you appear on this podcast again if you want me to. Julius Neil Buenconsejo: So again, thank you very much for your time. I really enjoyed our conversation. I learned a lot from you. And now I know more about the data tree, how the system works, which I did not have before. Thank you for that. And if there's any one of you who wanted to work with data tree, who wanted to automate their sales system. And Tony was saying, like an F1 thing. So you will be only on the driver's seat and then this data sheet will be your pit stop crew. So if you're interested in increasing your sales or leveling up your revenue, please contact data sheet. Again, thank you very much for watching 10xAI. Remember the future doesn't belong to AI. It belongs to the people who use it. See you next episode.