Helping CEOs scale with AI without losing the human edge. $5B+ client revenue impact. Keynote speaker. Author, Soul at Scale (Nov 10)
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Joined April 2008
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Soul at Scale, my new book, is out Nov 10. That's 8 days.
The idea in one line: decide what stays human before you decide what to automate. Do it in the other order and your customer is the first to notice.
Which do you decide first: what stays human, or what gets automated?
Pre-order Soul at Scale, out Nov 10 (pre-order bonuses close Nov 8): noahfleming.com/soulatscale
A test I run with CEOs before they automate anything.
Pick your best customer. List every touch they got from you in the last 90 days. Then circle the ones a person did, start to finish.
How many circles? Most, about half, or almost none?
One test for the week ahead: before you automate a task, ask who notices if it goes wrong.
Only you? Automate it.
Your customer? Keep a person on it.
Billing, booking, or follow-up?
Sunday question: name one customer who's been with you 5+ years.
When did you last thank them for something other than a payment?
This week, last month, or can't remember?
Weekend math: a rep sends 20 quotes a month and follows up on half.
That's 10 buyers who heard nothing after the price.
That's not a lead problem.
Your team: chased all, half, or fewer?
Spent two days in a client's annual planning this week.
They left with six priorities. Each one has exactly one name next to it.
That's the part most plans skip. A priority with two owners has none.
How many of your top priorities have one name on them: all, some, or none?
Asked on Wednesday what you'd never let AI send.
Best answer: apologies. A customer can tell when a sorry came from a template, and that's the email where they decide whether to stay.
Draft with AI all day. Send the apology yourself.
Would you add renewals or complaints?
Before you buy more leads, run one number.
Take last quarter's quotes. Count the ones you won, then the ones you sent.
If you won fewer than 1 in 3, more leads won't fix it. Your follow-up will.
Where did you land: under 1 in 3, about half, or better?
Unpopular take: the fastest reply isn't the best service.
Try this today. Pull your last 5 customer complaints. How many were about speed, and how many were about nobody owning the problem?
Automate the speed. Protect the ownership.
Which was it for you: speed, or ownership?
20 years advising owners. The most expensive miss I see isn't a lost lead.
It's the customer who was ready to buy more, and nobody asked.
Who on your team owns that question: sales, service, or nobody?
I spent 9 months with a human EA trying to stay out of my inbox.
With @bot, I haven't opened email in 2 weeks.
Everything comes to me as cards. I review, I draft, I edit, I approve. Done.
AI drafts most of the emails and proposals in my business.
It sends none of them.
Everything waits until I've read it. A few minutes a day, and nothing goes out in my name that I haven't seen.
What would you never let AI send: quotes, apologies, or renewals?
Count the quotes your team sent last month that nobody followed up on.
That number is usually bigger than the leads you're about to pay for.
Work those first.
What's yours: under 5, 5 to 20, or more than 20?
A client's customers wanted to buy more. To add one service, they had to talk to three departments.
Three conversations. Three waits. The urgency died.
We cut it to:
One conversation.
One contact.
One signature.
Where does your friction live: quoting, contracts, or handoffs?
A quick test before you automate a customer touchpoint:
Read the message out loud as if you were the customer.
If it sounds like it was written for a list, it was. Keep that one human.
Which gets automated first at your place: onboarding, renewals, or complaints?
Got a no this week. The event was already booked.
So I asked one thing: when do you start lining up speakers for the next one?
"Not this time" usually comes with a date. Most people never ask for it.
Log the no, or the date?