Many tradespeople would rather spend their day in the field than in the office. They’re doers, and they’re needed out on the job site. They have little interest in creating marketing campaigns, standard operating procedures, contracts, or other business materials. Dealing with business operations and administration duties is the last thing they want to do.
“They would rather help you fix something than sit at the computer and analyze something,” says Danny Braught, CEO and founder of LMH Agency. Braught helps businesses in the service industry leverage artificial intelligence to automate operations, so employees can focus on other tasks.
“AI and automations can enable you to engage with customers without straining your team,” Braught says.
From wearable gear to chatbots, loyalty programs, and marketing content, AI can save organizations time and money by handling tasks with efficiency and professionalism. For example, AI can help organizations create job descriptions, onboarding materials, position agreements, estimates, and other business, employment, and marketing documents.
“You can create your entire marketing strategy through AI. You can ask for ideas for email drip campaigns then plug them in to create the actual copy,” Braught says.
Although AI streamlines these processes, human oversight plays a critical role.
“I tell everybody that you need to make sure that you proofread and edit every single thing,” Braught says. “Don't copy and paste. Sometimes in the middle of AI’s response, it might say, ‘I'm a robot and I can't answer that question.’”
Organizations must check AI-generated content for inaccuracies, robotic-sounding verbiage, or messaging that doesn’t align with the company’s brand and culture.
Despite these limitations, AI can be used in many helpful ways. Brainstorming is one of them. AI can generate ideas on any topic, from icebreakers for the company picnic to core values to give to a potential investor.
AI can also automatically respond to positive customer reviews or notify the business of a negative review from a dissatisfied customer. AI can write a response that strikes the right tone and maintains professionalism.
“It's really helpful because emotions are really high when you get a one-star review from a customer,” Braught says.
Additionally, organizations can teach chatbots all they need to know about their business, including their products, services, warranties, and financing. Then, companies can integrate chatbots into a scheduling system to schedule appointments or into a sales system to funnel leads to sales reps. Chatbots can handle various customer service tasks that free up time for their human counterparts. Chatbots can respond to customers’ questions during the workday or after hours, collect their contact information, and schedule services.
“A lot of times, it's the same questions over and over again, so we're able to use AI to respond so that the company has a good response rate to their customers,” Braught says.
AI assistants can also answer phone calls with timeliness, helpfulness, and a courteous, human-sounding voice. Again, it’s a matter of responding to customers immediately instead of putting them off.
“If you're not able to answer your phone when a customer is calling, what are they going to do? They're most likely going to go to the next company on the list and call them,” Braught says.
To help with customer acquisition, AI has sales coaching tools to create sales scripts, responses to customer objections, and sales materials. Some AI sales tools like Siro can record a sales call, analyze it, and recommend ways to improve the sales representative’s approach. Braught compares this sales tool to a sports team watching game film when preparing for the next opponent.
In a similar vein, AI can take notes and record business meetings. AI integrates into wearable devices like necklaces, bracelets, or lapel pins for convenience.
“When I have in-person meetings, I can wear the PLAUD Note Pin on my wrist, and it automatically takes down all of my information from the meeting,” Braught says.
Afterward, AI produces transcripts and summaries of the meetings, including action items, and can craft an email to meeting guests based on what transpired.
“From there, you edit it. Now you have a follow-up email and a follow-up recap already done for you,” Braught says.
Another example of wearable AI gear is a pair of glasses with a camera (Meta Ray-Ban). Technicians wearing the glasses can ask an AI assistant to identify something that’s unfamiliar to them or translate foreign words on a label or sign. Additionally, technicians can share live videos with off-site personnel and talk through the steps needed to accomplish a task. Everyone is seeing the same thing in real time. Plus, the glasses allow technicians to work hands-free, which is often easier than holding a cellphone and recording video.
Lastly, businesses rely on customer retention to be successful, and AI can assist with various customer engagement strategies. AI can use customer data to follow up at the right time with an automated message. For example, organizations can send personalized emails or text messages to customers who have aging equipment, recommending maintenance. A maintenance job might turn into a change-out, all because of automatic triggers that send a personalized message based on customer data.
“The customers are more likely to purchase when the brand offers a personalized experience to them,” Braught says.
With so many different applications, AI is fast becoming a necessary tool for organizations of all sizes. To get started, Braught suggests starting with a free version of AI, testing it out, and seeing the results.
“The first step that I recommend is to download it on your phone, and log into it on the computer. From there, start to play around with it,” he says. Type in a question or ask AI to create a packing list for an upcoming trip, a recipe using the ingredients you have on hand, or anything else that comes to mind.
“You can use it just for fun questions and doing trivia, essentially seeing ‘Hey, can I trust this?’” Braught says.
AI is available in many different platforms, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google’s Gemini and Meta’s Llama. For personal and business use, AI can become a virtual assistant to help in endless ways. Additionally, AI integrates with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems and business software to streamline operations. Working with AI can be a time-saver that allows businesses to be more efficient and productive.
“Just don't be scared of it. You want to make sure that you're changing with the times,” Braught says.
