Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is changing the landscape of so many industries. Chris L. Davis of Automation Bridge always says, “You don’t buy technology. You hire it.” Once I understood that concept, I recognized that in small businesses, entrepreneurs don’t just hire technology they hire it before they hire people. A.I. is giving entrepreneurs even more power to close the digital divide and have the success of larger companies. The question I am asked most is, “Where do I start with using a.i. in my small business?” To incorporate most things into your business where they will have the most impact, I always recommend starting with your client journey. Those 6 basic phases (awareness, inquiry, purchase, onboard, service, and offboard) are the heart of your business. So let’s start there.
**This is not an exhaustive list and instead just the beginning of how a.i. can help your small business in different categories with different tools. Research and find even more categories and tools.
1. Awareness Phase. How does someone come into awareness of your business (marketing)? Here are some categories of marketing and the a.i. that can help and a list of tools for each:
Creatives
Art
• Dall-E – text to art
• MidJourney – text to art
• Images.ai
• Designs.ai – logos, video, speech, etc… maker
• Stable Diffusion
• Spline AI
• 3EFY.ai
• Meshcapade
Photo
• StarryAI creates avatar images
• Remini – edit pictures and video
• Hitpaw – edits pictures
Video
• Create Videos
o HeyGen – AI version of you for videos, ads, etc… (face swap)
o Synthesia – text to voiceover and video (create talking avatar)
o Pictory – text to video
o Descript
o Filmora
o Runway
• Video Editors
o Magisto
o Vidyo.ai
• Video transcription
o Type Studio
Audio
• Text to speech
o Murf
o Lovo.ai
o Speechify
o Play.ht
• Soundraw – generates music
• Wondercraft AI – turn written content into engaging podcast episodes
PowerPoint Decks
• Tome
• SlidesAI.io
• Beautiful.ai
• Decktopus
• Slidesgo
• Plus AI
• Gamma
Misc
• Fronty – turns an image/mockup into html code for a website
Social Media
• Repurpose IO (autopost)
• Flick
• Content Studio
• Heyday
• Cortex
• Taplio
• Tweethunter
Marketing Specific Writers
• NeuralText
• Anyword
• AdCreative AI
• MarketMuse
• Scalenut
• Cohere Generate
• HyperWrite
• Copy.ai
2. Inquiry Phase. After finding out that your brand exists, how do they inquire about your service? This phase is ruled by a.i.’s most common tool: chat bots. Here are a list of tools:
Chatbots
• Chatbot Live
• Hugging Chat
• Lyro by Tidio
• Tawk.to
• Chatbase
• Chatling
• Revechat
• Botsify
• Mobile Monkey
• EBI AI
• Chatfuel
• AgentGPT
3. Purchase Phase. After inquiring about your service, how do they purchase (sales)? Most of the payment processing systems we already use have added an a.i. component: PayPal: Uses AI for fraud detection and risk management, Shopify: Employs AI for personalized shopping experiences, Stripe: Integrates AI for payment fraud detection, Square: Utilizes AI for sales predictions and customer insights, and Klarna: AI-driven insights for smoother payment processes. So let’s talk about the a.i. that solves a huge problem for most service-based businesses, getting from proposal to contract to payment. Try these a.i. tools and platforms:
AI Proposal Creation and Management Tools
• PandaDoc:
• AI Features: Uses AI for creating personalized proposals, analyzing proposal performance, and optimizing templates.
• Use Case: Streamlines the process of drafting and managing proposals, enhancing personalization and engagement.
• Proposify:
• AI Features: Offers AI-driven insights on proposal interactions, automated workflows, and version control.
• Use Case: Helps in tracking proposal engagement and streamlines the approval process.
• Qwilr:
• AI Features: AI-assisted design and content suggestions, analytics for tracking proposal engagement.
• Use Case: Enhances proposal aesthetics and provides insights into client interactions.
AI Contract Management Tools
• Icertis:
• AI Features: AI for contract lifecycle management, risk assessment, and compliance tracking.
• Use Case: Automates contract processes and helps in identifying and mitigating risks.
• DocuSign:
• AI Features: AI-powered analytics for contract insights, automated workflows, and digital signatures.
• Use Case: Streamlines contract signing processes and offers insights into contract data.
• Kira Systems:
• AI Features: Uses machine learning for extracting relevant information from contracts and documents.
• Use Case: Speeds up due diligence and contract analysis processes.
4. Onboarding Phase. After the purchase, how are they onboarded to your service? Here are a few a.i. categories and tools that can help:
Calendar/Scheduling
• Calendar.ai – intuitive company, team, and client calendar
• Reclaim
• Clockwise
Automation
• Zapier
• Paddly
• IFTTT
• Make
• Bardeen
Notetaking/Assistants
• Fireflies
• Mem
• Otter.ai
• Airgram
• Krisp
5. Service Phase. It’s time to get to work. How are your services carried out and supported? Here are a few a.i. categories and tools that can help:
Productivity
• Notion – notebook, task management, project creation, collaboration
• AI Agent – workflow
Research
• ChatGPT – solves anything
• SlideSpeak – summarizes and answers questions about powerpoints and docs
• SummarizingTool – summarizes notes
• Feedly – news, research trends and round ups
• Genei
• Aomni
• Poe.com
Writers
• Jasper.ai
• WriteSonic
• Jenni AI
Grammar & Content Checkers
• Grammarly
• WordTune
• ProWriting Aid
• QuillBot
• ZeroGPT
Email Inbox Management
• SaneBox
• EmailTree
• Reply.io
• Lavendar.ai
• Superhuman
Misc
• Feathery – build customizable forms with no code
6. Offboarding Phase. Many forget this final phase, but it is very important because without it there is no clear end to the service. How is your offboarding process supported? Besides an offboarding meeting, an important element is to get client feedback.
Client feedback
• Qualtrics: AI for experience management and feedback analysis
• SurveyMonkey: Uses AI for survey analysis
• Medallia: AI-powered experience management
• Clarabridge: AI for customer feedback and sentiment analysis
• ChurnZero: AI for churn prediction and customer retention
• BombBomb: Specializes in video email marketing, allowing users to record and send video messages directly through email
• Bonjoro: personalized video messaging service, primarily used for customer engagement, onboarding, and relationship building
Needs support infusing these new strategies into your business planning, let’s talk. It’s FREE. ShaCannon.info/talk