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If your strategy feels like a one-night stand and trying to win now, don’t be surprised when your customers stop calling.
In a world where AI can predict buying patterns, personalize outreach, and automate follow-ups, it’s easy to get lulled into thinking that AI can replace your job.
Make yourself relevant. Build trust.
No amount of automation can replace the power and depth of a genuine human connection. If you’re only showing up when you need something—when it’s time to close a deal or when you need something information, check in on a deal, are you ready to buy from us, status update, etc. — you’re not building a relationship. You’re making a transaction. And transactions don’t build trust.
The difference between relationship selling and transactional selling is the difference between planting seeds that yield long-term growth and picking fruit that’s gone tomorrow.
The return on your investment with these relationships? That takes time. It could be 6 months, 12 months, 3 years, or even longer. You constantly build towards it and strengthen trust.
You’re not expected to have an instant gratification. If you want that…look elsewhere. The bigger the opportunity, the more complex the projects, you need to have deep customer relationships to be able to
If you want to dominate your market, future-proof your business, and create a pipeline that doesn’t dry up when the economy shifts, you need to invest in relationships. And while AI can enhance that process, it can’t replicate the trust and loyalty that come from authentic human connections.
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When you only show up in a customer’s inbox, make a phone call, or say hello at a conference or tradeshow when you need something, you’re not nurturing a relationship—you’re initiating a transaction. Transactional selling is a fast track to irrelevance.
So…what type of relationships are you building? What is your team doing?
Let’s dance.
Transactional vs. Relationship: Why It’s Not Even Close
Transactional relationships are the fast-food version of sales. It can be quick, efficient, and satisfies an immediate need—but there’s no lasting nourishment. The focus is purely on closing the deal and is very much one-sided. Someone needs something right now. The communication is minimal, outreach is sporadic, and the only time the customer hears from you is when it’s time to renew or buy something else.
Relationship selling, however, is a Michelin-star-type experience. It’s intentional, thoughtful, and focused on long-term value. Relationship sellers take the time to understand their customers’ business goals and challenges. They’re proactive, not reactive. They provide insights that customers didn’t even know they needed, becoming trusted advisors rather than just another vendor.
Where AI Fits In—And Why It Can’t Replace Relationships
AI is a game-changer. It can analyze massive datasets, predict buying patterns, personalize outreach, and automate repetitive tasks. It can tell you which leads are most likely to convert and even suggest the perfect time to follow up. AI makes sales teams faster, smarter, and more efficient.
But AI has one fatal flaw: it can’t build trust.
And trust is what you need the most.
AI can predict when a customer might churn, but it can’t sense the frustration in their voice during a call. It can personalize an email sequence, but it can’t remember that the client mentioned their daughter’s wedding last month. And it certainly can’t show up when things go sideways and a customer needs a real human to help them navigate a crisis.
The Human Elements AI Can’t Touch
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Empathy: AI can process data, but it can’t genuinely empathize with a customer’s pain points.
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Trust: Trust isn’t built through algorithms. It’s built through consistency, reliability, and authenticity over time.
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Adaptability: AI works off patterns. Humans adapt in real time, pivoting based on nuance and emotion that AI simply can’t perceive.
Think of AI as an enabler, not a replacement. It should amplify your relationship-building efforts by freeing up time for deeper, more meaningful interactions—not replace them. It’s a tool to give your team an accelerator to do more, with less.
It’s to give you time back on those tasks that eat away at your week and to focus on building trust with customers, not spending time updating your CRM or latest slide deck.
The ROI in Trust – Why It’s Worth the Investment
Relationships create compounding value over time. Every relationship starts somewhere and takes time to develop. Whether you met through mutual connections, LinkedIn, a conference, or an existing account, it takes two to tango.
I utilize AI every day and it works across content development, market assessments, research, competitive assessments, legislative breakdowns, and so much more. From free to paid tools, I look at where I can find unique insights that would usually take me hours to build.
Can AI replace a connection? Not a chance.
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Read Between the Lines: AI can analyze a customer’s response, but it can’t detect the hesitation in their voice or read subtle emotional cues. It can’t read the room.
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Build Trust Over Time: Trust is built through consistency, reliability, and genuine concern for the customer’s success. AI can’t fake authenticity.
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Navigate Complex, High-Stakes Conversations: When deals get complicated or a crisis arises, customers want a trusted human to guide them—not a chatbot.
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Making a referral or introduction: We are in the relationship business, and making referrals and introductions is critical to growth. How you do it when you do it, this is a human-to-human function (AI can help write the email to LinkedIn message)
Trust is a two-way street. In transactional sales, it’s one way. And if you are not benefitting from the transactional sales, you can quickly realize that there is nothing in this relationship for you, it’s only benefitting one party.
AI is only as good as what you feed it (one way). The better you are, the better the results are. Check out a few examples here:
Mastering the Prompt: A Five-Step Formula for Better Results
Using Perplexity Deep Research to Find Your Next Teaming Partner
Here are 10 AI Tools to Help You Grow Your Business and Get Your Time Back.
So the stronger the trust, the better it works for multiple parties.
Pack Some Additional Punch
Here are a few tips to really hit it out of the park when reaching out
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Keep a running checklist of your customer’s key personal tidbits so you’re always on your game (sports teams, favorite types of food, etc.)
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Identify those customers who you know and who you need to know. Where are your current gaps in your customers that you need to build and go make those relationships
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Send a thoughtful intro. Promote their work. Share a lead. Do something generous without expecting anything in return. Relationships aren’t built on balance sheets—they’re built on goodwill.
The human touch goes a long way in today’s digital landscape.
Build towards it, don’t jump the gun.
What the Internet Taught Me This Week
From new tools, recent trends, and market updates, here is what has been on my mind.
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Shopify CEO is not hiring anyone new unless they can prove the job can be done without AI
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Trump Administration has sent out a memo to federal agencies to develop an AI strategy. They have 180 days to put a plan of action together
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Elon Musk is planning a hack-a-thon at the IRS to get access to your taxpayer data. Details here
Every hour and day a new AI tool comes out, or a new prompt shows up that can solve the latest mystery you need to solve.
In an age where AI is redefining sales processes, growing businesses, redefining approaches to opportunities, and much, much more, the companies that will dominate the next decade aren’t the ones with the best tech stacks or the coolest AI tools—they’re the ones with the strongest relationships with their customers.
AI can amplify your efforts, but trust, loyalty, and advocacy are built through human connections.
Maybe you can’t do it at scale, but it sure is quality over quantity.
See you next week.
Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you:
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Unlocking Hidden Potential – Reconnecting with Past Clients for Explosive Growth – Check out my free eBook on how you can find hidden gems in your past clients and help you crush your sales goals.
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Build your Sales CRM – Download our free Sales eBook on How Your Sales Team Can Maximize Your CRM Tool. Whether it’s Hubspot, Salesforce, or another CRM tool, make sure you leverage it to your advantage.
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Awesome Sales Resources – Transform your sales engagement and capabilities across Social Selling, CRM, Lead Generation, Enablement, and more.
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Cribworks Advisor Program – Want more than just resources? Reach out to me and see if our Advisor Program can help you grow your business.
