From Cold Calls to AI Prompts: Noemi Kis on the Evolving Landscape of Sales

In a recent LinkedIn post, Noemi Kis✨ reflects on the transformative power of sales and how technology, particularly AI, is reshaping the initial stages of business development. Her personal journey from a struggling entrepreneur to leveraging cutting-edge tools serves as a compelling narrative on the enduring importance of sales, even as the methods to achieve it evolve dramatically.

Kis✨ opens by recounting the early days of her water filtration business in 2012, a period marked by intense effort and frequent setbacks. She vividly describes the grind of her early sales efforts, highlighting the sheer volume of rejection faced daily.

My full-time job became cold outreach. My weeks looked like: → Ignored 100 times → Phone slammed 10 times → Told “not interested” countless times.

This initial struggle, she explains, led to a fundamental realization about the core of any business venture.

The Unwavering Primacy of Sales

Despite the advancements in business operations, Kis✨ emphasizes that the ability to sell remains the bedrock of success. She contends that without initial sales, other operational strategies become irrelevant.

“Nothing else matters if you can’t sell. Not systems. Not SOP’s. Not even AI. You can’t automate what doesn’t exist,” Kis✨ asserts in her post. This perspective underscores her belief that generating revenue and acquiring customers is the prerequisite for implementing any further business structures or technologies.

The Evolution from Manual Labor to AI Assistance

Kis✨ contrasts her past methods with the capabilities offered by modern technology. She details the laborious process she once employed, which involved significant time spent on manual research and data compilation.

For years, I did it the hard way: – Drive to retail locations – Google owners for hours – Build spreadsheets until my eyes blurred.

This personal experience provides a stark backdrop for the capabilities she recently encountered with Apollo.io’s AI Assistant. She describes inputting a single, concise prompt:

“Find owners of Car Washes in San Diego. Build a list and write an outreach sequence pitching water filtration.”

The results, she notes, were almost instantaneous and remarkably comprehensive, drastically reducing the time and effort required compared to her previous methods.

A New Era of Sales Efficiency

The contrast between weeks of manual work and mere seconds of AI processing highlights a significant shift in sales operations. According to Kis✨, the AI assistant generated verified leads, direct contact information, and a complete outreach sequence in under 30 seconds.

What took me weeks in 2014 now takes seconds in 2024.

This technological leap, however, does not diminish the importance of sales itself. Instead, Kis✨ argues, it liberates sales professionals to focus on the core selling activities.

The Future of Selling: Focus on Connection

While the tools have changed, Kis✨ maintains that the fundamental nature of sales—building relationships and closing deals—remains constant. The efficiency gained through AI allows for a reallocation of resources, enabling individuals to dedicate more time to actual selling rather than the preparatory tasks.

“The difference is, now you can spend 95% of your time actually selling. Not searching. Not driving. Not building lists. Just selling,” she explains. This shift, in her view, empowers entrepreneurs and sales teams to be more effective and present in their client interactions.

For those currently facing the challenges of starting a business and dealing with rejection, Kis✨ offers a message of encouragement rooted in the evolving nature of sales. She concludes that while the ‘game’ of sales is the same, the ‘rules’ have been rewritten by technology, making the path to a first customer potentially more accessible than ever before.