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AI is changing how reps research parts, draft outreach, and manage pipeline. But in technical sales, the customer still needs someone they trust to show up, follow through, and get them the right answer. Episode 138 with Hunter Starr is a practical look at how that tension plays out in a real rep firm, and what it takes to use AI without letting it replace your judgment.

Ready to grow?

Here are 3 insights, 2 quotes, 1 practical tip, and 1 challenge to help you think more clearly about AI adoption and what still matters most in technical sales.

🔍 Three Insights on AI, judgment, and the Rep Role

I. Speed Creates Opportunity. Judgment Closes It.

AI can cross-reference a part in two minutes. It can draft an outreach message in thirty seconds. It can summarize a datasheet before you walk into a sales call.

None of that closes the opportunity.

The customer still needs to trust the information. The message still has to say something real. The rep still has to show up prepared and follow through.

Speed is the entry. Judgment is the differentiator.

II. Better Input Produces Better Output

Letting AI search the open internet for a part cross-reference is fast. It is also unreliable.

The reps getting better results are the ones who constrain what the AI can see: loading manufacturer-specific datasheets into a defined channel and telling the tool to work only from that source.

It is not a perfect system.

But it is a better one.

The quality of your AI output is a direct function of the quality of your input. That has always been true. AI just makes the gap more visible.

III. The Rep Who Follows Through Still Wins

Automation is making it easier for more people to reach more customers at higher volume.

Which means inbox noise is higher than it has ever been.

In that environment, the rep who does what they said they would do: gets back quickly, connects the right people, delivers the right answer, stands out immediately.

Follow-through is not a soft skill.

It is a competitive advantage.

And it is one that no tool can automate for you.

💬 Two Quotes to Reflect On

“It's not a perfect solution, but isolating our manufacturers' publicly available data into a defined channel within ChatGPT has provided better results. It'll get us 75, 90% of the way there, and then our team can put some humanity to the output”

– Hunter Starr, CPMR, President, Performance Technical Sales

“Speed alone doesn't create value. Judgment does. The rep who brings both will be the one customers call back.”

– Sannah Vinding, Engineer | Product Marketing Leader | Host of Leadership in Manufacturing

✅ One Actionable Tip For You

Constrain Your AI to Curated Data

Before you run your next cross-reference or product research task in ChatGPT, set it up properly:

• Create a project or custom channel in ChatGPT
• Upload your manufacturers' publicly available datasheets into that channel
• Set the instruction: reference only these documents, not the open internet
• Review every output before it goes to a customer, it is a first draft, not a final answer

This one setup step will improve your output quality and make the human review step faster. It takes time to build, but it compounds over every search you run after that.

🎯 One Challenge For You

Audit Your Last Five Customer Touchpoints

Here is the question: in your last five outreach attempts or customer follow-ups, how many had a specific, relevant reason for the customer to respond?

Not a check-in. Not a forwarded spec sheet. A real reason: something that answered a question they had, solved a problem they were facing, or moved something forward for them.

If the answer is fewer than three out of five, your outreach is faster than it is valuable. That ratio is worth fixing before adding more volume.

The best reps are not the fastest ones. They are the ones customers trust to bring the right answer at the right time, and to come back when they say they will.

Take me to Episode 138

If there's a leadership topic you'd love to hear more about or a voice you think we should feature, I'd love to hear from you. Just reach out.

I'm grateful to have you as part of the Leadership in Manufacturing community.

Stay curious.

Stay focused.

Keep leading forward.

Sannah

Sannah Vinding Engineer | GTM, Growth & Product Marketing Leader, Host of Leadership in Manufacturing Podcast  leadershipinmanufacturing.com/hello/

P.S. Know a rep, FAE, or field salesperson who is figuring out how to use AI without losing what makes them good at their job? This episode is worth sending their way.