In this episode of the Human-First AI Marketing Podcast, host Mike Montague sits down with @thechadburmeister , host of the AI for Sales Podcast and veteran AI entrepreneur, to explore how small and mid-sized businesses can harness AI without losing the human touch. Chad shares practical, battle-tested strategies for building custom GPTs in under an hour, using AI to create personalized outreach that gets 82% open rates, and aligning sales and marketing data to improve every conversation. You’ll hear why the most successful teams blend AI automation with human judgment to scale trust, not just transactions.
Together, Mike and Chad dive into the dos and don’ts of AI-powered selling, from training models on your best messaging to avoiding the trap of generic “AI slop.” You’ll learn where AI can take repetitive, time-consuming tasks off your plate, where human nuance is still essential, and how to get your team comfortable and confident using AI. Whether you’re a business owner looking to empower your sales reps or a marketing leader aiming for consistent, on-brand outreach, this conversation will give you a roadmap to automate the work while keeping the connection that wins deals.
If you’re an SMB owner or marketing director, you’ve probably noticed a trend: AI is everywhere. It’s in your inbox, your CRM, your project management tools sometimes, whether you know it or not. And while the temptation is to “let the robots handle it,” the truth is that the most successful businesses are using AI to amplify their human strengths, not replace them.
In my recent Human-First AI Marketing Podcast episode with Chad Burmeister, host of the AI for Sales Podcast and longtime AI entrepreneur, we unpacked how to integrate AI into your sales and marketing efforts without losing the trust and authenticity that close deals. Chad’s advice wasn’t about chasing shiny objects; it was about building a smarter, more human system that scales.
1. Start Small: Build Your First Custom GPT
You don’t need a six-month project plan to start using AI effectively. Chad showed how to create a custom GPT in under an hour by training it on your best sales scripts, proposals, and client-facing documents. The goal isn’t to replace your team, it’s to give them a “digital assistant” that understands your voice and business.
2. Train AI on What Works
If you feed AI random instructions, you’ll get random results. Train it with your best-performing messages, campaigns, and emails so it can replicate the tone, style, and substance that already win you business.
3. Use AI for Context, Not Just Content
The magic isn’t in “Write me an email.” It’s in “Write me an email to this exact persona, with this pain point, in the style of our best-performing outreach.” AI is best at turning your deep audience insights into relevant, timely messaging.
4. Keep a Human in the Loop
AI can write the first draft, but a human should always have the final say, especially when the stakes are high. Chad and I agreed that while AI can speed up production, humans still have the advantage in nuance, empathy, and trust-building.
5. Focus Your Humans Where They Shine
Free up your team from repetitive, low-value tasks so they can focus on conversations, strategy, and relationship-building. Use AI for proposals, meeting summaries, and lead follow-up so your people spend more time closing, not typing.
6. Avoid “AI Slop”
Generic, one-shot prompts without context will waste more time than they save. AI is a collaborator, not a vending machine. Give it the data, style, and examples it needs, and then iterate together.
7. Match AI to the Buyer’s Journey
Top- and mid-funnel engagement can be automated at scale. But late-stage deals, negotiations, and trust-building moments? That’s where humans still have the edge and where they should spend their time.
8. Personalize at Scale
Done right, AI enables you to send highly relevant, tailored messages to hundreds of prospects without increasing your workload. That’s how Chad’s team achieved 82% open rates and double-digit reply rates.
9. Play the Long Game
Integrating AI now isn’t just about next week’s pipeline; it’s about compounding improvements in efficiency and message quality over time. Every time you train a model, refine a workflow, or save your team an hour, you’re building an advantage your competitors will struggle to catch up to.
Human-First Takeaway: AI isn’t here to sell for you, it’s here to make you a better seller. The more you use it to handle the repetitive, the data-heavy, and the time-consuming, the more space you create for the human conversations that actually win deals.
At Avenue9, we call this Human-First AI Marketing® automation that scales your authenticity, not just your output. If you want help training your first custom GPT, aligning your AI tools with your sales process, or building a marketing system that works as hard as you do, let’s talk.
