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Saw a post yesterday from a coffee shop owner going to war with AI on LinkedIn.
His point: he's sick of AI bots in his DMs, automated emails pretending to be real, and getting handed a chatbot when he wanted a person.
And he's right.
Nobody wants to talk to your AI. Nobody wants a "quick 15 minute chat" that was clearly written by a robot. And the second a customer realizes they're talking to a bot instead of a person, you've lost them.
But here's where I'd push back a little.
The problem isn't AI. It's just pointing it at the wrong job.
AI has no business talking to your customers. That part's yours. The handshake, the phone call, the "hey, good to see you again."
Where it belongs is doing the things you hate and never get to. Showing up when someone searches your business. Keeping your Google profile alive. Chasing the review you forgot to ask for. The invisible back-office stuff that quietly decides whether the phone rings at all.
Point it there, and it doesn't replace the human part of your business.
It gives you more time to be human.
That coffee shop owner and I want the same thing. A real business, run by real people, that customers can actually find.
We just disagree on where the robot sits.
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A chiropractor took me up on a free AI Visibility Check last week. 25 years in business.
I searched "best chiropractor in his city", first in ChatGPT, then in Google Maps.
His closest competitor came up in both.
He came up in neither.
25 years. Better reviews than the guy getting recommended. He built the whole practice on word of mouth and referrals, and when that slows down, he's stuck throwing money at ads that may or may not work.
Meanwhile the two places people actually look now, when they ask AI for a recommendation, and the Google Maps top 3, he's invisible in both.
He had no idea. Nothing tells you when you're the one getting skipped.
And this isn't just a chiropractor problem. It's every local business now.
People stopped scrolling for a business and started asking for one, or just tapping the top 3 on the map. Whoever shows up there wins, and it comes down to your Google profile, your reviews, the signals AI and Maps both read.
The good news: it's fixable. And most of your competitors haven't caught on yet.
No more praying referrals show up or burning cash on ads that don't convert.
Curious where you land? Just ask and I'll run you a free AI Visibility Check, ChatGPT and the map pack. Two minutes and it's yours either way.
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10 objection responses I learned from selling life insurance:
1️⃣ Cold call. Who are you? What do you want?
"Hi, this is [name] from [company]. I know you don't know me, so I'll keep this to 45 seconds. That work?"
You're not asking permission, you're proving you respect their time before you've even used any of it. That's rarer than it should be.
2️⃣ "I've got coverage through work."
"What's the payout on that, roughly?"
Let them guess, most people genuinely don't know. Then just sit with:
"So if something happened tomorrow, that number is what covers the mortgage, the kids, everything, for the next 20 years?"
Don't finish the thought for them. Let the silence do it.
3️⃣ "It's too expensive."
Don't defend the price. Undercut it:
"Honestly, this might not be the right fit if [monthly cost] feels tight for you right now. What were you thinking made sense?"
Telling someone they might not be a fit gets them arguing to convince you they are, instead of you convincing them.
4️⃣ "I need to think about it."
"Sure. What happens if you think about it for six months and then something shows up on a physical that gets you denied? What's the plan then?"
You're not fighting the delay, you're making the cost of the delay specific and real instead of abstract.
5️⃣ "I need to talk to my spouse first."
"That's fair, but If something happened to you tomorrow and your spouse found out you had the chance to do this and didn't, what does that conversation look like?"
Uncomfortable question. That's the point. Comfortable questions don't move anyone.
6️⃣ When someone's flat and giving one-word answers.
"What actually happened, a scare, a friend, a bill, what was it? What made you have this conversation?"
Naming specific possibilities gets a real answer faster than an open-ended "why."
7️⃣ "I'm young, I don't need this yet."
"You're right, nothing's likely to happen to you. But this was never built for likely, it's built for the version of this month where something does happen. What's your plan then?"
8️⃣ "An agent burned me before."
"What'd they actually do, sell you something you didn't understand, or just disappear on you after?"
Let them tell the story. Whatever they describe is exactly what you make sure not to do.
9️⃣ Indecisive at the close.
"Through my experience, I've found that most people who can't make a decision about this don't come back, not because they didn't want this, life just gets in the way. So tell me, either way, I'll respect it."
Giving them permission to say no, out loud, is what gets most people to say yes.
🔟 Calling back a cold lead?
"Did you end up handling this somewhere else, did life get in the way, or did I just drop the ball following up with you?"
Giving them the option to blame you removes the awkwardness of them admitting they just never did it.
Comment "PROTECT" and I'll send you the exact script I use to reopen dead leads without sounding like a telemarketer.
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10 mortgage call lessons 20+ years taught me that no manual ever did:
1️⃣ First call with a new outbound lead, say:
"Hey, it's [name]. You're getting a call from a lender/broker you've never talked to, so I'll be quick, is now bad?"
Naming the awkward part out loud gets rid of it.
2️⃣ Prospect says: "I'm going to shop around and get a few quotes."
"You should, don't let anyone talk you out of it. When quotes come back, check the APR after fees, not the rate they text you, that's where a quarter point disappears unnoticed until closing."
3️⃣ Prospect says: "I'll wait for rates to drop."
"Say rates drop half a point in two months, you also watched the home you wanted get bought by someone who wasn't waiting. Which cost more, an extra sixty a month, or the home?"
4️⃣ Prospect says: "I don't have much saved for a down payment."
"What's the number in your head, twenty percent?"
Let them answer, it's almost always wrong.
"Most people picture that number, it's the reason they never call. Your real number's probably a third of that."
5️⃣ Prospect says: "My bank already pre-approved me."
"Did they lock anything in, have an underwriter review it, or is that letter dead the second your file changes?"
6️⃣ If someone's flat and non-committal, ask:
"Between you and me, what's pushing this, a baby, a lease ending, rates?"
The real answer is never "I want a lower rate." Find it and the rate stops being the obstacle.
7️⃣ Prospect says: "I'm worried my credit isn't good enough."
"What's the number in your head, 620, 580? Tell me so I can tell you if it's a real problem or something you read online."
8️⃣ Prospect says: "I have to talk to my spouse."
"Tonight when you talk, will it be 'we found something solid,' or 'I talked to a guy and didn't ask much'? Or better, let's get them on the call so I can answer their questions directly and nothing gets lost in translation."
9️⃣ Prospect says: "Let me think about it."
"Most people who say that never come back, not because the deal was wrong, rates move, houses sell, and nothing happens because nobody called. The worst decision you can make is no decision, that guarantees nothing gets better. So what do you want to do, move forward, hold off, or is there something you're not telling me?"
🔟 Reviving an old file? Skip "just checking in." Ask:
"Did you end up closing somewhere else, did the deal fall through, or did I drop the ball following up with you?"
Gives them the easiest, most honest door to walk through, and honesty is the only thing that moves a stalled file.
Comment "CLOSE" and I'll send you the call-back script I used to revive dead files for two decades.
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Most team builders I know are killers at closing who accidentally became terrible recruiters.
Not because they're bad at it. Because they never signed up for it.
You got into this to sell. To coach. To build people up and watch them win.
Then you built a team, and your week turned into:
→ posting the same job for the 5th time
→ sifting 40 resumes to find 3 worth a call
→ booking 10 interviews so maybe 3 show
→ chasing the ghosts
→ onboarding the one who quits at day 60
And the work you actually love gets whatever's left at 9pm.
Here's what nobody says out loud: the grind isn't a sign you're bad at recruiting. It's a sign you're doing all of it yourself.
The best builders I've watched didn't get better at recruiting. They stopped doing the parts that don't need them.
The posting, the sifting, the booking, the no-show chasing, none of that needs you. The 15 minutes across from a real, pre-screened candidate, deciding if they've got it? That needs you.
You're not a bad recruiter.
You're a closer who got handed a job you never wanted.
