Distributors often bemoan the AI “revolution” for its lack of practicality. Fair enough. No one likes an endless loops of recorded prompts or laborious input tasks. Workd helps businesses build AI agents that drive B2B growth in the real world. Jason caught up with Chris Van Ittersum, CEO and co-founder, and Ryan Carroll, director of development, to learn more. Queue up for the conversation about AI agent solutions for everything from customer relationships to supply chain logistics. Stay for the live AI agent demo!
“I’ve spent 25 years working on CRM technology, and there’s a lot of irony,” begins Chris. “You want the organization, but there are all these strings that come with it. You’re always fighting an uphill battle to get people to participate.” Workd untangles those strings. Its AI agents extract valuable, often hidden, intel from your databases (think: CRM, ERP, E-Com). The AI agent passes that data along to the people who need it, fast, in a format that they’ll actually use. No more relying on your company’s sole “sales savant” to close deals.
“If the AI agent is plugged into the data, that’s when the AI agent can actually become the savant for the salesperson,” says Ryan, adding that a partnership between an AI agent and a newer salesperson is especially helpful. Workd has tools that optimize insights and automation to help less experienced team members sell smarter. Everyone, regardless of years in the field, has instant access to lead tracking, outbound outreach, and additional sales opportunities from day one.
Workd AI agents aren’t chatbots. Nor are they designed to replace human connections. Instead, they’re built to enhance business relationships by automating busywork. Workd creates efficiencies that allow your team to develop more relationships and scale your business.
But what good is an AI agent if you can’t test it against everyday scenarios? “One of the biggest struggles is to get outside sales to use any type of technology or put any type of data into a system,” observes Ryan. “So, we’ve built out an AI agent that can support the outside salesperson.”
You’ve got to hear (and see) the results for yourself!
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Applied AI For Distribution Conference
QUOTES – Chris Van Ittersum
“I think what most people think about when they think about an agent is just a computer voice.And, they don’t really understand all the technicals behind it.”
“Companies are, sometimes they want to find a way to become more lean. But, really what we find they want to do is they want to grow, they want to sustain,and they want to do well with what they have. They don’t want to have to double the sales team every time that they’ve made subtle changes in their business.”
“You can actually offload a lot of that busy work to the agent team and let your human capital do what they’re best at, which is build those charismatic relationships with a customer, put a face to a name for your business and your label. And, those are the things that your customers want.”
QUOTES – Ryan Carroll
“You got a hundred people calling in, you got a team of 10. You can take all a hundred calls, and the agent can likely handle 80 to 90% of what’s needed.”
“If your team’s only a certain size, you can only make so many calls during those hours. But with the agent hundred percent team, you can scale up and get all the calls in when they’re most likely to be answered.”
“The person who’s having a conversation with an agent a lot of times seemingly is almost more honest. We’ll have an honest conversation with an agent and say things that maybe they wouldn’t have said to a person because they know that they’re not gonna get the reaction.”
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Distribution Talk is produced by The Distribution Team, a consulting services firm dedicated to helping wholesale distribution clients remove barriers to profitability, generate wealth, and achieve personal goals.
This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios
Special thanks to our sponsors for this episode: Profit2, helping distributors charge the right price; and INxSQL Distribution Software, an integrated distribution ERP software designed for the wholesale and distribution industry.
