The Gaps Were Always There in the Shadows - AI Just Turned the Lights On.
Blame the Robots (Not Each Other). Then Fix What They Found.
Our weekly BizDev jam sessions have a few patterns - One is that business development fails not because people lack tools, but because they skip the most important question. Not "can I close this?" but "can we actually work together?"
The question isn't who you can reach. It's who is actually ready to build something with you. That includes your human and AI teammates who can help scale your judgment, not just your tasks.
Respect threads through everything - specifically these 5:
- Respect for your team in what you're asking them to execute.
- Respect for your prospects in not spamming 90% to find 10%.
- Respect for clients in actually understanding how they use what you sell.
- And self-respect in choosing partners who are genuinely worth your time.
- PLUS respect that AI is iterating fast... if it doesn't work yet, keep testing.
Most sales dysfunction starts above the sales floor. Leadership that never carried a quota often sets expectations that treat trust like a task - something to assign, accelerate, and check off. That impatience doesn't stay in the sales team. It shows up in account management, in client renewal conversations, in company reputation.
You can't fix the feedback loop downstream if the signal coming from the top is "go faster on everything."
Different Speeds. One Direction.
Not everything can, or should, move at the same speed - and the companies trying to force it are the ones burning out their teams and losing clients.
Your outreach, content, and data analysis can accelerate fast with AI. Your prospect's trust, your team's culture, your procurement cycle - those run on their own clock. Push them too hard, and they snap. The skill isn't dragging slow layers faster. It's identifying which layers can accelerate, letting them run, and staying honest about which ones can't be rushed.
Your Feedback Loops are precious. The real question isn't whether you're collecting signal - it's whether you've built the conditions where honesty is actually possible.
Two methods we're finding work at the best speeds for our community and customers:
- Trusted Challengers (direct ABM engagement) - for companies ready to have the hard conversation. Account-based, high-trust, safe-debate engagements. You go in as the challenger who's already earned the right to push. Not a consultant. A strategic partner who asks the questions no one inside will.
- Workshops and Presentations (patient, shared education) - for individuals and organizations that need to build internal readiness first. This isn't a downgrade. It's a different timeline. Some of the best clients enter here and graduate to Trusted Challenger engagements.
Follow your Rainbow & Feedback Loops
Some move fast with trust and curiosity. Some need more color before they commit. Both are valid. The pot of gold is the same for everyone - a business development operation that actually works at the speed of today's market.
Blame the robots for revealing the gaps. Let the humans manage the most blunt Feedback Loops to figure out how to close them ... Together.
I hope this is inspiring to the inspirable.
YOUR SPEED TRAP? What's one thing your company is automating that you wish it would slow down or speed up?
Email me for an invite to join our conversations and safe-debates about all of our options - David@DavidCutler.Net
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Bonus Reference - from last Monday's "Cut to the Chase" session:
