Yes, you need to use AI, but you need to use it strategically

I’ve attended many AI conferences and training events over the past few years. I’ve seen people doing innovative work, but I’ve also seen many spinning their wheels.

After working hands-on with AI automation across multiple businesses, I’ve done both. So I want to share what I’ve learned to help you avoid wasting time, energy, and money — and instead use AI strategically to increase revenue and reduce expenses.

Many AI projects never create real value

More often than not, I see entrepreneurs reinventing the wheel with AI. I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve seen brag about using AI to build a new CRM when hundreds of solid platforms already exist. It makes no sense to build a new CRM when existing platforms already offer nearly every feature you need — and have full development teams keeping them updated and running smoothly.

The same goes for apps and software that are just clones of existing tools. I’ve made that mistake myself, but the reality is no one needs another version of the same tool that already exists a hundred times over.

Now, there are a few rare cases where building an app or software platform makes sense — mainly when you can launch it quickly and offer a proprietary approach. That could include a unique formula or algorithm, a specific process, or access to exclusive data. In other words, it needs to be something core to how you do business.

Otherwise, you risk spending time and money on technology that doesn’t materially improve the business.

Strategic AI is the real competitive advantage

The businesses seeing the strongest results from AI are using it to solve measurable operational problems.

The key is to apply it in ways that directly improve revenue and productivity.

How AI can directly increase revenue

For example, you might use AI to build a highly targeted prospect list and automate outreach to move leads into your marketing funnel. You can even take it further by using AI for part — or all — of the sales process. Many companies are already doing this and generating fresh, targeted leads on autopilot every day.

This is a highly effective, scalable way to increase revenue at a fraction of the cost of hiring people to do the work. There’s one caveat: you need to be certain your company can handle the increase in business. While this creates an opportunity to scale, it also means more people will be affected if you drop the ball — and that can damage your reputation quickly.

Implementation still requires oversight, testing, and operational discipline. Poorly implemented AI can create just as many problems as it solves.

AI can reduce time and operational costs

Another approach is to use AI to handle your workload more efficiently, reducing both time and costs. One way I’ve used it is to quickly analyze market conditions so I can make more accurate pricing decisions when buying and selling properties.

This is where AI really shines. It can compile, analyze, and generate insights from large datasets far faster than a person can manually, while surfacing patterns and opportunities that might otherwise be missed.

Using AI this way helps me identify the deals that make the most sense and make accurate offers faster than my competitors, which can be the difference between winning a deal and losing it.

One simple AI workflow that saves hours

Another smart approach I’ve seen came from the PR firm I work with. They use AI to monitor their clients’ media interview calendars, and once an interview is completed, the system automatically finds the Zoom recording, sends it for transcription, and queues an email with the video and transcript to the journalist.

This saves the firm roughly 30 minutes per interview and delivers everything within minutes, rather than waiting for an employee to handle it. Beyond the time and cost savings, it also makes the publicity far more valuable to journalists by making their job faster and easier.

Other high-impact ways to use AI

There are many other strategic ways to use AI to measurably improve revenue and productivity. Some of the ways I’ve helped entrepreneurs do this include:

• AI virtual phone assistants answering calls 24/7.
• Smart website widgets/chat assistants trained specifically on your business.
• Appointment booking.
• Missed call recovery.
• Other implementations that improve response time and customer experience.

AI is only effective when used strategically

One of the biggest opportunities I see right now is helping service businesses stop losing revenue from missed opportunities.

Most small businesses don’t need another complicated platform or custom AI app. What they need is a system that responds faster than they can manually. That might be an AI-powered phone assistant answering calls and booking appointments 24/7, or a website assistant trained on the business that can answer questions and capture leads instantly. Used strategically, AI becomes less about replacing people and more about making sure opportunities stop slipping through the cracks.

Businesses that implement AI effectively will likely outperform competitors that are slower to improve operational efficiency and response times.

The most effective AI implementations are usually the least flashy. They solve specific operational problems: reducing missed calls, improving response times, accelerating analysis, qualifying leads faster, or eliminating repetitive administrative work.

If an AI system doesn’t measurably improve revenue, efficiency, customer experience, or decision-making, it’s worth questioning whether it needs to exist at all.

Using AI this way creates a major opportunity to get ahead and outperform slower-moving competitors.

So the only question is: will you invest the time to use AI strategically?