Don't just replace human tasks with AI. Deploy AI agents to handle leads your sales team ignores, like small deals or low-scored prospects. This untapped segment, as SaaStr found with a 15% ticket revenue lift, represents significant growth potential by filling a gap in your GTM process that humans create themselves.

AI won't magically fix a broken strategy. The key is to identify what already works—your best emails, responses, and processes—and use that proven data to train the agent. This approach scales your known successes rather than hoping AI will invent a winning formula from scratch.

Don't try to optimize your strongest departments with your first AI project. Instead, target 'layup roles'—areas where processes are broken or work isn't getting done. The bar for success is lower, making it easier to get a quick, impactful win.

To successfully implement agentic AI, leaders should avoid a broad, fragmented rollout. Instead, pick a single, discrete go-to-market motion, such as inbound lead qualification, and allow the AI to own it completely. This focused approach ensures mastery and tangible results before expanding.

The best initial use for AI in marketing operations is automating high-volume, low-complexity "digital janitor" tasks. Focus AI agents on answering repetitive questions (e.g., "Why didn't this lead qualify?") and cleaning data (e.g., event lists) to free up specialist time for more strategic work.

AI's power is not in creating successful strategies from scratch, but in scaling your existing best practices. An AI agent cannot make a broken process work. First, identify what messaging and campaigns are effective, then use AI to execute them at a near-infinite scale, 24/7.

For companies wondering where to start with AI, target the most labor-intensive, process-driven functions. Customer support is an ideal starting point, as AI can handle repetitive tasks, leading to lower costs, faster response times, and an improved customer experience while freeing up human agents for more complex issues.

Avoid paralysis of choice in the crowded AI tool market. Instead of chasing trends, identify the single most inefficient process in your marketing organization—in budget, time, or headcount—and apply a targeted, best-of-breed AI solution to solve that specific problem first.

Instead of broadly implementing AI, use the Theory of Constraints to identify the one process limiting your entire company's throughput. Target this single bottleneck—whether in support, sales, or delivery—with focused AI automation to achieve the highest possible leverage and unlock system-wide growth.