AI has made average look acceptable. The best sellers will be the ones who use it to enhance and share their thinking, not replace it.
AI has changed the sales landscape, but not always in the way we expected. It’s made the average seller look better, faster, and more professional. Emails are smoother, proposals look sharper, and presentations are neatly structured.
On the surface, that sounds like progress. But I think there’s a new challenge emerging: AI has raised the floor but blurred the ceiling. Everyone now looks competent. And when everyone looks competent, standing out becomes harder than ever.
This is the age of AI mediocrity!
Suddenly the mediocre appear capable because their tools make them look that way. The problem isn’t the technology. It’s the sameness it creates when everyone uses it the same way.
AI can make your messages polished, your research thorough, and your decks impressive. But it can’t make you curious. It can’t make you insightful. It can’t make you human.
The danger for sellers is slipping into “AI autopilot”, letting it think for them, question for them, and write for them. That’s when discovery calls start to sound scripted, follow-ups feel robotic, and proposals read like they came from the same template everyone else is using.
Don’t slip in to AI Autopilot!
So to stand out you need to do something very different. You need to use AI to amplify, not imitate. See it as your co-pilot, not a crutch or replacement. Feed it your own insights, experiences, and language, and refine what it gives you until it feels authentic and personal. Use AI to help you prepare better, not to replace your preparation. Use it to free up time for deeper discovery, not to skip the hard questions.
The real advantage now isn’t having access to AI, it’s knowing how to combine it with judgment, empathy, and creativity. It’s being the person who can interpret what AI produces and turn it into something relevant, personal, and valuable for each customer.
AI has levelled the field – How are you going to stand out?
AI has levelled the field. The tools are available to everyone. What is going to set you apart as a great seller is how you use them, how you think, question, and connect when everyone else sounds the same.
If you’d like to explore how you and your team can rise above AI mediocrity and turn technology into a real sales advantage, let’s have a conversation.
Keep selling the value,
Mike Wilkinson – The Value Sales Expert