Revolutionizing Outreach: From Rejection to Triumph with Sarah AI | Hacker News Reader

Revolutionizing Outreach: From Rejection to Triumph with Sarah AI

7 pointsandreaf11088 comments

A few months back, my friend Alessandro and I, Andrea, embarked on a side project named SplenderAI, delving into AI and automation consultancy for local businesses. After continuous outreach to many of them in our area, our initial excitement was met with rejection – a typical part of the entrepreneurial journey.

Upon reflecting on our outreach approach, we started investigating online tools for outreach automation (since we found it an extremely laborious process) but found them lacking. Drag-and-drop solutions requiring intricate setups or even the having to define “outreach sequences” didn't align with our vision, so we decided to build an AI tool for internal use to help us get clients.

Through conversations with fellow entrepreneurs and contacts from hackathons, we discovered a shared dissatisfaction with existing solutions. This realization prompted us to pivot SplenderAI into developing scalable solutions and to commercialize our internal tool as Sarah AI, a fully autonomous sales agent streamlining the lead-to-meeting process.

Following up with the previous contacts, we identified beta testers who, after reaching out to thousands of prospects with our tool, provided valuable feedback, enabling us to enhance our product further. Fast forward, Sarah AI has evolved into a robust solution cherished by our initial users.

So, what sets Sarah AI apart?

- Fully Autonomous: Handles conversations without your intervention.

- Adaptive: Tailors responses based on conversation stages and prospect intents.

- Customizable: Functions as an extension of your business, adaptable to your niche.

- Highly Integrable: Seamlessly integrates with major communication channels and CRMs.

- Human-like: Unlike conventional chatbots, Sarah behaves like a human, handling multiple sequential messages.

- HTL (Human-in-the-Loop): Notifies you promptly if third-party action is needed or if the prospect wants immediate interaction.

… and so much more!

Our journey led us to this refined product, Sarah AI, offering a novel approach to appointment setting, but there’s so much more we still want to do!

If intrigued, you can explore further at splenderai.co.

We hope you enjoy our startup story and find our product beneficial just like we do!

What sets this apart from AI generated spam?

That’s a great question, but i think an even better one would be: how is AI appointment setting “spam” different to human appointment setting “spam”?

The thing is that Sarah isn’t a mere outreach tool where you just keep spamming people with standardized messages until they either reply or block you… Sarah should be considered exactly like a human in the sense that it not only outreaches but actually converses. So to answer your question - it’s different from AI generated spam because it’s not spam. Unless you consider humans reaching out to you to promote a service “spam”.

Reframing the question is not answering the question. Why isn't a computer tricking me into conversing with it spam?

Well it is, because you can’t answer a question like that unless you define a framework for what we consider as spam in this circumstance.

Otherwise I don’t really understand your question?

How is it tricking you? You receive a message and then you are the one who decides whether to reply or not.

> How is it tricking you? You receive a message and then you are the one who decides whether to reply or not.

Does the message clarify that you're talking to an AI? If not, you're tricking the person into thinking they're talking to a human

If your tool really can bring quality leads, why don't you do a profit share?

How about 50% of profits?

Are you that confident in your tool?

Thanks for taking your time to comment!

I think there was a little misunderstanding in our tool. Our tool does not (yet) generate leads, it rather takes leads and outreaches to them in order to convert them to bookings in your calendar.

(We only provide leads ourselves if specifically asked to us)

With that being said, we did think of doing a profit share model at first where we would take only 20% of all profits made by our clients on the deals that Sarah helped them get. However, there are various underlying issues with this business model:

- you’re getting paid based on the client’s ability of closing a deal, not on the actual service you’re providing. (sarah books the meeting, humans have to close them!)

- you have to go after clients and make sure they are indeed paying the right % of profits and not lying about them (excessive hassle)

- by paying a fixed price per lead (which is also really low compared to standard appointment setting prices) you are actually saving money because no matter how many clients you close, the price is always the same!

I hope I was clear enough, let me know if you still have some doubts!

Oh I see. So why do you talk about "sales" in general? Is it not similar to other AI schedulers?

Like this is what I would do in your homepage: https://www.tldraw.com/s/v2_c_2JJx_hF8z-r_-WsryoZIt?viewport...

Let me know if I am missing something.

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