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How to build an AI sales assistant with Google Sheets and Slack

Chris Brownridge reveals his agency's custom-built AI tools that increased qualified leads by 3x.

Event Recap free
Tool: slack Topic: salesTopic: automation Role: sales-representative Category: sales

Published 2025-02-17

When Chris Brownridge's agency hit a rough patch, he didn't just hunker down - he got creative.

By leveraging his newly acquired coding skills and the power of AI, Chris built a suite of custom tools that have transformed his company's sales and account management processes.

I recently chatted with him for an hour on things like:

  • How he’s created an AI-powered sales assistant using Google Sheets and Slack that’s resulted in a 3x increase in qualified leads and a significant boost in existing customer revenue
  • How he built a Slack bot that regularly scans his clients’ accounts to alert them of new launches, updates and new upsell opportunities
  • The LinkedIn profile analysing tool he built to understand the kind of content that resonates with their target audience and identify industry trends

This is a must-watch for anyone interested in using AI to streamline prospecting, enhance customer insights, and boost overall sales efficiency without breaking the bank on enterprise software.

Watch the full recording here.
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Here's a quick summary of this eye-opening session with Chris:

Keep it simple and use what you know

Something I find refreshing about Chris’s approach is his focus on simplicity and familiarity. Rather than investing in complex enterprise-level AI sales tools, he opted to build custom solutions that integrate seamlessly with tools his team already uses daily - Google Sheets and Slack.

"We wanted something super simple that you could just give to somebody and say, three steps, get it done," Chris explained. This philosophy led to the creation of three main tools:

  1. Google Sheets AI Prospecting Tool
  2. Slack Signals Bot
  3. LinkedIn Profile Analysis Tool

The Google Sheets prospecting powerhouse

Chris demoed how their Google Sheets tool automates the entire prospecting process, from finding potential leads to drafting personalised outreach emails.

"We have a bunch of input fields for target job titles and keywords," Chris showed us. "Then we just need the SDR to enter the target company URLs, and it starts pulling in all the relevant data automatically."

The tool pulls in company information, recent LinkedIn posts, and press mentions, and even uses GPT-4 to summarise how the company makes money. It then identifies potential contacts within the company and drafts personalised outreach emails.

One key insight Chris shared: "We don't allow it to send emails automatically yet. I don't think we can trust AI to get it nailed every time on the emails they send out." Instead, the tool provides a draft that SDRs can review and modify before sending.

Slack Signals bot: Staying ahead of opportunities

Perhaps the most impressive demonstration was the Slack Signals bot. This tool continuously monitors both prospective and existing accounts, sending weekly alerts about product launches, new hires, and other relevant signals.

"Every single week we run this process," Chris explained, showing us the Slack interface. "We pull in a summary of activity from the company and from the list of people we're tracking."

The impact has been significant. Chris shared two recent wins: "Zynga launched a new game and talked about it on LinkedIn, which we had no idea about. That has led to an upsell opportunity for us. Another company we're tracking announced they were looking for a connected TV creative strategist, which aligned perfectly with one of our offerings. We now have a call set up to pitch them a new creative campaign."

LinkedIn profile analysis: From roasts to insights

As a fun bonus, Chris showed off their newest tool - a LinkedIn profile analyser. While it includes a hilarious "roast" feature, the real value lies in its ability to provide actionable insights for optimising LinkedIn profiles and increasing engagement.

"This tool goes beyond just analysing your own profile," Chris explained. "It looks at your post history, engagement rates, and content themes to give you a data-driven strategy for LinkedIn success." The analyser provides keyword analysis, identifies profile strengths and weaknesses, and even offers suggestions for increasing post engagement based on your audience's preferences.

Chris emphasised the tool's practical applications: "It's not just about vanity metrics. We're using this to understand what kind of content resonates with our target audience, identify industry trends, and ultimately drive more meaningful connections and business opportunities through LinkedIn."

Tangible results and next steps

The results speak for themselves. Chris shared that their qualified leads have increased 3x from April to July, and existing customer revenue is up significantly. "For the amount of time we put into it, it's a really strong return on investment," he noted.

But Chris and his team are far from done. They're working on refining their signals to reduce noise, automating the process of identifying target companies, and exploring app store tracking for mobile game developers.

Want to see Chris’s techniques and tools in action? Sign up now to get access to the full workshop recording and all future events.

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