Trust
What’s stopping mid-market enterprises from adopting AI more broadly? It boils down to one word.
Trust.
Here are some of the recurring trust related concerns that come up in CEO discussions we are having at StaffAI:
Trust with my customers
A recent quote from the CEO of a mid-sized furnace manufacturer that sums it up: “I can’t let AI talk to my customers, I’ve build this company on relationships over 30 years, they would feel betrayed.”
Trust with my employees
A quote from the department head of an equipment broker that had been stuck getting past their AI pilot and into full deployment:
“This AI is doing the exact same job as my team, why would they train their replacement?”
Trust with my data
A quote from the CEO of a electrical supply distributor:
“Last time we worked with a startup software vendor they hooked into my ERP and then 3 months later I find out they’ve resold my “anonymized” data to my largest supplier; there’s no way I’m doing that again”
The answer we give to each one of these concerns is some flavor of “people”:
Trust with my customers
AI will not build trust with customers, but AI overseen and governed by a top performing sales rep will. At StaffAI we’ve settled in on pairing every AI sales rep with a human rep who is responsible for training their “AI buddy” to talk like them, and who take responsibility for what is said in every customer correspondence. They are cc’d on all communication with customers for accountability.
Trust with my employees
In a similar way, employees of all stripes are savvy enough to understand that AI is coming for their job, but top performers know the truth from above: customer’s don’t trust AI. In sales environments, customers want to know there is a person that will step in if something goes wrong, and that assurance is valuable.
What’s missing in many workforce environments is a way of aligning on the attribution for this value. In the case of StaffAI, our AI sales rep share commissions with the outside sales rep they are paired with. If the AI closes a deal on its own, that’s “free” upside to the human rep — because the sale was built on the training provided by the rep and trust of the rep being there “just in case”.
Trust with my data
Most people will never trust what they can’t see and understand. AI can seem magical at times but that doesn’t instill trust. One of the advantages of AI’s “computer use” is that you can see a recording of every mouse movement and keystroke the AI is taking. Not that you would want to watch every recording, but knowing that you can builds trust. Plus, you can now put computer use AI models on desktop machines that a company owns which is way more trustable than sending company data to a third party.
Building trusted relationships is a process. AI is amazing in that it can solve problems in new ways, but before it will be given the chance it must first earn trust by working for people on their terms.