The Machines Are Selling: Ai, the New Closer in the Room

By Robert G. Jordan

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The first time I saw a chatbot close a deal, it was unsettling. The prospect had asked a technical question, something obscure buried halfway down a product sheet. The rep froze. The bot didn’t. With a cheerless efficiency, it fetched the data, cross-referenced it against two knowledge bases, then returned with a plainspoken answer.

​The customer nodded. The sale moved forward. And just like that, one more slice of the sales job was carved away.

You're Already Late: Ai Has Changed Copier Sales Forever

 The copier sales rep who ignores Ai isn’t competing with their peers. They’re competing with extinction.

By Celeste Dame

It begins with a simple idea. The tools we use shape the way we work. But sometimes, a new tool doesn’t just shape, it shatters everything that came before. That’s what Shopify’s CEO, Tobi Lütke, is talking about in his memo. It isn’t just a call to use artificial intelligence as a tool. It’s a declaration that Ai is the new baseline. Not optional. Not experimental. It’s the new starting line. Either you're running with it, or you're watching from the sidelines.

Now, take that mindset and drop it into one of the most resilient and, let’s face it, change-resistant sales channels in the world: copier sales.

Don’t Hire an Ai Consultant. Really. I’m Still Serious.

Originally published July 10, 2024. Revisited, April 2025.

🚀☄️

We’re still here.

A year ago, I said: Don’t hire an Ai consultant.

Today, I say: Still don’t.

You don’t need an intermediary. You don’t need a guidebook. You need a question and a pulse. Maybe twenty bucks for the premium plan.

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Since that first post, the world has shifted, sure. But not in the ways we were promised. Executives scrambled. Consultants rebranded. LinkedIn filled up with “prompt engineers” and “Ai strategists” selling complexity where simplicity lives.

The truth?