Thinking of using an AI agent in your business? Here’s how to get more from it

AI agents tin capable the awkward spread erstwhile your business has much activity than you tin handle, but not capable gross to prosecute different employee. They aren’t rather for illustration the AI devices commonly utilized today. 

You don’t conscionable springiness an AI agent a punctual and get a descriptive answer. You delegate tasks to it, and it useful retired the steps needed to get there.

But AI agents aren’t magic other hands that you tin move connected and hide about. If you don’t cognize what activity to manus in, it tin create much problems than it solves.

In a five-month study of 20 companies experimenting pinch AI agents, Abdul Tayyeb Datarwala recovered that businesses struggled erstwhile they automated poorly understood processes, underestimated exceptions, aliases removed quality oversight excessively soon – not because the exertion itself failed.

So what if, alternatively of reasoning astir an AI supplier arsenic a portion of package you move on, you thought astir it arsenic a teammate you’re hiring?

To make that thought much concrete, let’s ideate we’re building a mini imaginative agency called Milo Studio.

We’re spending hours each week connected imaginable research, outreach emails, and proposals. We request much help, but we’re not fresh to prosecute different person. So we’re going to attack it arsenic if we were hiring personification to do this work.

Set a clear occupation explanation for the agent

Before we commencement comparing platforms and features for building an AI agent, we request to define the occupation we want it to do. This makes it easier to find which capabilities the supplier really needs – and whether an supplier is moreover the correct solution.

Some jobs are amended suited to elemental automation. Others require a strategy that interprets accusation and makes decisions on the way. Or both.

For example, if each we request is to nonstop a modular follow-up email 3 days aft a income call, we don’t request an AI agent. The process is predictable: erstwhile X happens, do Y.

But if we want a strategy to investigation imaginable clients, judge whether they’re a bully fit, tailor our outreach, and move liking into a proposal, an AI supplier makes much sense. 

While the statement betwixt automation and AI agents isn’t ever this clear, our guideline connected choosing betwixt an AI supplier and automation explains really to make the favoritism for your ain tasks.

For Milo Studio, an supplier is the correct hire, truthful we request to make its first occupation arsenic circumstantial arsenic possible.

“Help pinch sales” is simply a vague occupation description. We request to specify what that really means, what the supplier is responsible for, and wherever its responsibilities stop.

Here’s an illustration of Milo Studio’s first supplier occupation description:

Every weekday astatine 9 AM, cheque Product Hunt for recently launched startups. Look for companies that lucifer our target profile: early-stage exertion startups pinch a consumer-facing product, a mini team, and a clear request for branding, website design, aliases akin imaginative services. 

Research promising prospects utilizing their websites and LinkedIn. For each qualified prospect, see the institution name, what they do, their interaction person, and why they mightiness request our services. Send maine the shortlist for review.

Get to cognize the AI supplier campaigner better 

Once we cognize which occupation we’re hiring for, we tin commencement looking for the correct level to build the AI agent. There are plentifulness of agentic platforms disposable today, from ready-to-use AI agents to customizable supplier builders and automation platforms. 

Knowing what the occupation requires keeps america from overpaying for capabilities we don’t request aliases choosing a level that won’t springiness our supplier capable room to do the job.

For Milo Studio, we request an supplier that tin investigation prospects. That’s a straightforward goal, truthful we don’t request to build an agentic income strategy from scratch.

A ready-to-use action like Hostinger Agent could beryllium a bully fresh here, arsenic it includes income and outreach skills. We’d only request to configure it pinch a strategy punctual – the occupation explanation we wrote earlier.

After that, fto the supplier execute immoderate trial tasks.

First, we springiness it a fewer prospects we’ve already prepared and inquire it to place which ones fresh our target profile. 

Because we’ve done the activity ourselves, we already cognize what a bully consequence looks for illustration and tin comparison its output pinch ours.

Then we make the trial harder. We springiness it a imaginable that looks promising but doesn’t really fresh our criteria, aliases time off retired accusation it would request to make a assured recommendation.

By doing so, we’ll cognize whether it recognizes the gap, asks for much information, aliases confidently fills successful the blanks. A useful AI supplier shouldn’t conscionable cognize really to complete a task, but it should besides cognize what to do erstwhile it can’t complete one.

These tests aren’t simply astir deciding whether the supplier passes aliases fails. They thief america understand wherever it performs well, wherever it needs much discourse aliases guidance, and wherever a quality still needs to make the call. If the results aren’t bully enough, we tin spell back, tweak the strategy prompt, and trial again.

And conscionable arsenic pinch a quality hire, we group the hiring barroom ourselves. Before we determine whether an supplier is bully capable for the job, we request to cognize what bully looks like.

That intends defining our ain benchmark for accuracy, quality, and the level of independency we expect from it.

Put the supplier connected probation

In its first weeks connected the job, we support our Milo Studio agent’s activity down quality review.

We cheque the prospects it selects. We reappraisal its outreach. We comparison its proposals against our ain pricing and requirements.

Through this process, we study really it really performs erstwhile the task moves beyond staged trial cases into the messiness of existent work.

Then we request to way its performance. Over the group probation period, we request to record:

• What did it get right?
• What did it miss?
• What did we person to correct?
• What kinds of situations caused problems?

We tin deliberation of this arsenic the agent’s probation file.

Over time, those records springiness america thing amended than a emotion that “it seems to beryllium working.” They springiness america grounds that it tin – aliases can’t – grip the occupation reliably.

Give it much work erstwhile it’s ready

Our Milo Studio supplier began pinch a very circumstantial task: researching prospects.

Once we’ve seen it execute reliably, we tin gradually summation the task complexity. For instance, we tin commencement delegating acold outreach connection drafting aliases connection assembling arsenic soon arsenic a imaginable meets the criteria we’ve already defined.

We’re expanding its work 1 measurement astatine a time, based connected grounds that it tin grip the occupation we’ve already fixed it. Over time, our feedback and corrections tin besides springiness the supplier capable discourse astir really we activity to grip much of the process independently.

That’s really spot should activity – it grows pinch the job.

If it continues to execute well, we tin let it to grip much of the process independently. But statement that we request to specify the boundaries intelligibly too, keeping different opportunities, important negotiations, and last approvals pinch us.

And passim that process, our feedback matters. When we many times correct mistakes, those corrections tin thief style really the supplier handles akin situations successful the future.

If we ne'er explicate what bully looks like, reappraisal the work, aliases correct mistakes, we shouldn’t expect the supplier to meet our standards.

As AI takes connected much work, managing it good matters arsenic overmuch arsenic knowing really to usage it.

Decide which responsibilities you’ll ne'er delegate

We’ll ever beryllium responsible for what our AI supplier does. We tin delegate the work, but we can’t delegate accountability for the outcome.

If our supplier researches a prospect, drafts a proposal, and includes the incorrect pricing, the customer isn’t going to inquire which AI exemplary made the mistake. They’re going to travel to us.

And immoderate decisions are difficult to move into a occupation explanation successful the first place.

Our supplier mightiness find a promising customer and hole a beardown proposal. But it whitethorn not cognize that we’ve worked pinch a akin customer earlier and decided the narration wasn’t a bully fit.

It tin activity pinch the accusation we’ve fixed it, but it doesn’t needfully person the context, relationships, aliases judgement needed to make each determination for us.

That’s an important distinction, arsenic doing the activity and owning the determination aren’t the aforesaid thing. Use AI agents for the things they tin do well, truthful you person much room for the things only you tin do.

Are you fresh to springiness your first AI supplier a job? Learn how to usage skills successful Hostinger Agent aliases travel our guide to build a customized agent.