Toni van Dam: 'Het wordt pas eng als AI je vertelt wat je precies moet zeggen tijdens een verkoopgesprek'

BusinessWise spoke with Toni van Dam about where AI adds value in sales and where it overshoots. His moment of realisation came shortly after ChatGPT launched: a task that would normally take him hours — every organisation a proposition might suit, with the right job titles alongside — came back as a startlingly complete list within seconds. An opportunity and a threat at once, because once everyone can do that, part of what made an experienced salesperson valuable disappears.

The difference, he argues, is not in the tools but in the information you feed them. At one client the proven habits of their own sellers were built into a Custom GPT, so the whole team gets them as suggestions at the right moment — customers recognise it, and it stays authentic because it came out of their own organisation. So why do so many AI pilots disappoint? Because organisations spend a year building the perfect infrastructure while nobody on the floor knows how to use AI. His approach runs two tracks at once: the long-term strategy, and quick wins that make sellers ten per cent more effective right away.

And the limit? A tool that reads along during a live sales conversation and suggests answers based on the other person's facial expressions goes too far for him. Trust is the foundation of every business relationship; the moment AI reaches into that relationship, you have overshot.