How to Build AI Confidence that Grows Revenue, According to Data with Sachin Puri

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation, JLD here, and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. And today we'll be breaking down how to build AI confidence that grows revenue. And to drop these vibe bombs, I have brought Sachin Puri into EO Fire Studios. As CEO of Bluehost, Sachin speaks with entrepreneurs every day, helping millions of founders grow their online presence. He is focused on unlocking enterprise-level performance, and AI-powered tools for business owners. So today we talk about the reality check on the scope of AI adoption, the state of small business and AI confidence, confidence in revenue, and oh, so much more.

0:39John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Bluehost and our sponsors. Fire Nation, is your business stuck? Join Eric Trump and Clay Clark's life-changing business conference, November 5th and 6th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Learn the specific proven systems Clay Clark has used to create thousands of success stories today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire. Again, request tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support.

1:17John Lee Dumas:Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. highlevelfire.com. Sachin, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Thank you, John, and thank you for having me. And thank you to everybody who's tuned in to your show. And I'm looking forward to our conversation. What do I believe in that people disagree with? I think one of the most important pieces that I've learned in life is when you when you're trying to build something I come from a family where my father was an entrepreneur a small business owner I've helped him along the way and it is very easy for you to go and try to do everything by yourself because you want to do it in a particular way that one way in which you do it and nobody else can do this perfectly and there is value in that it's the core element of your personality that you want to bring to the business.

2:23And obviously, you want to also save money and conserve the capital. But investing and delegating things that others could do for you is so much powerful than most people actually realize. And especially entrepreneurs and as a business leader, me too, because those endless hours you're trying to figure something out, somebody else can do it for you and you are basically de-risking your success over the period of time and i remember my dad would delegate things to me as i was growing up so that he can focus on things he does the best and uh and and i think this is something that has stayed with me is you want to go faster in a particular way you you go alone but if you want to go further which is what the goal for every SMB, an entrepreneur dialing in, you try to do it together.

3:20So make investments in one employee, two employees, whatever it takes for you to be successful. I'll give you one stat, which kind of will resonate with all the audience here. Across the world, 62 to 82 % of SMBs globally have no employees. That means they're trying to do everything by themselves. This is from Sensex Information. They're trying to do everything by themselves. And it's a tough job.

3:52John Lee Dumas:Yeah. I think something could help. And now with AI agents, you can actually do it in a lot more effective way in your own personal way to do it. So that would be my advice. And that's something I truly believe in. Well, we will be diving deep into that today because the goal for you, Fire Nation, after listening to this, is to just have more confidence in those AI agents and maybe building a team around that as well because again, we can do more together. So we're gonna be talking specifically about how to build AI confidence that does what? That grows revenue. Because at the end of the day, if we can grow revenue, we can do some really cool things.

4:30John Lee Dumas:And we have data, we have stats, we have Sachin in the house. So let's start with a reality check on the scope of AI adoption because you and Bluehost, you recently published a study on AI adoption And this is for small and micro business owners. So what did you learn about agent adoption? Where are people at? It's fascinating. When we did this research, we had certain expectations. And I'll try to pepper in as well. But what we learned that the AI adoption has really jump-started. What we found, large majority, close to 90 % of the SMBs that we interviewed are using at least one AI tool. So that's a huge success from where we started last year.

5:13And more than 50 % of SMBs, micro businesses and entrepreneurs are using it every day. That's a great, great start. Big time. It's an early day as I think about it. And but at the same time, 50 % of those that we have spoken with are in their first year of adoption. That means they're still learning. And that is not a new phenomena, because if you think of AI, for the first time in decades, there's a technology that, irrespective of who you are, a consumer, a small business, a large business, an enterprise, a big conglomerate, East, West, North, South, everybody is learning the same technology at the same time.

6:04it's a level playing field for everybody and as as we all say in life fastest finger moves uh gets the best it's uh that's the day but what we have also found that while the chats have become a lot more prevalent which is the always the starting point the agent adoption and we're going to get into more specific is still in a very early stage agents being somebody actually doing things for you autonomously and we'll get a little bit more and that is less than 20%. Less than 20 % are automating tasks with automated agents. But that's a huge untapped opportunity and the beauty is everybody's learning.

6:44So learn fast.

6:45John Lee Dumas:Now you do say that the playing field has been leveled a little bit or a lot to be honest, but at the end of the day, what's not level are people's confidence because people just come, they're coming into this with different levels of confidence based on their past experience, just based on the personality that they are. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about the state of small business AI confidence, because you're seeking to understand that because you know how much of a benefit that will be for you and for Bluehost. So what have you learned? To the audience who have tuned in, if you don't feel confident about AI, here's the good news.

7:18You're not alone in this. Our research proved that less than 20 % of SMBs today feel confident about using AI. And this includes people who are also paying for it. So there's no difference between those. So it is clear the confidence build over time. How does confidence build over time in life, in anything you do, is by practice and doing something, getting successful. And we'll talk more. But the real roadblock that SMBs have expressed to us is knowledge for AI, lack of specific solutions tailored for that particular business need, and prepackaged solutions. Let me unpack that. They appreciate the power that AI brings to them.

8:12They just don't know yet how do I use it in my business context today with specific answers. What really surprises, less than 5 % actually cited cost. So the problem isn't access to AI anymore, which is a huge step forward. You think of any technology, the access to the technology was always the first hurdle. Can I even afford? Now it is about confidence, which is so as humans, as people, we have come a long way. If we have access, now let's work towards in building the confidence. So I think that was fascinating to me just personally as a human as well as as a leader behind these studies.

8:55John Lee Dumas:I kind of want to dive deeper on that because I kind of feel like there's such a connection between confidence and revenue and something that I'm sure you're pulling out with some of your data. So what exactly does separate those with confidence in utilizing AI versus those without confidence? No doubt. Your insight is absolutely right. Anybody who has generally, anyone who has high confidence, they're likely to produce better results. And our study proves that. High confidence was directly related to three times more positive revenue return than the people with low confidence. There proves that, which is great.

9:37So what really shapes this is not just the impact on the revenue, because revenue doesn't come first. What we have found is often time-saving comes first. So if you live a life of an entrepreneur, let's say Sally. Sally is this amazing baker. She bakes the best cakes that has ever baked. And she learned it from her grandma. And she does an amazing job. But you know what Sally does end of the day? When everybody is back home, nobody's placing orders for cake. She's taking orders. She's taking the repository and inventory. What did I sell? What did I do? How many appointments did I get? What am I going to sell tomorrow?

10:19What am I going to bake? What materials do I need? What invoices do I need? So she's going back home 11 o 'clock, 12 o 'clock. And waking up early, preparing for the day, tired. And just constantly, this is her life. Now, what we found is that what AI is doing is that it's starting with helping our customers save time. A large portion, more than 50 % of the respondents said that they're able to save up to seven hours every week. Wow. That's game-changing. That's game-changing. Now it gets better. Folks who actually reported that they're saving more than 16 hours have four times more likelihood to report better revenue.

11:08Now you think, oh, my God, if I have 16 hours in a week, what do I do? What we've learned and we ask this question is what do you do with that hour? And hours don't just disappear. They get reinvested into making better cakes, working with your customers, improving your products, generating leads. So the confidence actually comes from outcomes, which might be saving, time saving first, and not through better prompting or anything, because we are simplifying that and platforms are simplifying that. The confidence comes from outcomes that you generate, initially savings and revenue will follow because it opens you up in doing things that you couldn't have done before.

11:49John Lee Dumas:I mean, Fire Nation, at the end of the day, all we have is time. and when you're spending seven plus hours a week doing the things that you don't even love doing, are you really being the best version of yourself? Are you creating the best product you can create? Are you giving the best service that you can provide? The answer is probably no. So a lot of times people are gonna have to what? Gonna have to go hire out somebody to do X, Y, and Z, which then again really degrades your net profit because you're having to pay all that out. And then maybe you have to stop doing what you're doing. Your business shuts down because it's just not turning as much of a revenue as you need it to because it's just not working.

12:21John Lee Dumas:AI can come in and solve some. if not sometimes all of those issues. So we'll be talking about AI and brand trust, winning the AI search race, the rise of AI agents, which I'm going to really tap into your brain for that, Sachin, and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Every business wants a website that looks custom built, but very few have the time or resources to make it happen. That's where Framework comes in. It combines a visual design canvas, responsive layouts, and integrated CMS and hosting into one single platform, making it easy to launch polished production-ready pages from day one.

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13:36John Lee Dumas:That's framer.com slash fire for 30 % off framer.com slash fire. Rules and restrictions may apply. Fire Nation, is your business stuck? Join Eric Trump and Clay Clark's life-changing business conference, November 5th and 6th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Learn the specific proven systems Clay Clark has used to create thousands of millionaire success stories. See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire. Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee.

14:09John Lee Dumas:Yes, it's month to month and costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Schedule your free personal 13-point assessment with Clay Clark himself today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire. Because Clay only takes on 160 clients and only allows 300 attendees to each business conference, you will interact with Clay directly, see thousands of real success stories and learn about attending the Thrive Time Show two-day in-person workshops featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire. Become the next success story.

14:41John Lee Dumas:Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more. Everything you need to succeed, all under one roof.

15:13John Lee Dumas:No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business and their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most. When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. All right, Sasha, we're back. And I want to talk about what I mentioned pre-chat with our sponsors, which is the AI and brand trust.

15:53John Lee Dumas:Because many businesses, what are they doing? They're struggling to trust AI to actually represent their brand because they're like, it's my brand. I don't want AI to make something out to send out a stupid email or a tweet that I'm now responsible for. That's terrifying. But your study shows the majority, they just lack trust when it comes to AI representing them. So where should AI lead and where should humans actually stay in control? Fantastic question. And your insight is absolutely right. And I'm sure the listeners dialing in feel the same way. Our study confirms that about 6 % or less than 10 % highly trust AI with their brand voice and engage with customers.

16:37And you know what? the top-sided reasons are just intuitively aligned, which is I don't want to lose human touch. Remember, SM small businesses, that's what they have, that human touch. The Sam they know, the Sarah they know, the Nicole who comes to your shop every single day. And they want to maintain that. And my take, and having interacted and supported SMBs for a long time as a large enterprise as well, AI can and should be leveraged for repetitive tasks to begin with. Admin tasks, idea generation, research, drafting your things, building site content, building the entire site itself, updating your Google search, organic search updates, totally makes sense.

17:28Speeds up, opens up the time for you to do other things. While you keep human in the loop, the importance of personal touch can't be expressed in words enough. It's super critical for SMBs, which we established. So for things that drive that connection, discretion, and judgment, you keep, for example, customer escalation, where you want that empathy to your customers. You only use human touch, or human in loop, as we'll say. So even at larger companies established like Bluehost and new fold, I will continue to prioritize our people with their expertise and empathy to remain reachable for our customers, 24 by 7 whenever they need help.

18:14But for fast answers, common questions, our AI chat is available absolutely any day. So what I would suggest, use AI for efficiencies. But keep human responsible for empathy and judgment because that's what we have as a community of entrepreneurs everywhere in the world so that ai draft summarize research seo automate things for you and keep humans towards trust judgment and that relationship on a day-to-day basis yeah that word empathy is huge

18:51John Lee Dumas:i mean you can see that a mile away when you're a human like is this person empathetic to my needs to my wants, to what I'm struggling with. Let's move on to winning the AI search rates because this is something I think a lot of people are just missing totally and it's hurting them in a massive way. I mean, I can't tell you the last time I went to Google to search for something because I don't. I go to ChatGBT or I go to Claude or I go somewhere else and I just ask my agent there. You know, I have a little AI JLD. I say, hey, you know my personality. You know what I like and what I don't like.

19:26John Lee Dumas:so I have a question and I want the answer based off of me because you know me. I don't want to put a search in Google and get somebody's blog post that I've got to read through and maybe they're being sponsored by somebody that they're not even talking about so it might be biased for that reason or that. I don't want it to multiple. I want an answer for me, for JLD and I've put time and effort in building a relationship with my AI, with my LLM. So I'm really only going to be going there. And so a lot of people are missing the whole search opportunity there because they haven't optimized for AI powered search.

20:00John Lee Dumas:Yet there are people who have, and they're seeing not just stronger growth, but dramatically stronger revenue growth. So what should entrepreneurs be doing to stay ahead of this game? This is a very, very profound insight you shared, John. The reality is that the search landscape has changed across the world, period. The customers are engaging more deeper into LLMs with the questions that are super catered to them, and it is going from just searches to voice searches and what have you, and that's what the LLMs, AI engines, are powering today. So the techniques that worked for regular search engines still work for regular search engines, but probably not applicable to LLMs.

20:45And what our data showed is clearly less than 15 % of the customers are actually optimizing for AI search.

20:54John Lee Dumas:Wow. So 85 % aren't. 85 % aren't even touching and they're not even getting into that conversation. Wow. And which is why we feel this is a bigger opportunity for, and we want to work through your medium and others, because what was even fascinating is that 80 % of them actually have never heard of search, AI search visibility and AEO. They're wearing it for the first time and they were participating in the research. Optimizing for LLM is optimizing for your growth and your revenue and your visibility. discovery recommendation leads to visits to your store visits to your website appointment schedule business that we all cherish and that is an important element when it comes to the changing landscape for lms and and here are the few things i think it will be helpful to give a little bit of a tip for this audience in terms of what you can do.

21:56One of the three things I would suggest you should do today. Go see your business the way AI sees it. Ask whichever LLM chart, GPT, Cloud, Gemini, Perplexity, anything that you use, question about your company.

22:14John Lee Dumas:Who are the best business podcasts in the world? Entrepreneurs on Fire, number one, baby. Let's go. Yes, there you go. is the information accurate about those answers? Are your competitors showing up instead of you? What information is missing? How is AI making that distinction? Because remember, what you cannot improve is what you haven't measured. What you measure is what you improve. Build a business context around your company, not just content. It's easy to go and write another blog. Imagine so much content is being generated with AI. AI doesn't need another blog post. What it really needs, which is different from the password, is a very structured, trustworthy information.

23:04Structured, trustworthy information. So make sure your website clearly explains who you are, what you sell, what are your prices, what are your hours, location, any frequently asked questions, the policies, the expertise that you have, that can be easily digested. John, you'll be surprised. And I'm sure some of our listeners would relate to this. There's still SMB sites, and I try to understand what are their hours and what are the services they offer. And the website doesn't have that information. Wow.

23:42John Lee Dumas:How would customers know are you open on the weekends or not? Right. How would they know if you're open at 5 o 'clock? But if it's a national holiday, are you? Simple questions like that. That's what people do. So the richer your business context is, the better AI visibility you do. Which brings me to the last tip. Ask the question customer actually asks. It's not rocket science. It's super easy. Super easy. Just think of your own experience when you go and ask other businesses for that services. and start asking those questions and start providing those answers on your website so that LLMs and others can ingest that.

24:22And by the way, if you need help, at Bluehost, we have tools that can give you with click of a button all the brand insight that you're looking. We even have AEO, SEO specials, and professionals who can work with you. But those three things you can start today. See your business of AICs, build your business context in a very simple way and answer the questions that customers usually ask. And you will see success.

24:50John Lee Dumas:Sachin, let's end with a bang because you've dropped so many value bombs that I think Fire Nation's head's exploding. I think people have already pressed the pause button to go do some work before coming back because there's so much to do. But I want to finish with the rise of AI agents. You know, the original insight that we talked about, you know, is that AI automation and agent adoption, It's really the biggest untapped revenue impact for many of our listeners here today. And you actually said that only 16 % of those in the study that you guys conducted reported even deploying a single agent, let alone multiple.

25:25John Lee Dumas:So what is an AI agent for those 84 % of people that are out there that still even haven't gone down that route? And how can agents change the way that small businesses operate? Great question. Let's just put it in simple words. LLMs answer questions. Agents accomplish tasks by automating things. Oh, that's good. Just simple. Yeah. You want an answer? Use an LLM. You want somebody accomplishing goals and automate things for you? That's an agent. Can you kind of describe like if you're on an LLM, like a chat GPT, like a Claude, how do you make an agent to do those things? Each one of them provide a recipe with which you can create a set of chats.