For this episode of Thoughts on Selling, Garth Fasano joins me to discuss the massive shift happening in inside sales.
Garth Fasano is an ETA (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) entrepreneur and leader of a high-growth startup focused on autonomous sales.
From sailing mishaps in Long Island Sound to the complexities of call center Erlang models, We discuss the evolution of the "inside sales" role and explore how "Agentic AI" is moving beyond simple decision trees to becoming the top-performing sales agent—one that is fully caffeinated and ready to sell 24/7.
Key Findings & Takeaways:
The "Best Day" Every Day: The biggest advantage of Agentic AI isn't just automation; it's consistency. Customers want the best agent on their best day, not an agent who is 175 calls deep at 5:00 PM.
Small Business is Leading the Charge: Unlike enterprises bogged down by legacy CRM integrations, small businesses are adopting autonomous sales faster. They need to capture leads instantly (e.g., a 3 AM water damage call) without the owner having to answer the phone while working a job.
Visibility as a Service: Autonomous agents don't just sell; they provide "visibility as a service." Instead of a business owner guessing why sales are down, the AI can proactively report, "Conversion is down 10% because of price objections."
The End of "Typing While Talking": Traditional inside sales requires reps to juggle rapport building while furiously typing data into a CRM. Agentic AI removes this friction, capturing data instantly and allowing for better customer interaction.
Bot-to-Bot Commerce: The future is already here. We are seeing "agentic to agentic" conversations, such as Google's AI calling businesses to check pricing and availability on behalf of consumers.
Memorable Quotes:
"They want them at their 9am fully caffeinated self ready to rock and roll, not their 5pm, 175 calls deep... self." — Garth Fasano
"A sales call that's scripted... That's not how sales work. That's not how people buy." — Garth Fasano
"Google knows how you search... Open AI knows what you're using this information for... we're going to start to know why customers are buying." — Garth Fasano
Connect with Garth:
LinkedIn: Garth Fasano
X (Twitter): @GarthFasano