AI Will Run Your Business Sooner Than You Think (Boris Valkov)

AI voice technology for the trades is improving so fast that automated booking will soon rival or exceed what top human CSRs achieve, but the winning approach combines AI with the human touch rather than replacing people entirely.

Lace.ai studied what the top 1% of CSRs do on calls and built its product to replicate those behaviors across speed-to-lead, outbound, cancellations, and rehash, so every business can generate top-tier booking performance.

Studies show only about 45% of inbound calls actually get booked; many companies believe they are booking 90% when a large share of calls never get answered, go to voicemail, or leak to third parties.

Boris runs Lace on three core principles - team, product, and speed - and argues these apply equally to building a great software company and a great home service company.

Speed is a critical advantage: using Google Design Sprints, a 5-day cycle from idea to prototype tested with five real customers lets the team move fast and validate features before over-investing.

Technology spend should be viewed as investment, not cost - Lace points to roughly 17x compounding ROI when the product recovers revenue from missed and mishandled opportunities.

Constant change must be in the DNA of every company, because AI advancement is accelerating across every white-collar and operational function and businesses that resist adaptation will fall behind.