The Martell Method w/ Dan Martell

Episode: How to Get More Customers (with AI)
Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Dan Martell

Episode Overview

In this high-energy solo episode, Dan Martell breaks down how entrepreneurs—whether solopreneurs or teams—can leverage AI to supercharge their customer acquisition process. Drawing from his own journey from rehab to running a $100M business, Dan offers actionable frameworks, practical tool recommendations, and mindset insights for scaling sales with AI, while emphasizing that humanity is still the ultimate differentiator.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Five-Phase Sales Process Turbocharged by AI

Dan structures the episode around five key sales phases, showing how AI can streamline each one:

A. Prospecting (starts at 01:08)

• Prospecting is “tapping people on the shoulder and going, do you have this problem?”
• AI-driven CRMs like Manus AI can automate the entire lead-sourcing process by analyzing your current customers and finding similar prospects (including contact and social profile info).
• Dan’s Rule: The 10-80-10
  • “10% ideation, 80% execution, and 10% integration.” (02:34)
  • Humans handle the creative and final review—AI does the bulk research “a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times.”
• Humans should operate as the “director”—vision and taste matter most; automate everything else.

B. Qualifying (starts at 03:56)

• Not every prospect is worth pursuing; AI should screen out unqualified leads before spending time on them.
• Story: A CEO with 50 hours/week of sales calls but only 5 with qualified buyers; after AI qualification via YourAtlas.com, he reclaimed 95% of his week.
  • “Your biggest expense is just not doing the thing that makes you the most money.” (05:17)
• Live demo: AI qualifies incoming leads and auto-updates CRM with every interaction, prepping sales teams with high-intent leads only.
• “It is wild what it can do before anybody even books into the (calendar) and that was all AI. No human involved. And it is always happy, doesn’t take vacations and never will complain.” (06:06)

C. Presenting Your Offer (06:35)

• Customization is king: Use AI to pull every scrap of research (lead info, transcripts, customer notes) into a personalized pitch or proposal.
• Dan explains how to use ChatGPT: Each prospect gets a new chat, the system prompt combines all findings for a tailored, pain-agitating proposal.
• Story: Simon’s Hello Frank software made $100K+ in sales by using this strategy for 7-minute custom pitches.
  • “When you can describe your customer’s pain better than they can explain it to you, you instantly become the expert and they’re going to want to buy.” (07:53)
• Pro tip: “Never send a proposal. Always schedule the call to review the proposal.” Face-to-face meetings allow you to address objections in real time and secure commitments.

D. Objection Handling (09:07)

• True sales work happens when objections arise—those moments require empathy and courage. Dan insists this is human work, but AI helps you prep.
• Let AI review transcripts and chats, surface common objections, offer tailored responses, and even role-play with you to sharpen your technique.
  • “The difference between an amateur salesperson and a professional salesperson is the pro always follows the process 100% of the time.” (11:34)
• Real-world: Dan’s friend Jake requested AI to list out and help answer top objections; result—quicker, more confident responses and improved skills.

E. Closing & Delivery (12:54)

• Dan prefers "enrollment” over “closing”—think long-term: “Are you joining my team? Want to become a partner?”
• Celebrate client wins; make it contractual to share these stories, which boosts client accountability and momentum.
• AI smooths onboarding (account creation, document handling, monitoring for wins) so you spend more time building relationships.
• Upon closing, two key actions:
  1. Ask: “How do you feel?”—address buyer’s remorse, encourage celebration.
  2. Deliver a quick win (e.g., send top three helpful videos) to kickstart success.

2. Mindset & Human Connection

• “Everything you want in life is on the back end of a conversation, the back end of a relationship, the back end of someone trusting you with something valuable.”
• AI is a tool, not the differentiator: “AI can only analyze everything that’s ever been created by humans, but… it hasn’t done a good job for creating new things. When I think of vision… that should, that’s hard. That’s human.” (15:40)
• "The future isn’t man or machine, it’s man with machine," but ultimately, "buyers don’t want to buy from a bot, they want to buy from people." (16:12)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI prospecting:
  • “If you figure out how to… identify a prospect and qualify them, you can give that to Manus as instructions and it’ll go off and do that work for you a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times.” (02:00)
• On human-AI partnership:
  • “I think humans in the loop is actually really the competitive advantage. Right. As a director, I have taste, I have vision, and I have care. The AI can automate all the pieces.” (02:58)
• On filtering unqualified leads:
  • “Having somebody do a ton of sales calls and use that as like a metric of success… When they’re calling people that could have never bought, should have never bought in the first place. That’s a vanity metric.” (04:12)
• On proposal delivery:
  • “Never send a proposal. Always schedule the call to review the proposal.” (08:13)
• On AI’s role in objection handling:
  • “To me, Jake is the human. AI is there to give Jake new information to help the human. That is how sales is completely changed.” (09:47)
• On the art of closing:
  • “Buyers don’t want to buy from a bot, they want to buy from people. AI will shift your time so that you can double down on what matters.” (16:02)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------------------------------------------| | 01:08 | Prospecting w/ AI & Manus AI | | 03:56 | Qualifying & YourAtlas.com Demo | | 06:35 | Personalized Offer Presentation via AI | | 09:07 | Objection Handling & Role Play w/ AI | | 12:54 | Closing (Enrollment) and Onboarding w/ AI | | 15:40 | Humanity vs. AI—Where People Still Win | | 16:12 | Final Thoughts: Man + Machine Philosophy |

Actionable Takeaways

• Use AI to automate prospect list-building, qualification, and personalized proposals. Tools: Manus AI, YourAtlas.com, ChatGPT.
• Plug yourself (human) into only the key points where vision, taste, and empathy are required.
• Always review proposals live—never just email them.
• Leverage AI for call analysis, objection prepping, and skill role-plays to keep sharpening your edge.
• Keep your onboarding and customer success process human-centered but AI-supported for scale.
• Remember: AI gives more space for your most valuable asset—your authenticity, care, and relationship-building skills.

Bottom Line:
Martell’s approach is all about maximizing leverage—letting AI do the repetitive, scalable tasks, so you can focus on building relationships, coaching your team, and making sure your “humanity” drives your competitive edge. If you want 10x more customers without burnout, embrace AI for process but always “show up as you.”

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