How do you develop AI‑based automation systems that businesses will actually pay for, and what process do you use to identify and build them?
Lead‑generation and client‑onboarding systems make up roughly 70% of my revenue, so I focus on those bottlenecks first. The flow is: generate leads, close the sale, onboard the client, fulfill the work, then retain the client with follow‑up. AI agents are getting better, but the real money comes from solving concrete bottlenecks, not fancy chatbots. My process is simple: look at an average business’s pipeline, identify the biggest bottleneck, and ask how you can do that step faster or better. I often reference the Theory of Constraints (see "The Goal" by Eli Goldratt) to frame this. Most bottlenecks are at the top of the funnel—lead generation—so start there. For each bottleneck, map what’s currently being done and brainstorm ways to automate or accelerate it. Specific tools help, but the core is understanding the pipeline and continuously removing constraints.
What a great question. This is more a consulting and strategy perspective than a building one. Naturally, if you're trying to make more money and thinking, 'Ooh, what's a way to make more money? I know AI is all the rage—maybe we'll add an AI chatbot to our website,' but if the chatbot doesn't talk to anybody, it won't make you more money. You've stumbled on a universal problem for many service businesses: they just don't have any leads. The real point of value, the bottleneck you could fix, is usually lead generation. I don't know how many people visit their site daily, monthly, or yearly, so it's hard to suggest exactly what to do next, but you're on the right track. The usual thinking is: get leads first, then worry about optimizing how you deal with them, nurture them, and improve conversion rates later. In your opinion, what's the best automation to sell? Could you make a video on it? The best automation to sell is something that increases or encourages lead generation, which we discussed. One of the main systems I sell is a cold outreach system where I build distribution for someone from scratch for about $200–$300 a month ongoing. They start with zero leads in their pipeline—usually an agency—and after the system is set up, they get roughly 30 leads per month that want to book calls. This is a game-changer and easy to justify as an investment for companies whose bottleneck is lead generation, like most businesses under $50k–$100k per month in revenue. Think of it this way: I'm solving their most dire problem—no leads entering the business. I charge them $3,000–$4,000 a month, which is fine because without me they wouldn't even have a business making more than $3k–$4k a month. In my experience, the best automations to sell for small to mid-sized businesses are those that help the top of the funnel. If they already have an outbound system but aren't getting many leads, I'd recommend a speed-to-lead system. Anything close to the top of the funnel—whether outbound or inbound—helps a lot, and that's what I'd recommend.
Nick says Brendan should avoid leading with an audit because it’s unsexy and unbounded. Instead, identify common problems you think businesses face, craft a compelling offer with a strong guarantee around solving those specific problems, and use that to get your foot in the door. Once you have a call, then perform the audit to confirm the needs and tailor the solution. He illustrates this by describing how he scrapes videography and web‑development communities to uncover pain points, packages them into an offer, and sells it, after which audits become easy follow‑ups.
ai consultingbottleneck analysisoffer creationguarantee
All agencies share the same fundamental shape: lead generation at the top (via ads, cold emails, cold calls, etc.), which funnels into a sales event (typically a discovery or closing call). From there you onboard the client, fulfill the promised service, and manage the client—checking in on progress—before delivering the project, possibly with a revision cycle that leads to another transformation event where you resell them. I’ve documented this shape in the three automation agency sales flows and a roadmap to $25k/month automation that you can download for free. The real key to success isn’t becoming a top AI or automation specialist; it’s becoming a good business person who understands the container (the agency model) and what you put inside it. This mindset can be learned in a couple of weeks, and you don’t need to be expert at the specific service you’re offering.
Systems thinking means understanding the whole system, not just optimizing one part. Think of your business as a pipeline: you put in leads (raw material) and get out money. The goal is to spend less to acquire a lead than you earn from it. Most people mistakenly focus on optimizing a single stage—like using AI to automate operations—thinking it will boost overall output. But if earlier stages (marketing, sales) are bottlenecks, widening later stages does nothing because you can't feed enough work through. The real improvement comes from identifying and widening the current bottleneck, wherever it is. In most businesses, the bottleneck is early in the pipeline—sales or marketing—because those are hard and often under-resourced. Once you fix that bottleneck, move to the next narrowest point and repeat. As for leads: sending DMs doesn't make them valuable; you need to stand out so your message gets noticed among the noise.