https://www.gtmaiacademy.com https://www.theysaid.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lihonghicken/

Here's a clean breakdown of the interview:

I spoke with Lihong Hicken, CEO and co-founder of Theysaid.io, about revolutionizing sales pipeline generation through AI-powered surveys. Lihong's journey from an intern building desks to becoming a CEO shapes her practical approach to sales technology.

The conversation centered on transforming traditional surveys into intelligent sales tools. Theysaid.io's platform creates natural, conversational experiences that simultaneously qualify leads and gather market insights. This dual-purpose approach helps companies understand customer needs, predict churn, and identify upsell opportunities before they surface through conventional metrics.

We explored several practical applications, including win/loss analysis, customer sentiment tracking, and pipeline building. A key differentiator is their ability to achieve a conversation depth of 10.5 interactions per question, vastly outperforming traditional surveys' 0-1 response rate.

The most valuable insights came from Lihong's examples of using AI surveys for outbound prospecting. Rather than cold pitching, her team approaches prospects with research questions, creating engaging conversations that naturally lead to qualified sales opportunities.

2. Key Points:

- AI survey technology evolution and impact on sales processes

- Conversion of research conversations into sales opportunities

- Win/loss analysis transformation through AI

- Proactive approach to upsell identification

- Customer sentiment tracking methodology

- Pipeline generation through conversational AI

- Practical implementation of AI in sales workflows

- Training AI to represent company voice and values

- Integration of feedback across customer journey

- Market research automation and scaling

3. Notable Quotes:

"The best salesperson asks good questions. Why not let AI ask these questions at scale?"

"Most companies wait until customers leave to ask why. You should be asking before they leave."

"You don't want a general AI chatting with your customer. You want it to be YOUR employee, trained with your company information."

"Sales is about understanding people... you need to understand first."

"If you can handle things at the speed of yearly reviews, great. But CRO is the most fired job ever. You need to act fast."

"You're thinking like, if you go to the market, you understand what they think, what language they use, what their concern is... you build a product to fit their use case and their pricing expectation - how can you not win?"

This interview provides valuable insights for sales leaders looking to leverage AI for deeper customer understanding and more efficient pipeline generation.