When a client comes to you and says:
“I put your assessment into Claude, and this is the feedback it gave me.”
Or:
“I put your proposal into ChatGPT and, quite frankly, it says your prices are a little high.”
Or even:
“I want to use your service, but I put everything into Gemini, and this is how it says you should deliver it.”
When this happens, it is important to ask the person, “What prompt did you use?”
If you frame it correctly, without a hint of defensiveness or frustration, asking about the prompt will provide you with an opportunity to understand your client better and deepen your relationship.
When It Happens to Me
Just last week, after sending a client a recommendation for new navigation for her website, I received an email that read, “ChatGPT recommendation” which listed how some of my suggestions could be improved upon.
My experience and data show that what I provided would work very well for her business. However, I didn’t reply right away.
Rather, when we had our next meeting, I simply said, “I received your email about the navigation. Do you mind if I ask, what prompt you used?”
Her response, was “I didn’t like the term ‘Start Here,’ so I asked it for alternatives.”
Knowing that AI tends towards sycophancy, it would agree with her first and then provide alternatives.
But the reality is, rather than send me an email back that said, “I don’t like ‘Start Here,’” she circumvented the discussion process and took matters into her own hands.
Don’t Take It Personally
I know this can be challenging.
You may have spent 10, 15, or 20 years developing expertise in your field. Then your client spends a few minutes talking to an AI chatbot and suddenly feels like they know as much—or maybe more—than you do.
But getting defensive won’t help you retain the client. And it certainly isn’t going to help you deepen your relationship or create opportunities to do more business together.
Instead, try to understand what may be happening from the client’s perspective.
Empathy In Action
You and your client are in business to make money, which means that the basis of your relationship with them is transactional.
Your client pays your company in exchange for a service. And most of your client interactions are meant to provide the services paid for, education and information (an educated client is a great client), retain their business through relationship building, or to sell them additional services.
From the client’s perspective, the chatbot at best has the client’s best interest in mind and at worst is a neutral party.
That is, the chatbot or AI agent is their personal advocate. For the client, it can feel like they’re getting an expert independent second opinion.
Understanding this should change how you approach most of your conversations.
AI as Another Level of Approval
Instead of being surprised when a client runs your recommendation, proposal, assessment, or report through an AI tool, start expecting it.
Think of it as another layer in their approval process.
For example, you give a prospective client a proposal and before they can move forward, they have to talk first with their partner, their leadership team, or the CFO. Now they will likely want to discuss it with ChatGPT or another AI tool.
This isn’t going away. This is, in part, the way people make decisions now.
So, be prepared.
How to Have a Conversation When AI is a Decision Maker
When a client comes back to you and says:
“I put your report into ChatGPT, and here’s what it said…”
Don’t immediately start defending your work.
Ask:
“What prompt did you use?”
That question will tell you if there is a concern or pain point that they put into the prompt that they haven’t actually shared with you.
For example, maybe they’re worried about price, or perhaps there is a business constraint they never mentioned.
With the information about the prompt, you now have an opportunity to dig deeper into your customers’ concerns.
This question also gives you an opportunity to explain something important; AI is only as good as the information it has been given.
For example, in the situation with my client, she wasn’t necessarily given unbiased information. Explaining this gave us the opportunity to discuss whether to test the conversion strategy. It also gave me the opportunity to share my validated experience with her.
AI is Only as Good as the Questions Asked
AI answers rely heavily on the quality of questions asked by the user.
In the hands of someone with domain expertise, it can be extremely helpful. In the hands of someone who knows little about the subject they’re enquiring about, AI will not be able to provide a complete and actionable solution.
In other words, a novice may not know which questions to ask to get the right solution to their problem.
A good example is to imagine that a person wants to build an ADU in their back yard. They ask AI to give them a blueprint based on their desires. They then give the blueprint to the contractor, who notices that the building blueprint isn’t to code and would not pass inspection. When conceiving of the project, they did not think to ask about building the ADU to code because it was in their backyard.
An expert will know which questions are the best ones to ask to get to the preferred outcome,
Your Opportunity to Show Your Expertise
You don’t need to tell the client, “I know more than ChatGPT.”
You don’t need to argue with the AI.
You don’t need to make your client feel foolish for using it.
Remember, information is everywhere and inexpensive to get.
Your clients can ask AI to explain a strategy, review a proposal, create a plan, compare prices, or suggest alternatives.
What they can’t automatically get is your hard-won judgment, your experience, and your understanding of their specific business.
So, the next time a client says, “I put this into ChatGPT…”
Don’t panic.
Don’t get defensive.
Ask them what prompt they used.
You may learn something important about what they’re thinking—and you may create an even better opportunity to show them exactly why they hired you in the first place.
I’d love to hear how you’re handling these conversations with your clients and customers. Are they bringing AI into the conversation yet? And if so, how are you responding?