The Challenge

Holloway’s sales and marketing leaders knew AI could help eliminate repetitive work—but their team wasn’t using it. Most reps had barely touched ChatGPT, and confidence was low. The stakes were high, but so was the hesitation. What they needed wasn’t more AI talk—they needed hands-on wins and fast.

The Mandate

The goal was simple but urgent:

• Raise AI literacy quickly and dispel the fear

• Deliver practical, time-saving workflows in the room

• Build enough early momentum to justify future investment in a closed-system rollout (Microsoft Copilot) in 2025

What We Did

We ran two hands-on, camera-on workshops focused on real workflows—not theoretical demos. Live prompt-writing exercises, group collaboration, and instant feedback helped turn AI skeptics into believers within hours.

Sales reps created a voice-to-email workflow using Superwhisper and ChatGPT, allowing them to speak their notes, clean up the language, and auto-generate CRM drafts—three times faster than typing.
Teams also adopted AI for meeting-notes automation, using Limitless AI to turn Zoom and Teams calls into clean action items and follow-up emails.

We closed the loop with a custom prompt library tailored to Holloway’s brand—covering quoting, SEO briefs, LinkedIn posts, and more. No more blank pages or off-message content.

Early Momentum

The shift was immediate. According to a pulse-check survey, the team landed “between a 3 and 4” on the AI adoption scale—well on the way to making AI mission-critical.

One rep built a Spec-Sheet GPT in under 15 minutes and eliminated three full days of monthly grunt work. Marketing now produces first-draft articles in 20 minutes instead of two hours—a fivefold increase in output.

What We Did

Three principles guided our approach: focus on adoption before automation, empower internal Champions rather than over-relying on external consultants, and track every step with live, transparent metrics. This model ensured that AI use became a daily habit before any technical build-out, and gave AECI leadership a clear view into usage, value, and impact across the organization.

“The team went from AI-timid to true AI believers in two hours.”
— Jarad Johnson, CEO, Mostly Serious

Why It Worked

We focused on Holloway’s real processes—not generic use cases. Every rep saw their own work get faster, more accurate, and less frustrating. Live demos replaced theory, letting people experience the value firsthand. And we designed voice-first workflows that aligned with how sales teams actually operate—talk first, type second, and let AI do the polish.

Takeaways for Manufacturing Teams

If you’re starting from scratch, start with your sales and marketing teams—quick wins there unlock funding and buy-in across the org.

Train with your actual workflows, not examples pulled from another industry.

And whenever possible, let your champions tell the story—a 30-minute AI win from one rep carries more weight than any stat on a slide.