Reading an AI Sales Pitch for the Money Games

Lesson 7 · taught by Pip · free preview

You've done the hard part: you can count costs and value honestly. Now you sit across the table from someone selling you a tool, and their job is to make the costs look small and the value look huge. This lesson hands you five questions that turn a slick pitch back into plain numbers.

The plain idea: a good AI offer survives plain questions; a hyped one squirms. You don't need to know how the technology works to spot a bad deal. You just need to ask about the money clearly and watch how the answers come back.

The five questions that protect your wallet

1. "What will this cost me all-in for a year?" Push past the monthly sticker. Add setup, expected usage, and any per-user fees. A straight seller can give you a yearly range without flinching. A vague one keeps the number floating — because the float is where the surprises hide.

2. "What makes the bill go up?" You learned the pricing shapes; now make them say it out loud. If the bill rises with success — more customers, more conversations — you want to know before you grow, not after. "Nothing makes it go up" is either a flat plan or a dodge; find out which.

3. "How long am I locked in?" Month-to-month means you can leave the day it stops paying off. A long contract means you're betting on a tool you haven't tested yet. Length isn't automatically bad — but it should buy you a real discount, not just trap you.

4. "Who owns my data and my setup?" If you leave, do you keep what you built — your knowledge, your history, your customers' information? A fair tool lets you walk with your own stuff. A sticky one holds it hostage so leaving feels too expensive to do. That "switching cost" is a real future price, even if it's invisible today.

5. "Can you show me a real business like mine, with real numbers?" Not a glossy promise — an actual before-and-after from someone in your shoes. A seller proud of their results will show them. One who only offers adjectives is selling the adjectives.

The hype words to distrust

Lean back when you hear unlimited, effortless, it pays for itself instantly, or everyone is using it. Each is doing the work that a real number should be doing. The trustworthy version sounds humbler: "Here's the all-in cost, here's what makes it grow, here's a customer like you and what they got." Modest and specific beats grand and vague every time.

An everyday picture: buying a used car

You already know how to do this — it's buying a used car. You don't need to be a mechanic. You ask the total out-the-door price, what it costs to run, whether you can return it, and to see the service records. A good seller answers plainly; a bad one talks about the paint job. An AI pitch is the same lot, with the same tells.

Your turn

Write the five questions on a card and keep it by your desk. The next time anyone pitches you an AI tool — in a meeting, an email, a demo — ask all five and watch how they answer, not just what they say. The squirming will tell you as much as the words.

🔦 You can read a pitch like a pro now. In the final lesson, we tie it all together into a one-page payback sheet you'll actually use.