I still remember the first time I read Schwab's Fourth Industrial Revolution. Back then, I thought we were talking about AI in the future tense. Today, I have it on my team.
The book fascinated me so much that in 2017 I decided to translate it and make it available to every Slovenian reader. FrodX bought the rights and published it for free because I was convinced we'd soon need to start talking about it seriously. Now, as technology truly changes the way we work, I keep coming back to one stat from that book.
From the Hoe to the Tractor
At the start of the 20th century, every second person worked in agriculture—and barely produced enough food for themselves and maybe one more person. Today, less than 4% of EU citizens work in agriculture, yet they feed all of us. Not because they work harder, but because they work smarter—with technology. Productivity has grown at least fifteenfold.
That's why it feels natural to expect AI to do something similar in customer-related work. That with the same number of people, we'll serve far more customers. If that doesn't happen, AI technologies simply won't justify their cost. The market bubble will deflate, the global economy will step back a few paces, and society will tighten its belt until the next "big thing" comes along.
When Progress Doesn't Stop—But You Do
Farms that didn't adopt technology simply don't exist anymore. Their owners gave up, moved to cities, and found other jobs—often believing the grass was greener there. But in truth, progress just outran them. And with AI, the same thing is happening right now.
My New Teammate Who Never Sleeps
A few weeks ago, I "hired" a new teammate—the HubSpot Prospecting Agent. He doesn't sit in an office, doesn't have a phone, and doesn't keep office hours. But he works. Every single day. No excuses.
The numbers are brutal. As a salesperson, I used to reach maybe 8–12 qualified prospects a day. The Agent contacts 150–200.
He researches leads, sends personalized outreach messages, and times them perfectly—all in my name. I only step in when there's a reply. What I used to do manually with a handful of prospects, AI now does automatically—faster, more thoroughly, and more consistently. Not perfectly. But honestly—neither was the first tractor.
The Stubborn Farmer and the Relentless Salesman
I imagine those farmers a century ago who stuck with their horses. Tractors seemed too complex, too risky, too different.
Many clung to what they knew—and got left behind. I think we're in a similar place today. Companies still working the old way are competitive—but only for a little while longer. Once the market picks up the new rhythm, it'll be too late to sit on a horse hoping it'll keep up.
The Moment of Truth: 2,000 Calls per Hour
Recently, a client asked me how many calls our voicebot can handle simultaneously. I wasn't sure why he asked—until he explained that he wanted to call 2,000 people at once, at a specific hour. When I heard what kind of competitive edge that would give his business, it hit me: these technologies are about to completely reshape how we work with customers.
While his competitors still can't imagine building a 100-person call center—financially or logistically impossible—he now talks to thousands of customers in one hour, every day. Without a single employee doing the calling. That's not just a quantitative jump. That's a new league.
That conversation changed how I think about competition entirely. It was the first time I truly felt why some competitors will simply fall out of the game. It's often our tools and habits that limit us—blinding us to opportunities that the bold are already seizing.
AI Is No Longer Futurism
AI is no longer about the future. It's about costs, speed, quality—and whether we'll still be relevant next year. Just like the tractor became indispensable in agriculture, AI will soon be indispensable in marketing, sales, and customer support. Those who don't adopt it in time won't fail because of bad intentions—but because the game will have changed so much that their old playbook will no longer make sense.
See It Once, and You'll Get It
If you'd like to see what this looks like in practice—how my HubSpot Prospecting Agent researches leads, builds campaigns, and where I still step in as a human—I'm ready to host a live webinar. I'll walk through the entire process of preparing an agent for a sales campaign and show its real performance.
I'll also invite my first client—the one my Agent booked the very first meeting with. Hearing her perspective, from start to finish, will add a whole new angle to the story.
Want in? Join the list. If there's enough of you, I'll make it happen and send out the invites.
All I can say is—you won't believe it until you see it. Neither did I.
📩 igor.pauletic@frodx.com
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