Humanizing at Scale

Context: Last week I had dinner with a partner company. They were shocked at how many customers we picked up so far in 2026, asking me: How'd you do it?

I call it --> Humanizing at scale.

I captured what (humanizing at scale) means in my notes app. Excuse typos, grammar etc.

Short article below.
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First, resist the urge to let AI do the work without human context.

Second, I am talking about marketing and sales, aka revenue-driving activities.

Third, you need a solid CRM and Claude (not going to debate which).

The days of outreach (and I mean Outreach.io) are long gone, in case you did not notice.

Let’s begin…

You may have gotten a cold email to the effect of:

Hi FIRST, I saw you are the (title) of (brand) for (years) and are located in (city). I also noted you went to (school) and were active in (activity).

My name is (sales guy name), and my company (insert what company does).

We can run a free audit for you to share how (your company) is performing in (insert market).

Can I grab 15 minutes on your calendar? (or whatever CTA)

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We are back.

Can you imagine walking up to someone and talking like you already knew everything about their life? Stalker vibes? Also, any variable that’s wrong immediately dismisses the company, and ultimately the brand, as careless. Being obvious: brand is everything in the AI world we all live in.

So how do you humanize at scale?

Empathy. Think about the other person’s life.

First, over 50% of messages are being read (if you are lucky at all) on a mobile device. Yes, I am talking about email.

Second, if you are letting AI generate the email, or worse, the brand message, lol, so is everyone else, aka no one will notice.

Third, you need a clean CRM that is being updated hourly. That takes humans and process. I won’t touch how you govern your company.

Fourth, what message can you share that adds value to a prospect’s life versus reminding them that they are not doing their job? Ahem, free audits are a joke as a marketing message or sales tactic. Audits are good when they’ve already chosen you, maybe somewhere else during the sales process.

Lastly, hitting send. It’s the hardest temptation to avoid, because it signals the job is done. You know why else it’s difficult? You are trusting AI to send your message. Half of your sales team will abuse it, forty percent will do it once, and nine percent will send once. The 1% follow up (human) 1:1 to every view, every rejection, and the entire list (in the same week).

The part I am not telling you?

The message.

-MM

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This article originally appeared on Mark Michael’s LinkedIn Oct 21, 2026.