Episode 105: How Businesses Can Book More and Work Less Using AI with Peter Jung

When it comes to efficiency and optimization, especially for local businesses, I've noticed there's a gap between people opting in to learn more about the company and their services and those who actually book an appointment.

AI and different automations can really help fulfill that gap.

Hi, my name is Demetri Panici and I'm a content creator, agency owner, and AI enthusiast. You're listening to the AI Agents podcast brought to you by Jotform and featuring our CEO and founder, Aytekin Tank. This is the show where artificial intelligence meets innovation, productivity, and the tools shaping the future of work. Enjoy the show.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the AI Agents podcast. In this episode, we have Peter, the founder of Sync Sonic AI. Their tagline is that they help you book more, work less, and let AI handle it.

How you doing, Peter?

Good. How are you?

I'm doing awesome. Really excited to chat. I know the world of AI and AI assistance, especially in follow-up and sales, is top of mind for me. I get a lot of discovery calls and really don't want to send follow-ups. Since I'm probably in the camp of people your product would help, I'd love to know how you got started in AI and what Sync Sonic does.

Sure. I appreciate you having me. I'd love to talk about AI. It's a hot topic these days and has been for the past two or three years where it's really taken off.

I started my career in performance marketing running ads on Facebook and Google for about eight years. Even then, AI was central to optimizing campaigns but it wasn't like the interactive large language models we have now.

I got into AI after seeing a viral video of an AI talking to a real person acting as a salesperson for Apple. That sparked my interest in conversational AI agents about two years ago, although that company turned out to be a scam. Still, it got me into the world of conversational AI.

I've always been fascinated with technology and transitioned into learning more about AI agents and automations. Now I work with different companies helping them set up AI while still working on digital marketing and creatives, including implementing AI in video and banner ads.

My background is in paid search and paid socials, so that's something interesting to chat about.

I saw on your LinkedIn tagline that you mention managing 33 million in ad spend. How has that experience with lead generation informed what you're building at Sync Sonic?

I've noticed that businesses, including local ones, spend a lot on ads and want to do it efficiently. They want to decrease customer acquisition costs and increase revenue to create margin across ad spend.

Especially for local businesses running ads, there's a gap between people opting in to learn more about the company and those who actually book appointments. AI and automations can help fill that gap and increase efficiency in ad spend.

Having automations with speed to lead doesn't always need to be AI-driven; it could be email or SMS automations. People give their info because they're interested, so it's important to reach them quickly.

If people reply or show additional interest, AI takes over to continue the conversation and reach the final objective, which varies by company—sometimes sending payment links or scheduling appointments.

From my experience, people spend money on ads and try to reduce costs through creative optimization, but automation and AI are the next step after people click ads, focusing on down-funnel metrics in the sales cycle.

AI helps optimize and make the funnel more efficient, not replacing humans but supporting the process.

That makes sense. Ads managers can improve performance, but there's another part of the process that they might not manage, which your product helps with, improving conversion rates.

Your website tagline 'missed calls means missed revenue' really speaks to this. I've had many conversations where a follow-up turned a prospect into a client, showing how important follow-ups are.

I was taking 20 to 30 discovery calls a week, which was tiring and repetitive. I'd rather have AI handle follow-ups.

I like the approach of AI tools helping incrementally to handle annoying tasks, freeing energy for calls. Sometimes I want an out-of-the-box solution, so tell us how Sync Sonic and the AI agent Amy help lift that burden quickly.

Amy AI is our AI receptionist working 24/7. For example, it's used in a medical clinic in Georgia open three times a week. They had many missed calls and had to follow up manually, which was burdensome.

The clinic does around 10,000 to 20,000 calls per month. They needed AI and automations because their team juggled many tasks.

Amy AI handles all inbound calls 24/7. When you call their Google profile, Amy picks up, schedules appointments, answers questions, reschedules, cancels, and reminds patients of appointments, taking that burden off the team.

Amy handles about 200 calls per month, which is saving a lot of time.

Speaking of the human element, what makes Amy AI good at handling calls? There's probably skepticism, but what makes it human?

People don't like to be deceived, so it's better to be upfront. The clinic mentions the line is recorded and that Amy is an AI assistant, but you can talk to it like a real human. This sets expectations.

It's a better version of old call recording systems where you press zero to talk to a real person. People try to skip AI, but here you can't. The LLM interprets what people say and sometimes provides better answers than humans because it has all the information.

Even without a knowledge base, the AI can retrieve info from models like OpenAI or Claude, presenting more information than a human could memorize.

Out of curiosity, how do you train the agent to improve, and what kinds of calls is it best for? I see multiple applications beyond sales.

I've applied it to different industries, focusing on inbound receptionist setups. Cold calling and sales aren't quite there yet; people want a personal touch.

AI has some latency, with 1 to 2 second delays, which can reduce the personable feel. People have low attention spans and can be impatient.

Right now, I'm focusing on receptionist roles handling inbound calls, like clinics taking calls from patients. Another example is customer service for B2B companies handling after-purchase support.

Inbound requests are easier for AI because people have specific requests and fewer outliers. Sales still need rapport building, so AI might be less effective there depending on the person and industry.

That's fair. Rapport building is important. I'm working on improving sales systems and trying to understand how AI fits. More complicated offerings or proposals might not work well with AI, but basic brick-and-mortar businesses and offices like doctors can benefit.

How many people are on your team?

I have one full-time developer managing automations and AI prompts, two CRM experts, and a performance marketer who helps with creative building and ad uploads. The CRM expert handles landing page buildouts and workflow connections.

I also have a team handling fulfillment for user-generated content requests, managing video production and project management. That's about four other team members.

You have a small, lean team but are AI-first. How do you see the landscape shifting in team size for your company and the industry?

There's a lot of investment in AI, but practical results aren't always great. There's misconception about AI replacing jobs. In my experience, AI automates tasks but doesn't replace humans.

Education about AI is important. Small to medium businesses are nimble and can automate many tasks. My goal is to propose AI automation to these companies after auditing their processes.

Bigger companies have more manual tasks but also more barriers like communication, compliance, and security, which slows adoption. Smaller companies can implement AI faster due to nimbleness.

The bigger the company, the more red tape there is, making it hard to implement ideas quickly. Smaller companies can directly work with decision-makers and implement changes faster.

When a new AI model comes out, how do you update your workflows? For example, Gemini 3.0 just dropped, which has impressive metrics.

There's been a monumental shift in conversational AI agents in the last two years. We constantly experiment with new tools and adapt, which can be stressful but is part of the industry.

To compete in AI, you have to adapt or risk being left behind.

Companies that don't implement AI in the next five years risk being left behind. Small companies can do much more with AI, especially brick-and-mortar and blue-collar businesses.

People are buying inefficient brick-and-mortar companies, automating them with AI, growing them, and selling to private equity. These companies are often overstaffed and inefficient.

AI helps optimize routes and operations for companies like HVAC or plumbing, increasing revenue by 30-40% by improving efficiency.

Many blue-collar companies struggle with scheduling and organization, leading to vague appointment times. AI can improve these systems.

You won Founders Live in San Diego. Tell me about that.

Founders Live is a worldwide pitch competition where startups apply and pitch to an audience of founders and entrepreneurs. I pitched to expand my network.

About 80% of my pitch was done by my AI assistant, showcasing conversational AI. That helped me win the competition and gain software credits and access to tools.

It was unexpected but the AI agent really stood out to people.

What's your goal for the next few years? What's the ethos of your company?

My goal is to optimize and make businesses more efficient, helping business owners of all sizes. We're slowly moving into enterprise but want to help companies with AI and automation.

There are many opportunities and shiny objects, but time is limited. I want to focus on scalable areas that provide lasting value and align with the company's ethos.

I've been working with clinics but am contemplating if that's the right approach, as every clinic is different and sometimes requires custom work. I want to package services to handle more clients efficiently.

I appreciate that vision. I think AI won't replace whole jobs but will automate repetitive tasks, making jobs deeper and more valuable.

People aware of AI understand it's not an apocalypse. Some think jobs will change but companies will be leaner with AI support. Day-to-day jobs will become less monotonous as AI handles routine tasks.

Associate-level work is under threat because it's mostly complicated if-then logic, which AI can handle once it has access to all SOPs and endpoints.

Once AI can interact with screens and systems fully, it can automate many tasks, freeing humans to focus on deeper work, making the world a better place by removing tedious tasks.

This will also impact offshore VAs who do simple tasks. Learning to use AI tools isn't hard, and people can adapt.

You're not a developer but manage AI product changes. That's impressive and shows small business owners can deeply focus on specific areas and leverage AI.

If AI or automation can relieve pain points in an industry, that's a winning approach.

What AI tools do you use day-to-day outside your product?

I compare myself to five years ago when we didn't have these tools. AI note-takers like Fathom record Zoom meetings, pull out main points, and create tasks in project management boards, which saves a lot of time.

This technology liberates entrepreneurs from tedious work and allows remote work and time expansion, which is exciting.

Before we close, what's one thing you're excited about with your product?

I'm working on creative generation with AI, which automates design work that used to require designers. Tools like Canva have integrated AI, making design easier and faster.

AI can now design ads and videos at scale by scraping competitor ads, analyzing what works, and creating spin-offs for clients quickly without hiring designers.

This shifts the paradigm of ad testing, which used to be labor-intensive, to being done in seconds.

It's wild how much the ads industry has changed. While specialists remain valuable, AI frees up bandwidth and brainpower.

Previously, dealing with vendors and internal teams was disorganized. This AI approach streamlines the process.

Even free versions of AI tools can produce many ads, so advertisers should try them out and use automations to scale.

Thanks for your time today. Please check out Sync Sonic AI at syncs.ai. Leave comments and likes on YouTube and review the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, etc. Thanks for listening and see you next time.