The Digital Cyrano De Bergerac Of Modern Business

Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. While there is much more to the plot, the main story is that Cyrano has a very large (“obnoxiously large”) nose that makes him insecure about approaching women, specifically Roxane, the woman he loves. Cyrano has a wonderful way with words, writing love letters and whispering words through the voice of another man, Christian de Neuvillette. Needless to say, Roxane falls in love with Christian, but she eventually (spoiler alert) realizes the words were coming from Cyrano. You can guess what happens after that.

A more modern-day version of this play is Roxanne (1987), a movie starring Steve Martin as Cyrano (C.D. Bales) and Daryl Hannah as Roxanne—a lighter and happier version, but the love story is the same.

I could continue talking about the play, but here is the point: instead of Cyrano, today it could be ChatGPT or some other generative AI technology feeding the right words to someone trying to woo the love of their life—or perhaps, woo a customer.

Were you ever unsure what to say to a customer, what to write in an email, how to formulate the perfect pitch or how to build a better relationship with your customers? Well, look no further than the latest, accessible ChatGPT (or similar) technology. They are the Cyrano de Bergeracs of the business world. Consider this:

· Cyrano’s eloquence in letters and words is not unlike how ChatGPT (and other generative AI technologies) can create persuasive business communications. If you prompt “the tool” correctly, you can evoke the right tone of voice and emotion to match your customer’s personality.

· ChatGPT can make you a better writer. If you struggle with creating powerful, robust communications, use the tool. If it has the capability to code software, it surely has the capability to write a customer “love letter.”

· Brainstorm with ChatGPT. The technology loves to have conversations with you. Ask it questions, ask for ideas and challenge the technology. You’ll be amazed at what it is capable of doing.

· Be sure to check the validity of anything written by ChatGPT-type technologies. Sometimes, it makes mistakes. It’s not human, but it’s pulling a lot of information from the Internet that humans put there. And, as the old saying goes, “To err is human.” The second part of that saying is, “To forgive is divine,” but we’re talking about customers. An error may not be easily forgiven in the business world, where quality and no mistakes are basic expectations.

· AI and humans can create beautiful words together. AI shouldn’t replace the human-to-human relationship. Instead, it can support the human-to-human relationship. What comes from ChatGPT aren’t the final words. You must edit, modify, tweak and further personalize them to give them even more of a human touch, and in this case, your human touch.

If you know your customer, and I mean really know your customer, you can go to ChatGPT and ask it to help you write the perfect email, letter, proposal, etc. You must prompt the technology with your goals for the letter and input everything you know is relevant about this customer. And please, please, please understand that the words that come from AI will not be the end result. As mentioned above about making beautiful words together, you must proof and manipulate the words to make them yours. The result can potentially save you 80-90% of the time it would take you to do it without assistance.