The Customer Success Playbook

Customer Success Playbook S3 E30 - Marcelo Calbucci - AI Friday and PRFAQ

• Kevin Metzger • Season 3 • Episode 30

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Summary: In the finale of their insightful series, the Customer Success Playbook podcast hosts Roman Trebon and Kevin Metzger engage with Marcello Calbucci to unpack how AI is influencing the PR FAQ framework. Marcello shares key strategies on leveraging AI for research and feedback while cautioning against over-reliance that may erode critical thinking. From AI's role in enhancing processes to maintaining originality in strategic planning, this episode offers practical takeaways for leaders aiming to innovate wisely and effectively.

Detailed Analysis: Wrapping up an engaging series with Marcello Calbucci, this episode dives deep into the intersection of AI and the PR FAQ framework. Marcello begins by distinguishing the different ways AI can be utilized in the strategic process—from research to critiquing work—but he issues a vital caution: relying on AI for strategic thinking can result in average outcomes and missed opportunities for true innovation.

Key discussion points include:

  • The three ways AI can support work: research, execution, and critique.
  • Why using AI for strategic decision-making may lead to average, non-differentiated results.
  • How AI can accelerate research while ensuring human oversight drives strategic creativity.
  • The importance of preserving the collaborative process of PR FAQ to ensure diverse, innovative perspectives.
  • Best practices for conducting post-delivery PR FAQ review meetings, including Amazon-style silent reading and structured discussion formats.

Marcello also shares how he has developed a custom ChatGPT on his website, providing tailored insights for teams looking to refine their PR FAQs. He underscores that while AI can enhance efficiency, the real value lies in the process of strategic debate, collaboration, and critical thinking.

For leaders navigating the evolving landscape of AI and strategic innovation, this episode is packed with thoughtful insights on balancing technology with human creativity. It's an essential listen for anyone refining their customer success playbook.

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Roman Trebon:

Welcome back to the Customer Success Playbook Podcast. I'm your host, Roman Trebon, with me, as always, my co host, Kevin Metzger. Kev, we made it to Friday. Happy AI Friday. We are wrapping up our series with Marcella Calbucci, author of the PRFAQ Framework. I've loved the conversation all week. Kev, now we're going to talk about the PRFAQ Framework in AI. I know you're excited about that. I

Kevin Metzger:

am AI Frye.

Roman Trebon:

That's for the kids out there listening.

Kevin Metzger:

I'm going to go off topic for a second. So one of my, uh, uh, coaches, as I worked out at a gym and one of my co coaches always would Frye. So I pulled it from a young kid. Let's get into it. So we've explored the fundamentals of using PR FAQ to enhance customer success. Today, we're examining how AI and technology trends shape this approach. Marcello, how do you see AI changing the way teams create and utilize PR FAQs? And really, how do you avoid the AI writing atrophy you do mention happening in the book?

Marcelo Calbucci:

Yes. So first thing I'm going to say is I didn't use AI to write my book. I use AI to do research, but not to write my book. So every single sentence in my book was written by me and edited by my editor. Anyway, I think in the context of work, there was really three ways that people use AI, right? So the first one is, um, you ask AI how to do something or you ask research questions. And that's more like on the how kind of realm. The second way is you ask AI to do the work for you. Like, write this, create the code, create the design, right? And the third one is, you ask AI to critique your work. So, like, here is my work, let me know what you think, what am I missing? How can I do better? I think the dangerous thing is, when you use AI to do the work, and this work requires strategic thinking, In critical thinking, AI is doing the thinking for you and you are not benefiting from it. Not only that, I think when you ask AI to do strategic thinking, strategic decisions for you, it's kind of like giving you an average answer. So it's never going to help you stand out in the market, whatever you're trying to do. I think from a tactical perspective, if you just want to write a blog post that Ranks high on SEO, AI might be good for that or a social media post, uh, or other stuff. But these are like not strategic problems. So you want to be very careful with using AI for strategic problems. It's totally fine to ask AI, like, how do I do this? And to ask AI, review my work and tell me what you think. I think those are like great ideas. And by the way, if you go to my website, theprfaq. com and scroll to the bottom, you're going to see that I have a custom chat GPT just for the PRFAQ. So you can ask questions about how should I do this? Or you can paste your PRFAQ and ask like, what am I missing here? Is this right? The custom chat GPT is going to give you the answers.

Kevin Metzger:

Awesome. Can I dive into that for a second? So are you, do you have a, is it, is it a GPT or is it? It's

Marcelo Calbucci:

a GPT. Yes.

Kevin Metzger:

It's a GPT. Cool. And so did you prime it with the book and everything that you've written on it as well, or?

Marcelo Calbucci:

Yes. Yes, and I keep updating it every other week or so with like everything that I write on social media and and articles Uh all new content about

Kevin Metzger:

very cool. That's an awesome resource that uh, People should should definitely check out and use I I like how you framed it, right? It's good It's good to say, Hey, how do I approach the problem, then think through the problem, then feedback what you thought through and actually get some feedback on it from the AI for, you know, helping you to develop your thought processes further. And I actually think that that's an important process. Regardless, um, that you're defining, regardless of whether it's PR FAQ, regardless of what you're working on, understanding that there are ways that you can work with AI to make you faster and more efficient, that doesn't actually take you out of the thinking. You can use it and take yourself out of the thinking, but if you do, you're not really gaining any benefit from it. You're, you're getting, as you said, an average answer, you might be getting to a fast average answer, which. And add benefit, by the way, I don't want to discount that entirely. Um, because fast average answers, the problem is, is everybody's going to be getting fast average answers pretty quickly. It's when you can leverage and add your value as a person that you really need to. And, and that's, that's a big part of AI going forward. And, you know, it's important for people to understand that in the workplace too. Because I think that's an important, important point. How would you say, what are good ways people can leverage AI in the PRFAQ process, specifically as they work to develop out PRFAQ ideas? Is there anything?

Marcelo Calbucci:

I think AI is, LLM more specifically, is replacing Google. Right. So, so the way I use it is I often go to an LLM and it's like, Hey, is there any research that has been done around this? Or where can I find data about that? Recently, I was looking, uh, for an article that I was writing, like research about when people travel, what day of the week they travel. So, I didn't go to Google. I went to an LLM, asked that question, not only gave me the answer, but it gave me the link to the, uh, to the website that had the answer. So I could trust it, right? So it's much faster than going to Google and like trying to articulate what I want to search for. Um, so, so that is really good, right? Where AI starts to become tricky is when requires you to create something new. All right, because that was I was asking for a fact like give me information about this. Uh, but when you ask for opinion That's when ai like it's going to give you the average right off whatever he found on the internet And sometimes that's good enough, right? Like if you're asking for a recipe, uh to cook, you know ribs Fantastic. Like it's going to give you an average answer. It's going to be really good because it's what most people have been using. But when you are trying to create something that is new and innovative, uh, and that helps you stand out and differentiate from other things that are out there, AI is just not going to be good at that.

Roman Trebon:

I think we're so I keep me honest here. I think part of what in, for what I've read about the PR FAQ from your website and you've into our audience, check out the website, cause you have tons of great resources on there so you can read some of it and then get the book. But I love the process of PR FAQ, right? And I, and I do worry with AI, you're, you can sometimes shortchange the process, right? Are you meeting with all the teams? Are you doing this in a silo? Are you doing the work that leads into it? And I think you, you touched on it. You can potentially lack that originality and that innovation. That you don't go through the process. It's you're not getting that output, right? So I think research is great You're right. There's some things you can maybe kill some some some bad ideas quickly, but I love the process of it In terms of how you do that, right?

Marcelo Calbucci:

Yeah So usually what I say is the document is not the value is the process that is a value Right? The document is just the piece, the architectural model that you put in the middle of the table that everyone is going to look at it and say, like, Oh, I don't like this. I don't like that. Or this is good. That's good. Right? So, so the document is the artifact that you use for the debate and the decision.

Kevin Metzger:

I'm going to, I probably should have asked this in the last meeting. I'm going to switch back to the topic. But how do you suggest running a PRFAQ meeting post, post delivery? Right. So it's delivered. What's the meeting look like for final decision making after the PRFAQ is delivered?

Marcelo Calbucci:

Yeah, this is a very similar to the Amazon meeting style, which is you sit in a meeting and the first 20 minutes, everyone is reading the document. In silence, right? Uh, and they are, they might be highlighting and adding comments or like making notes. Um, but you give the people the time to read it. So then when the meeting starts, which is after 20 minutes, uh, everyone is on the same page. Everyone has the same context. Everyone has the same data. So the conversations become a lot more valuable, uh, and more precise, uh, in their, their topic, right? It's not someone that is like, Oh, I missed last last week's meeting, so I don't know what we're talking about. No, everyone is on, on the same thing. And then you have like this 40 minutes of conversation. In the book, I explain more or less how you can do it. Typically, people go by sections, so you can say like, hey, anyone has comments on these questions, uh, on these FAQs, uh, and you keep moving on until you get to the end. So you have two types of meetings. One is review, when you're collaborating, and the other is decision, right? So when you're like, In the final meeting with some executive sponsor or whoever is going to be the decision maker, and like we're sitting here to make a decision about this. Should we do this? Should we not do this? Or should we do it later? Right? So that's a decision meeting. I love it. I'm sorry. So this is

Roman Trebon:

great stuff all week. We really appreciate you joining us. So to our audience, you can go to vprfaq. com. Like I said, tons of great resources. You can buy the book. Also, this book is blocked Amazon, not five out of five stars, not 4. five stars, not 4. 7, five out of five stars. So check it out. Marcelo, where else can our audience find more about the book and yourself?

Marcelo Calbucci:

Yeah. If you go to the website, the book website, you can find all contact information about me. And it's really easy to get in touch with me on LinkedIn or any other social media. Even my email is there.

Roman Trebon:

Love it. Awesome. Marcella, we really appreciate this. Our audience, definitely check this out. Again, you can read this. You could like, like Marcella said earlier in the week, you can start small, you can try it right. I think understanding the process is going to be a value add for any of our listeners for sure. I know Kevin, you and I found it. Tons of value in it. We were talking about it last night, even. So, um, thanks again, Marcello, for joining us. Uh, this does conclude our series with Marcello. You can find Kevin and I on LinkedIn as well. So I'm at Roman Trevon. Kevin is at Kevin Metzger. Make sure to check out our customer success playbook podcast page on LinkedIn. There you'll find our upcoming guests. You'll see some clips of us, snippets of our interviews with our guests. Anything else on our LinkedIn page, Kev? I think that that covers most of it covers it. You're always updating it. I'm going to make sure I got the latest news on there So again, we really appreciate you listening like subscribe to the podcast that helps us grow our audience As always kevin keep on playing

People on this episode

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Kevin Metzger

Co-host
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Roman Trebon

Co-host
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Marcelo Calbucci

Guest