Bard vs Bard: why you can't just accept the first AI prompt response

 

Lately, I've been thinking about business terms that only came into being in the past decade or two. Among them is RevOps, short for revenue operations. I wrote an eBook on the topic several years ago, so I know that it predates 2018. But I wanted to pinpoint the term's origin.

I asked Bing, and this is where it gets interesting. What it said in answer to the first prompt, "Who coined the term revenue operations?"  was contradicted by the second.  Here's the response to the  first prompt: 

The term "revenue operations" was coined by Chris Goede, the former Chief Revenue Officer at HubSpot. Goede first used the term in a 2016 blog post, in which he argued that the traditional sales and marketing functions were no longer sufficient to drive revenue growth. He proposed a new approach, which he called "revenue operations," that would bring together sales, marketing, and customer success under a single leader.

Goede's ideas quickly caught on, and the term "revenue operations" has become increasingly popular in recent years. Today, there are a number of companies that specialize in helping organizations implement revenue operations practices.

Here are some of the key principles of revenue operations:

• Alignment: Revenue operations requires close alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success. All three functions must work together to create a seamless customer experience that drives revenue growth.
• Data-driven decision-making: Revenue operations is all about using data to make better decisions. By tracking key metrics and trends, revenue operations teams can identify opportunities to improve the customer experience and drive revenue growth.
• Technology: Revenue operations relies on technology to automate tasks and streamline processes. By automating repetitive tasks, revenue operations teams can free up time to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Revenue operations is a relatively new concept, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way organizations drive revenue growth. By bringing together sales, marketing, and customer success under a single leader and using data-driven decision-making, revenue operations teams can create a seamless customer experience that drives revenue growth.

Second attempt

Not being a novice at generative AI, I decided to corroborate what it said and asked" Did Chris Goede coin the term revenue operations?" One would assume Bing would say "Yes," to be consistent with its previous answer. But then one would be wrong. This is what it responded:

No, Chris Goede did not coin the term revenue operations. The term was first used in a 2012 article by Jason Lemkin, the CEO of SaaSquatch. However, Goede is credited with popularizing the term and bringing it to the attention of a wider audience.

In 2016, Goede wrote a blog post for HubSpot in which he defined revenue operations as "the alignment of sales, marketing, and customer success around a shared goal of driving revenue." He argued that revenue operations is essential for organizations that want to grow their revenue and compete in today's competitive marketplace.

Since then, Goede has continued to speak and write about revenue operations. He is also the co-founder of Revenue Collective, a community of revenue leaders who are committed to driving revenue growth.

Third time not a charm

It then continues to plug RevOPs, but that's not of interest to me with this query, so I put in another one: "Was Jason Lemkin the first person to use the term revenue operations?"  I find it truly fascinating that this stumped Bard, as indicated by this response: 

I do not have enough information about that person to help with your request. I am a large language model, and I am able to communicate and generate human-like text in response to a wide range of prompts and questions, but my knowledge about this person is limited. Is there anything else I can do to help you with this request?

Round 4

  So I gave it another shot (and if this doesn't prove I'd be an amazing prmpt engineer, I don't know what does). I put in the query: "When did the term "revenue operations" first appear in print?" That got an answer that reinforced the second one with some relevant context:

The term "revenue operations" first appeared in print in a 2012 article by Jason Lemkin, the CEO of SaaSquatch. In the article, Lemkin argued that revenue operations is a new discipline that combines sales, marketing, and customer success to drive revenue growth.

Here is the excerpt from the article:

"Revenue operations is a new discipline that combines sales, marketing, and customer success to drive revenue growth. It's about creating a seamless customer experience that drives more sales, more upsells, and more renewals. It's about using data to make better decisions about where to allocate resources and how to improve the customer experience. And it's about automating tasks to free up time for employees to focus on more strategic initiatives."

Since then, the term "revenue operations" has become increasingly popular. There are now a number of companies that specialize in helping organizations implement revenue operations practices.

Here are some of the key benefits of revenue operations:

• Increased revenue: Revenue operations can help organizations increase revenue by improving the customer experience and driving more sales.
• Reduced costs: Revenue operations can help organizations reduce costs by streamlining processes and automating tasks.
• Improved customer satisfaction: Revenue operations can help organizations improve customer satisfaction by providing a seamless customer experience.
• Increased employee productivity: Revenue operations can help organizations increase employee productivity by freeing up time for employees to focus on more strategic initiatives.

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Bard brings in the clowns

Bard brings in the clowns for my query on ICP

 

I've been reading Built to Last, a 1994 book about  successful businesses. None of the business models relied on the internet, and many of them already had many decades of history behind them. I noticed that the jargon in the book is quite different from today's.

For example, there is not a single mention of ICP (ideal customer profile). That made me curious. Did this term only emerge after the book's publication?

I turned to Bard ( see why here) for the answer, which also explains why this term emerged only in the post-internet world. This is what it wrote, and I have to admit being somewhat amused by the somewhat pushy CTA at the end and if the "I" is meant to be the AI itself:

The term "ideal customer profile" (ICP) was first used in the early 2000s by marketing and sales professionals. It was originally used to describe a hypothetical company that would be the perfect fit for a particular product or service. However, the term has since been adopted by businesses of all sizes and industries.

 

There are a few reasons why businesses started referring to ICPs. First, it became clear that not all customers are created equal. Some customers are more likely to be profitable than others. By understanding the characteristics of their ideal customers, businesses can focus their marketing and sales efforts on the most likely to convert.

 

Second, the rise of the internet made it easier for businesses to collect data about their customers. This data can be used to create detailed ICPs that take into account factors such as company size, industry, location, and pain points.
Finally, the increasing complexity of the marketplace made it more difficult for businesses to compete on price alone. By understanding their ideal customers and their needs, businesses can differentiate themselves from the competition and offer products and services that are truly valuable.

 

Today, ICPs are an essential part of any successful marketing and sales strategy. By creating a detailed ICP, businesses can improve their targeting, messaging, and conversion rates. This can lead to increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, and a stronger bottom line.
Here are some of the benefits of using an ICP:

 

Increased sales: By targeting your marketing and sales efforts to your ideal customers, you can increase your chances of closing deals.

 

Improved customer satisfaction: When you understand the needs of your ideal customers, you can deliver products and services that are more likely to meet their expectations.

 

Stronger bottom line: By improving your sales and customer satisfaction, you can increase your profits.

 

If you're not already using an ICP, I encourage you to start today. It's a simple but powerful tool that can help you take your business to the next level.

Notice that Bard is very bullish on ICPs, even pushy, I'd venture to say. That turns out to be a bit funny when it fails to recognize the acronym for my next query for a more recent business bible.

Clowns you say? 

I also recently read The Hard Thing About Hard Things published in 2014. I don't recollect a single mention of  ICP. Just to be sure, I asked Bard, which shows a kind of split personality when it comes to recalling acronyms. This was its response:

No, the book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz does not mention ICP. ICP stands for Insane Clown Posse, a hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The book is about the challenges of running a startup company, and ICP is not relevant to that topic.
The book does mention a few other bands, such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. However, these bands are mentioned in the context of how they have influenced the music industry. ICP is not mentioned in the book at all.

Knowing that when you work with generative AI you have to try your prompt multiple times, I get it another whirl and wrote out "ideal customer profile" for the query. Now Bard grasped what I was asking and responded:

"The book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz does not explicitly mention the need for an ideal customer profile. However, the book does talk about the importance of knowing your target market and understanding their needs. This is essentially what an ideal customer profile is.

 

In Chapter 1, Horowitz writes, "The first thing you need to do is figure out who you're building for." He goes on to say that you need to "understand their pain, their goals, and their constraints." This is all information that would be included in an ideal customer profile.
In Chapter 2, Horowitz writes about the importance of "building a product that people actually want." He says that you need to "get feedback from your customers early and often." This is another way of saying that you need to understand your target market and their needs.
Overall, while the book does not explicitly mention the need for an ideal customer profile, it does emphasize the importance of understanding your target market and their needs. This is essentially what an ideal customer profile is.

 

Here are some additional tips for creating an ideal customer profile:
Identify your target market. Who are you trying to sell to? What are their demographics? What are their needs and wants?
Research your target market. What are they reading? What are they talking about online? What are their pain points?
Create a persona. Once you have a good understanding of your target market, create a persona. This is a fictional representation of your ideal customer.

 

Use your ideal customer profile to guide your marketing and sales efforts. Use your persona to create content, develop marketing campaigns, and target your sales efforts.

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An A/B Test of Generative AI

Yet another brand that uses this slogan is featured on Amazon

I put the same query to Bing, ChatGPT, and Google Bard. This was the prompt: "Let's Build the Future Together": How many businesses use this slogan?


Want to guess which one gave the best answer?

❌ For Bing, I made sure to be in the chat mode and got even more disappointing results than I got from its search mode. This is the New Bing's response to my query:
"I’m sorry but I couldn’t find any information on how many businesses use the slogan “Let’s Build the Future Together”. However, I can tell you that a company slogan is a word or phrase used to represent a business as a whole or its products and services. Slogans typically follow a company or brand’s name in marketing materials such as business cards and advertisements."


❌#OpenAI's ChatGPT response came faster, but it wasn't any better than Bing's. This is what it said:
"I'm sorry, but as an AI language model, I do not have access to information on the exact number of businesses that use the slogan "Let's Build the Future Together." However, this slogan is a common one that has been used by many different businesses and organizations over the years. It is a popular marketing phrase that is often used to convey a sense of partnership and collaboration with customers or other stakeholders, as well as a focus on innovation and growth."


✔ Google's Bard was the clear winner out of the three. It admitted it didn't have full information and it went off on the tangent of why businesses use that slogan, but it did at least name some that use it:

The United Nations
The World Bank
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Coca-Cola Company
The Ford Motor Company

It added that it was used by Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

While I don't claim to be an "AI Prompt Engineer," I do know that you sometimes need to try the prompt again to get more thorough responses, so I regenerated the response on Google Bard. It offered a slightly different contextual background and repeated the UN and Coca-Cola but it also had 3 additional names of brands to add to the list: Amvets, LEGO, and Siemens.

It also plugs Google, noting that "a quick Google search reveals that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses that use this slogan."

A third run on Bard yields 2 names already mentioned plus 3 new ones:
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The National Association of Home Builders
The World Economic Forum





So you get the picture. It can take multiple rounds to build up a list that is not going to be comprehensive but at least gives you some idea off the range of organizations that apply the same slogan.

I'd recommend that all brands do searches on the slogans they're considering. While it may make sense for toys and those in the building trade to adopt it despite its wide adoption by other organizations, a new startup will likely not get much traction from something this abstract.


Related:

AI's early attempts at screenwriting

Bard vs Bard: why you can't just accept the first AI prompt response

The Perils of Prompt Engineering