A client wanted to stop entering contacts in both his CRM and note taker. After every meeting, he'd create the person and the meeting in his CRM on his laptop, then dictate his notes on his phone. He'd tried syncing his contacts once, but it kept making duplicates, so he turned it off. He was thinking about hiring an assistant when he called me.
I could have built something that would take his voice notes and file them for him, but before we built anything, I asked what he was already paying for.
His CRM had AI built in. He was already using it to write up meetings, and he liked it. He'd never asked it to do anything else, so we tried it. From his phone he said something like, "Create a person I met at the chamber mixer today, remind me in two weeks, and ask me clarifying questions." It asked which of his three chambers he meant, suggested a follow-up date, and created the record. Then he took a photo of a business card. It asked five questions and made the contact.
"I didn't know I had all this capability already"
Syncing his contacts was still a separate problem, and there's an inexpensive app for that. The double entry was the one he hit after every meeting, so that's where we started, and the fix was already on his phone.
What people bring me is usually a real problem, just not always the root of it. I get curious and ask why, why not, and how before anyone builds or buys something new. Sometimes the answer is a tool they already have.