By Sam Nelson, VP of CX & AI, Telarus
After hundreds of customer AI conversations, a few patterns are impossible to miss. Here is how advisors can use them to stand out in a crowded market.
As a technology advisor in 2026, you already know the room. Every customer wants to talk about AI. But many are still unsure what they’re asking for. AI environments are often scattered—with customers relying on a mix of tools, half-formed ideas, and a vague sense that something needs to happen this year.
I’ve spent the last several months sitting in those conversations alongside advisors, across different industries and market segments, and varying levels of AI maturity. It’s clear that the advisors who are winning AI deals today don’t always have the deepest technical knowledge around AI. They’re the ones bringing the most structure to the conversation.
Customers do not need another expert telling them what AI can do. They have ChatGPT for that. What they need—and what they will pay for—is somebody who can help them figure out what to do first, what to do next, and what to avoid. That’s our job.
Here are the three themes I see showing up over and over again during AI conversations. If you organize your AI conversations around these themes, in this order, your customers will stop seeing you as a vendor and start seeing you as a guide.
Theme 1: AI Conversations Should Start at the Communications Stack
This is the door-opener, and most advisors are skipping it.
AI does not work in isolation. It depends on data, content, and visibility—and all threetie back to how an organization communicates internally and with its customers.
In other words, if voice, chat, messaging, and CRM aren’t connected, AI doesn’t have anything to work with. So, before any meaningful AI conversation can happen, the underlying foundation must be solid.
Build a house on a poor foundation, and it doesn’t go well. Same goes for AI.
Why this matters for advisors: starting at the communications stack instantly reframes you. It’s the difference between showing up with another AI logo and price and asking whether the customer’s environment can even support what they’re trying to do.
That single shift in framing makes the rest of the conversation possible—and it pulls in the additional voice, contact center, CRM, and integration work that you’re probably already comfortable selling.
Customers feel the difference. So do their decision cycles.
Theme 2: The Real Money Is in AI That Acts, Not AI That Answers
Once the foundation is in place, the conversation should move quickly.
AI is no longer just about understanding what’s being said—it’s about taking action on it. Scheduling. Updating records. Triggering workflows. Onboarding. Routing. Eliminating the manual back-and-forth between systems that don’t naturally talk to each other.
This is where customers see real ROI, and it’s where your opportunity expands well beyond CX into the broader business. AI workflow automation, agent orchestration, integration—these are line items that a year ago lived in entirely different conversations.
Here’s something I want every advisor to internalize: a lot of the leaders we’re talking to genuinely don’t know what’s possible with AI. For the first time in my career, I’m hearing customers say, “I don’t know what I don’t know—tell me what you’re seeing.”
That kind of openness is rare. It is also a short window. The advisors who walk in with two or three simple, concrete use cases right now—not theory, not slide decks, just “here’s what your peers are doing”—are the ones building real pipelines.
AI that answers is table stakes. AI that acts is where the deal lives.
Theme 3: AI Sprawl Is Coming for Every Customer You Have
This is the theme that lets you stop being a tech vendor and start being a strategic guide—and almost nobody else in the market is talking about it yet.
Once organizations start adopting AI, things get messy fast—different teams, using different tools, with inconsistent outputs and zero visibility. Then somebody on the security team realizes nobody can audit anything, and the wheels start to wobble.
This is called AI sprawl, or shadow AI, and it is already happening inside your customers’ four walls—whether they know it or not. Employees are pasting sensitive information into consumer AI tools because nobody told them not to. Tools are being purchased without governance. Outputs are inconsistent because there’s no standard. The bill is starting to add up. And 18 months from now, this is going to be the thing CIOs are getting fired over.
Four questions to diffuse AI sprawl: Customers should be asking four important questions about their environments right now,
- AI visibility: Who is using AI, where, and for what?
- AI guardrails: What sensitive data is going where, and is it protected before it leaves the building?
- Consistency: Are different teams getting wildly different outputs from wildly different tools?
- A clear roadmap: Where is all of this going in 12, 24, and 36 months?
If you’re the advisor walking in with these four questions, you are not selling tools anymore. You are guiding strategy. That is a fundamentally different relationship—and a fundamentally different revenue trajectory.
How the Three Themes Work Together
- Theme one opens the door.
- Theme two expands the opportunity.
- Theme three elevates the conversation.
You don’t need to use all three in every meeting. Simply takinga quick read of where the customer actually is will tell you which theme to lead with. Foundation gaps? Start at theme one. Foundation solid but workflows still manual? Theme two. Already deploying AI in pockets across the business? Go straight to theme three before someone else does.
You’re not selling AI. You’re guiding the strategy. That’s the difference between a quote and a relationship.
Why This Is the Moment
Every customer will haveAI conversations this year. The question is whether those conversations are scattered or structured.
- Scattered conversations lead to tool sprawl, security gaps, and AI initiatives that quietly stall out.
- Structured conversations lead to outcomes—measurable ones, tied to real business priorities, with a path that the customer can actually follow.
The advisors who master AI conversations with customers 2026 are going to look back in two years on a very different book of business.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to become an AI expert overnight. The key is to leadAI conversations with structure when nobody else is doing it.
That’s something every advisor reading this can do starting on Monday.
FAQ: Questions Technology Advisors Are Asking
Why should technology advisors start AI conversations at the communications stack?
AI depends on connected, high-quality interaction data. If voice, chat, messaging, and CRM aren’t integrated, AI can’t reliably act on customer signals, and ROI is limited. By focusing on the communications stack, advisors can identify foundational needs to ensure smooth deployments and optimal outcomes.
What is AI sprawl?
AI sprawl, or shadow AI, happens when different teams adopt AI tools independently—without governance, visibility, or standards. The result is inconsistent outputs, rising costs, security gaps, and no clear roadmap.
What’s the difference between AI that answers and AI that acts?
AI that answers provides information or suggestions. AI that acts completes tasks: updating records, triggering workflows, routing customers, and automating steps across systems. That’s where organizations see real business outcomes.
How can advisors help customers avoid AI sprawl?
Advisors can help avoid AI sprawl by leading with questions around visibility into AI use, data guardrails, consistency across tools, and AI roadmapping. This approach will move the conversation from tools to strategy.
Telarus: Optimizing AI Strategy for Technology Advisors
This is exactly the kind of work the Telarus CX & AI team is built for. We’re in customer rooms alongside advisors every week—navigating these conversations, mapping the right suppliers to real business problems, and making sure the strategy on paper translates to outcomes in production.
So, if you’re a Telarus advisor and you’re ready to start leading these conversations, reach out. We’ll get on the phone, look at your accounts together, and figure out where to start. And if you’re a technology advisor not yet partnered with Telarus and any of this resonates, let’s talk— this is the kind of enablement we wake up thinking about.
AI is not slowing down. The advisors who lead these conversations are the ones who will define this market. Let’s go.
Ready to lead AI conversations with confidence?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Samantha Nelson
Samantha Nelson is Vice President of CX & AI at Telarus, bringing more than a decade of sales and advisory experience to the technology sector. She specializes in helping organizations navigate AI adoption, transform customer experience, and align technology with measurable business outcomes. Samantha is known for leading industry workshops and interactive sessions that equip technology advisors with actionable frameworks and consultative strategies.