The Monterey Company uses AI for research, not relationships
Eric Turney, Sales & Marketing Director at The Monterey Company, discusses how the custom merchandise business uses AI to analyze search data and organize content ideas. The conversation looks at why the team keeps customer email writing human, how customers arrive better informed, and what the company is watching as AI assistants become another discovery channel.
Use AI on real tasks that involve handling information, but keep people accountable for customer relationships and final work. Track which channels bring actual customers, and do not mistake promises of AI search rankings for a practical strategy.
What’s the quick origin story of your business, and what makes what you do genuinely different from the other options your customers are looking at?
The Monterey Company started in 1989, and I joined as a sales rep in 2017 before working my way into ownership. Customers have plenty of places to buy custom merchandise. What we focus on is helping them make the right choices about materials, design, and production, then having someone accountable for getting the order right.
Where does most of your new business come from today, and where do you wish it came from?
Google search is our largest source of new business today, and we’ve put a lot of work into content that answers real customer questions. I’d like a larger share to come from referrals and customers asking for us by name. I’m also working on making sure we appear when people ask AI assistants for supplier recommendations.
What’s one thing you’ve actually handed over to AI in the last year, and one thing you tried it on and went back to doing the human way?
One task we’ve handed over is the first pass at analyzing search data and organizing content ideas. It helps turn a large amount of information into something we can act on. We tried using it for customer email replies, but brought the final writing back to our team. My rule is to use AI to handle information while keeping people responsible for relationships.
Have you noticed a change in how customers find you or what they already know before they reach out? Is anyone arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT yet?
Customers seem to arrive with more research already done. They may know which material or production method they want, but still need help deciding whether it fits their project. We’re paying attention to ChatGPT and other AI assistants as discovery channels, though I don’t yet have a reliable count of customers coming from them.
If you were advising someone in your industry on all of this for the next 12 months, what would you tell them to actually do, and what would you tell them to ignore?
I’d tell them to learn AI by using it on a real task every week, whether that’s reviewing sales data, researching customer questions, or drafting content. Keep a person checking the work and handling customer relationships. For search, make your website clear about what you sell, who it’s for, and how ordering works, then track which channels bring actual customers. Ignore guaranteed ChatGPT rankings, shortcuts, and the pressure to buy every new AI tool.
Thank you to Eric Turney and the team at The Monterey Company for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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