How Do I Start Using AI? Stop Choosing Tools. Start Recording.

By Meng Teck, Founder of ABC Sales AI

Almost every week, someone asks me the same question.

"Meng Teck, I want to start using AI. Which tool should I use? ChatGPT? Which one is best?"

And almost every week, I give an answer they do not expect.

Stop choosing tools. Start recording.

Let me explain, because this one idea will save you months of going in circles.

You do not have a tool problem. You have a memory problem.

Here is what most people get wrong about AI. They think the hard part is picking the right software. So they spend weeks comparing tools, watching YouTube reviews, signing up for free trials, and at the end they have five apps and still no results.

The truth is simpler. AI is only as smart as what you feed it. And most people feed it nothing, because they never kept a record of anything.

Think about your own day. The sales call where you handled an objection perfectly. The idea you had in the shower. The reason a customer said no. The thing that made you close a big deal on Tuesday but not on Wednesday. Where is all of that now?

Gone. In your head. Forgotten by next week.

You cannot ask AI to help you with something you never captured. So the first move is not choosing a tool. It is building a habit: record everything.

Start with the cheapest tools you already own

You do not need to spend a single ringgit to start. You already have everything.

Your phone has a voice recorder. Use it.

Here is the starter kit I give people:

1. A daily voice diary. At the end of each day, open your voice recorder and talk for two minutes. What happened today. What went well. What annoyed you. What you are thinking about. Do not write. Just talk. Talking is faster and you will actually do it.

2. Your work conversations. If you sell, record your sales calls (openly, and I will come back to that). If you run meetings, record them. These are gold. Your best selling happens in real conversations, and right now that gold evaporates the moment the call ends.

3. Your numbers. Keep a simple sheet. Daily sales. How many leads. How you felt that day, even. One row a day. That is all.

That is it. No fancy tool. No subscription. Just a growing pile of recordings and notes about your own life and work.

At this point you might think, "But Meng Teck, I am not doing anything with all this. What is the point?"

The point comes next, and it is the part almost nobody understands.

The magic is not today. It is in the pattern.

One recording is just a recording. But 60 days of recordings? That is data about YOU. And AI is very, very good at finding patterns in data that humans cannot see.

Let me give you real examples from my own life.

I used to think my sales performance was random. Some days good, some days bad, who knows why. But when I looked back at my own notes over time, I saw it. On days I went to the gym hard the day before a big presentation, I was tired and I closed less. On days I was relaxed and rested, I closed more. Small thing. But once I saw the pattern, I changed my routine. No heavy gym two days before anything important.

Another one. I noticed my best ideas came when I was walking, not when I was sitting at my desk forcing it. So I started taking walks on purpose when I needed to think.

You will never see these patterns by trying to remember. Your memory is too short and too biased. But feed a few months of honest records to a smart AI and ask it "what do my best days have in common," and it will tell you things about yourself you never noticed.

That is the real power. Not "AI writes my email." AI shows you the truth about your own patterns, so you can do more of what works and less of what does not.

From your personal loop to your business

Now here is where it gets interesting, especially if you run a business.

Once you have recordings of what works, you can turn them into a playbook. The way you handled that objection becomes a script. The routine on your best days becomes a rule. The steps that led to your biggest sale become a process you can repeat.

And once it is written down as a process, two doors open. You can train your people on it, so they perform the way your best day performs. Or you can let AI run it. Either way, you have escaped the trap of everything living only in your head.

This is the whole secret to scaling anything. It is not magic. It is: record what works, find the pattern, turn it into a repeatable process, then multiply it. I call this the Scaling Loop, and I have written about it separately if you want to go deeper. Read about the Scaling Loop here.

One important rule about recording other people

Before you run off and record everything, one serious point.

When you record other people, your staff or your customers, do it openly. Tell your team you are recording for training and improvement. Put up a simple notice for customers where needed. Follow the data protection rules in your country. Never record people secretly. The goal is to improve, not to spy, and doing it honestly is both the right thing and the thing that keeps your team on your side.

So, where do you start?

Not with a tool. With a habit.

Tonight, open your voice recorder and talk for two minutes about your day. Tomorrow, do it again. Record your next sales call, openly. Start one simple numbers sheet. In two months, you will have something most business owners never have: an honest record of how you actually work.

Then, when you are ready to find the patterns, that is the easy part. That is exactly what we built our AI Manager to do for businesses: it reads everything your business is already recording in its conversations and shows you where the money is leaking and what your best performers do differently. But that comes later. When you are ready, see how it works.

For now, just start recording. Everything else is built on top of that.

Frequently asked questions

What is the first step to using AI in my business?

Start recording what you already do: your sales calls, meetings, daily reflections, and key numbers. AI can only help with what you capture. Choosing a tool comes after you have something to analyse.

Do I need to buy special software to start?

No. Your phone's voice recorder and a simple spreadsheet are enough to begin. The habit of recording matters far more than the tool.

What can AI actually do with my recordings?

With enough records over time, AI can surface patterns you cannot see yourself, such as what your best sales days have in common, why customers say no, or which routines improve your performance.

Is it legal to record my staff and customers?

Record openly, inform your team and customers, and follow your country's data protection rules. Never record secretly. Done transparently, recording for training and improvement is both fair and effective.