The Mech-AE Playbook

When I look back at my life as an AE, I wonder how I got by.

It’s one of those “you don’t know what you don’t know” moments and I’m glad I didn’t. Because back then, none of this was even possible. If they had, I’d have realised just how manual and inefficient my life really was.

Today, that version of me would be obsolete.

The admin. The missed signals. The time spent chasing and rebuilding lists. All of it… gone in the world we now sell in.

We’re now in the PEG era — Profitable Efficient Growth.

Salesforce popularised the Predictable Revenue Model and that model is officially DEAD. 

PEG, in short, is profitable growth by design, efficient growth by technology. 
It turns signals, speed and systems into your competitive edge.
The days of blasting your TAM with generic sequences? Over
Spending days doing researching accounts and building campaigns from scratch? Done
Worrying about siloed tools and two-week-old signals? No longer a worry
We no longer scale by adding headcount
We leverage automation, AI and workflows to achieve more with what we have today.

And it’s happening faster than most people realise.

This post by Sam Jacobs summed it up perfectly:
You’ve got 12 months to become an “AI-native” GTM pro — or get left behind.

Edition 2 of this Mech-AE series is here to help you do that.

Let’s get tactical.

Tactic 1: Discovery That Uncovers Budget

(And Builds Your Personal AI Deal Analyst)

The Old Way:
Ask surface-level questions. Take some notes. Hope something sticks.

The Mech-AE Way:
Use AI before and after every discovery call to extract pain, analyse deal quality, and map out next steps.

Here’s how it works:

Before the Call: Build Your Prep Engine

Before every discovery, I spin up a fresh GPT project for that deal. Click ‘New Project’ on the side panel.

I give it:

• The company website

• Who I’m speaking with

• Any known context or trigger

Then I use this prompt to get immediate intelligence:

Prompt:

You're a world-class enterprise sales coach, former VP of Sales, and expert in MEDDIC and strategic discovery.                

I have an upcoming discovery call with [Name], [Title] at [Company Name] – their website is [Company URL].  

Analyse their site and public content. Then give me:  
1. 3 likely strategic priorities or business challenges they’re facing 
2. 3 discovery questions that uncover business impact or potential budget 
3. 1 unique POV or insight I can bring into the call to add value  Keep it tight. Format clearly. Assume this is a £100k+ deal and I want to sound sharp, not generic.

This gives you signal-rich, relevant prep — in 90 seconds.

After the Call: Get a MEDDIC-Based Deal Review

Once the call is done, I upload the transcript into GPT.

Prompt:

Act as a world-class VP of Sales, expert in enterprise deal coaching and MEDDIC qualification.

You’re reviewing my discovery call with [Name], [Title] at [Company] as if this were a forecast call.
 
[Upload the transcript or detailed call notes here]

Analyse and respond with:

1. **Deal Score (1–10)** – How strong is this opportunity and why?
2. **MEDDIC Review** – Fill in what we’ve learned so far:
   - Metrics:  
   - Economic Buyer:  
   - Decision Criteria:  
   - Decision Process:  
   - Identify Pain:  
   - Champion:  
3. **Red Flags / Gaps** – What’s missing? What’s unclear? Where’s the risk?
4. **Next 2 Tactical Moves** – What should I do next to progress or disqualify?

Be direct, specific, and use bullet points. This is a £100k+ deal and time matters.

You’ll walk away with:

• A deal score

• A full MEDDIC breakdown

• Specific guidance on what’s missing

• A real opinion on whether it’s worth progressing

This is how you turn discovery into insights.

For the Next Call: 5 Questions That Separate Amateurs from Closers

Use the insights from your AI review to drive sharper qualification. Your second call should confirm urgency, surface objections, and expose decision logic.

Ask a follow up question: Based on the transcript and MEDDIC analysis, give me 5 high-impact questions I should ask on the next call that will help me progress the deal

Here are 5 questions that do just that:

1. “You mentioned [X challenge] — can you quantify the impact if it’s not solved this quarter?”
 → Exposes real business pain and urgency

2. “When a solution like this has been bought internally before, who typically gets involved?”
 → Maps decision process and avoids vague ‘economic buyer’ answers

3. “Let’s say everything checks out — how would you get this approved internally?”
 → Uncovers the actual path to signature

4. “Is anyone internally really driving this or pushing to solve it quickly?”
 → Helps surface your potential champion

5. “If budget wasn’t a constraint, would you already be moving forward — or is there something else in the way?”
 → Tests budget readiness and uncovers hidden objections

Tactic 2: Clone Your Best Deal & Build a Lookalike List

The Old Way:
Chase random logos from a TAM list. Build sequences. Pray something hits.

The Mech-AE Way:
Take your most winnable deal. Reverse-engineer it. Then use AI to find 50 more just like it — instantly.

Every AE has that one golden deal.

It closed fast. It made sense. You and the buyer connected.
The problem? Most reps just move on and hope they stumble onto another like it.

Mech-AEs don’t hope.

They clone.

Step 1: Pick Your Best Deal

Go into your CRM and find a recent closed-won that hit your ideal:

• Solid ACV

• Clear problem-solution fit

• Decent sales velocity

• Low drama, high impact

Grab:

• Company name & website

• Industry

• Tech stack

• Job titles involved

• Trigger events that kicked it off

• Public content (case studies, blog posts, hiring pages, news, etc.)

Step 2: Feed It Into GPT (or ideally L2 Clay)

Prompt:

Act as a go-to-market analyst and expert list creator.

Here’s a recent closed-won deal I had:  
- Company: [Name] 
- Website: [URL] 
- Industry: [X] 
- Persona: [Who I sold to] 
- Trigger: [e.g. expansion, hiring, funding] 
- Problem we solved: [1 sentence]  

Based on this, give me: 
1. A list of shared traits that made this a winnable deal 
2. A profile I can use to find 20+ lookalike companies 
3. Suggested signal triggers to watch for 

If you’re using Clay, you can map this into a workflow with filters and enrichment to auto-generate your next 50 targets.

Why This Works

Because most reps waste time chasing accounts that will never close.
This flips it: start with what’s proven, then scale only what matches it.

You’ll:

• Spend less time prospecting

• Build better outreach

• Get more pipeline with fewer dead leads

Pro tip:
If you’re early-stage and don’t have closed-won data — clone based on your best discovery call instead. Run the same prompt with what you think made it qualified.

Tactic 3: Revive Ghosted Deals with Unique Insight-Based Follow-Up

The Old Way:
Send a “just checking in” email. Get ignored. Wait another week. Repeat.

The Mech-AE Way:
Use unique real-time signals + AI to inject fresh relevance

Every AE has that one deal that should have moved — but then…

Silence.

Ghosting is brutal. But most reps make it worse by following up with… nothing.

What Mech-AEs Do Differently

They don’t follow up.
They follow up with insight.

Here’s how, with Clay. GPT or Google Alerts won’t be able to surface this level of insight.

If you're using Clay, you can go way deeper than public news.

These aren’t “saw you raised funding” triggers. These are deep signals that prove "now's the time to reach out."

Here are 5 unique trigger types Mech-AEs track — with examples you can plug straight into Clay workflows:

1. Hiring Movements That Reveal GTM Priorities

• Company just opened 3+ roles with “pipeline”, “revenue operations”, or “inbound” in the description

• New AE headcount added after a CSM hire (signs of post-sale bottlenecks being fixed)

• Increase in engineering headcount (signals product build velocity)

• Hiring for your persona (means they feel that pain internally)

• Job ad keyword search and language mirrors pain your product solves (e.g. “we need to improve outbound conversion rates”)

2. Website Shifts That Show Strategic Direction

• Brand-new case study uploaded for a customer in your ICP or region

• Messaging changed from “features” to “ROI” — they’re moving upmarket

• A new “Industries” tab appears — they’re verticalising (and you’ve already won in that vertical)

3. Tech Stack Patterns That Signal Tool Gaps

• They just added a tool that you integrate with you have 5 case studies

• Their CRM is under 2 years old + SDR headcount just doubled

• New addition of tools you complement
  
  Clay + Enrichment tools like BuiltWith or G2 integration can surface this.

4. Leadership Moves That Trigger Evaluation Windows

• New CRO joined in the last 60 days + board advisor with GTM focus added

• VP of RevOps left — and nobody’s replaced them

• AE promoted internally and other AE’s are all under 6 months in seat

5. Content Signals That Hint at Internal Pain

• New blog post titled “Why We’re Rebuilding Our Outbound Playbook”

• Hosted a webinar about pipeline velocity — but no mention of how they execute

• CMO quoted in a podcast saying, “We’re focusing more on efficiency this year”

Pro tip:
In Clay, stack 2–3 of these together and give each combo a score.

Tactic 4: Build Your AI Analyst (And Call Your Own BS)

The Old Way:
Roll into forecast call with emotion, hope, and a few padded close dates.

The Mech-AE Way:
Run your top deals through your AI deal analyst — and get brutally honest, before anyone else does.

So stop waiting to get exposed and start preempting it.

What Mech-AEs Do

Each Friday, they pick their top 3–5 deals.

They write a full summary for each one, not just stage or close date, but:

• Internal concerns

• Objections raised

• Known gaps (EB, timeline, champion)

• Their own gut feeling

(This is a great opportunity to reflect and be honest about your deal. It will help you think about it more clearly)

Then they paste it into GPT and ask:

Prompt:

Act as a VP of Sales reviewing this deal for Q3 forecast. 

Here’s the full context: [paste summary, upload recent call transcripts]  

Tell me: 
- Where I’m strong   
- Where I’m exposed   
- What next move I must make   
- Whether this closes or not 
— and why

The output?
A straight-up callout on what’s real and what’s wishful.

Here’s your challenge this week:

Pick one of the four tactics and run it.

If it worked? Do it again.

Because that’s how the 16% pull ahead — they learn and take action.

Next up in Edition 3:

“Beyond Mech-AE: How to Become Irreplaceable in the AI Era”

We’ll go beyond workflows — and show you how to:

• Build your internal brand

• Become the strategic voice in your deals

• Use AI to upskill and outpace

• Shift from rep to revenue consultant

Let’s keep building.

– Stephen

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