Checklist: an AI agent in 2 weeks — how to start without the pain

Q: What do you need to prepare BEFORE day one of the pilot?

Three things. Access: an API token to the CRM (read-only is enough for discovery) and access to 20-50 historical leads. An internal owner: one person (usually the COO or Head of Sales) who holds all the decisions for the duration of the pilot. Qualification rules: a written document, or at least the bullet points — what a hot lead is, what a junk lead is, where your prices are, and which discounts can be given without escalation.

Q: How much of the team's time does the pilot really take?

10-15 hours over 2 weeks, split across several people. The COO or Head of Sales — 6-8 hours (kickoff consultation, kickoff, prompt review, weekly syncs, ad-hoc decisions). The CTO / IT — 1 hour (granting access, technical verification). The CEO — 1 hour (final demo, optional). Sales team managers — 30 minutes for a demo. The rest is on our side.

Q: What should you do with the managers during the AI agent launch?

Tell them before the launch, not after. The framing: "The AI takes the first line — qualification and initial communication. You get qualified leads instead of raw ones, and you can work more deeply with those who are genuinely ready to buy. The bonus system doesn't change — it stays tied to conversion into a deal, as before." After this explanation, 80% of managers react neutrally or positively, 15% are skeptical, and 5% are actively opposed.

Q: What happens if the pilot doesn't turn out successful?

At the start, we agree together on the success metrics (response speed, conversion, customer feedback) and the exit conditions. If the metrics aren't met within 30 days, we stop the pilot on the agreed terms, with no loose ends. We discuss the exact pilot fee structure in a 30-minute consultation tailored to your case. Once a quarter we make a "callback" to companies where the pilot didn't work out — in 30-40% of cases the situation changes within 6 months and a second pilot succeeds.

This checklist is for those who have decided to give it a try — or who have been asked to prepare an internal proposal for the CEO. I'll show you what a two-week pilot at Grow2.ai looks like day by day, what's needed from your team, and where the biggest risk of derailment is. No presentations or pretty diagrams — the real logistics.

Days 1-2: Discovery and access

What we do: a 30-minute call with you (or with whoever will be the internal owner of the pilot); analysis of 20-50 of your historical leads; a technical check of your CRM (Bitrix24 / Pipedrive / HubSpot / monday / Salesforce / Kommo / Zoho / KeyCRM / NetHunt).

What's needed from you:

30 minutes of the COO's or Head of Sales's time for the call;
read-only access to the CRM (a temporary API token);
access to 20-50 historical leads;
a CTO/IT contact for a 15-minute verification.

Risk: delays with access. If the CRM admin is on vacation or the CTO can't issue a token quickly, the pilot stalls at the start. Prepare access on day 0.

Days 3-5: Prompt engineering + integration

What we do: we create the first version of the system prompt based on your voice and qualification rules; we integrate the agent with the CRM via API; we set up the LLM supervisor (Layer 2 of protection); A/B branching — 80% of traffic stays with the managers, 20% goes to the agent.

What's needed from you:

2 hours of the COO / Head of Sales for a review of the first prompt version;
a list of the key qualification rules;
a price list or source of truth for prices.

Risk: undefined qualification rules. If the sales team itself can't clearly articulate "what a hot lead is," the pilot will stop here. Spend 1-2 hours to formalize this — otherwise you'll spend a week on it later.

Days 6-9: Training and soft-launch

What we do: we train the agent on your historical leads; we launch A/B on 20% of real traffic; we monitor in real time (customer feedback, response time, escalation rate, error rate); a weekly sync with your team (1 hour).

What's needed from you:

1 hour for a 30-minute demo for the sales team;
1 hour for the first weekly sync;
quick decisions on ad-hoc requests.

Risk: sabotage from the managers. If the team doesn't know that you're launching AI and why, you'll get a panic of "the bot will fire me." Tell the team on day 5-6, BEFORE the launch.

Days 10-14: Scale and finalization

What we do: if the metrics are okay, we scale up to 50-80% of traffic; if there are failures, we fix the prompt and repeat the A/B; we prepare the final report; discussion: move to a full rollout or continue the pilot.

What's needed from you:

2-4 hours of the COO/Head of Sales for ad-hoc decisions;
1 hour for a final demo call for the CEO/board (optional);
a decision: scale up to 100% or extend the pilot for another 2 weeks.

What the results might be on day 14

The "green" scenario (~40% of cases): metrics are positive (time-to-response dropped 10x or more, conversion is stable or higher, escalation rate < 15%). We move to a full rollout.

The "yellow" scenario (~40% of cases): metrics are mixed — speed yes, but conversion is slightly lower or there are more complaints. Extend the pilot for 2 weeks. In 60-70% of cases it moves to "green" after the extension.

The "red" scenario (~20% of cases): it didn't work out. Either your niche is too specific, or the volume is insufficient, or there's CRM chaos. We stop the pilot and record the reasons and exit conditions as agreed at the start.

Frequently asked questions

What do you need to prepare BEFORE day one of the pilot?

Three things. Access: an API token to the CRM (read-only is enough for discovery) and access to 20-50 historical leads. An internal owner: one person (usually the COO or Head of Sales) who holds all the decisions for the duration of the pilot. Qualification rules: a written document, or at least the bullet points — what a hot lead is, what a junk lead is, where your prices are, and which discounts can be given without escalation.

How much of the team's time does the pilot really take?

10-15 hours over 2 weeks, split across several people. The COO or Head of Sales — 6-8 hours (kickoff consultation, kickoff, prompt review, weekly syncs, ad-hoc decisions). The CTO / IT — 1 hour (granting access, technical verification). The CEO — 1 hour (final demo, optional). Sales team managers — 30 minutes for a demo. The rest is on our side.

What should you do with the managers during the AI agent launch?

Tell them before the launch, not after. The framing: "The AI takes the first line — qualification and initial communication. You get qualified leads instead of raw ones, and you can work more deeply with those who are genuinely ready to buy. The bonus system doesn't change — it stays tied to conversion into a deal, as before." After this explanation, 80% of managers react neutrally or positively, 15% are skeptical, and 5% are actively opposed.

What happens if the pilot doesn't turn out successful?

At the start, we agree together on the success metrics (response speed, conversion, customer feedback) and the exit conditions. If the metrics aren't met within 30 days, we stop the pilot on the agreed terms, with no loose ends. We discuss the exact pilot fee structure in a 30-minute consultation tailored to your case. Once a quarter we make a "callback" to companies where the pilot didn't work out — in 30-40% of cases the situation changes within 6 months and a second pilot succeeds.