There's a new tool called Gojiberry. For $99/month, it monitors LinkedIn 24/7, detects people interacting with your competitors, and sends them automated messages.
It's clever. It works. And that's exactly the problem.
Because if you don't understand why targeting people who comment on your competitors' posts is a good strategy, you'll never be able to improve it. You're just a customer paying $99/month for a black box.
The day the tool changes its algorithm, raises its prices, or disappears — you're back to zero. You haven't learned a thing.
What an 18-Year-Old Student Can Teach Us
A history teacher recently shared a fascinating conversation with one of his top students. He asked her how she actually does research.
Her answer is a strategy masterclass disguised as a study method:
"Once you come upon one good source, the best way to find the next best thing is to use that source to find other sources."
She doesn't search randomly. She follows a thread. Each discovery leads to the next. And most importantly, she notes why each source matters — not just that it exists.
When asked if AI should help with brainstorming, her answer is counterintuitive:
"It's the worst time to use AI, because it becomes difficult to differentiate your own original ideas from what you've read through AI."
In other words: if AI thinks for you at the start, you lose the ability to think for yourself later.
Strategy Is What AI Can't Do for You
Let's come back to LinkedIn prospecting. Gojiberry's strategy rests on a simple but powerful idea:
People who interact with your competitors already have an identified need.
That's a buying intent signal. Not perfect, but far stronger than classic cold outreach. When you understand that, you can:
- Choose which competitors to monitor — not all of them, only those whose customers look like yours
- Distinguish strong signals from weak ones — a "nice post" comment vs a specific question about pricing
- Tailor your message to the signal — someone who just raised funding doesn't have the same needs as someone changing roles
- Improve your approach over time — test, measure, adjust
No tool can do that for you. The tool executes. You strategize.
Why Playbooks Must Show Their Work
This is exactly the philosophy behind AskMojo playbooks.
A playbook isn't a magic button that produces a result. It's a process broken down into visible steps, where each step has a clear purpose:
- Step 1: Define your ICP → Not "give me leads", but "who is your ideal customer and why?"
- Step 2: Identify signals → What behaviors indicate buying intent in YOUR market?
- Step 3: Craft the approach → What angle works for THIS specific signal?
- Step 4: Iterate → What worked? Why? How to do better?
Every step is documented. Every choice is explainable. And that's why result number 50 is 10 times better than result number 1: because you understand what's happening and you refine it.
Harvard calls this "Visible Thinking" — making the thinking visible rather than hiding it behind a polished result. It's an idea that's decades old and has never been more relevant than today.
Automation in Service of Strategy — Never the Other Way Around
The real power isn't in automation itself. It's in the loop:
Strategy → Playbook → Execution → Results → Reflection → Better Strategy
If you skip the reflection, the loop is broken. You automate the same thing forever, even when it stops working.
The best entrepreneurs using AI aren't the ones who automate the most. They're the ones who best understand what they're automating.
That's the difference between:
- Using a tool → dependency
- Understanding a craft → autonomy
What This Means in Practice
Next time you set up an AI automation — whether for prospecting, content, customer support, or anything else:
- Write the strategy first. Why this approach? What problem does it solve? For whom?
- Break it into steps. Each step needs a clear "why."
- Measure and reflect. Not just "it worked" but "why it worked and how to do better."
- Improve your playbooks. A good playbook evolves. A bad playbook stays frozen.
AI is an extraordinary amplifier. But it amplifies what you put in. If you put in strategy, you get compounding results. If you put in nothing, you get nothing — very fast.
At AskMojo, we build playbooks that show their work. Not black boxes that make promises. Because a tool you understand is a tool you can improve — and that's where real value is created.