Vibe coding for sales enablement? (Exit Five Newsletter)

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TOGETHER WITH AHREFS

❓ How do you know if you’re showing up in AI search results?

63% of websites are getting traffic from AI Search right now. Are you?

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews. These are the new gatekeepers of brand visibility. If you’re not showing up in their answers, you’re invisible.

That’s where Ahrefs’ Brand Radar comes in. It’s SEO monitoring reinvented for the LLM era, showing you exactly what AI is saying about your brand (and your competitors) so you can stay ahead.

Ahref’s Brand Radar gives you:

• The largest AI visibility dataset – 100M+ prompts across 6 AI indexes (AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot).
• A 360° view of your brand – Track your brand's health across AI platforms, search demand, and web signals that drive AI answers.
• Real data, not synthetic prompts – Ahrefs uses actual questions and PAAs from their 110B keyword database, unlike competitors who rely on AI-generated prompts.
• Not just branded terms – Monitor real-time visibility across topics, products, regions, and categories.
• Actionable opportunities – Spot coverage gaps in AI answers and AI citations to position your brand across every relevant conversation in your niche.

With 63% of websites already getting traffic from AI search, this isn’t the “future of SEO.” It’s happening now.

Find out where you stand in AI search and how to get ahead.

Build Your Own ROI Calculator In 3 Hours (No Dev Team Required)

You know there’s a lot being written about vibe coding right now; and a lot of it is hype. But there are a few things that come through that we think damn, that really is a great idea. And one of the big things I like to hear about vibe coding is when marketers can create useful tools on their own without having to find development resources.

This week we’re profiling an example of a tool that Jessica Lytle built for sales enablement; she created an ROI calculator for a safety construction software company in 1 afternoon. Now their AEs are running live ROI calculations on discovery calls, prospects are downloading stakeholder-ready PDFs, and deals are moving faster than ever.

Here’s the story…

Generic Tools Don't Build Business Cases

Most ROI calculators are…

• Too generic to be believable
• Too obviously rigged to always favor your solution
• Too complicated for prospects to actually use
• Too buried in your website to find when they need it

But Jessica built something that prospects could actually use to make a real business case internally, even if they didn't buy her software.

The key insight: if you help them solve their problem (quantifying their pain), they'll trust you to solve their bigger problem (the thing you actually sell).

The Framework: 3 Steps to ROI Calculator Success

Step 1: Map the Real Costs (Not Just the Obvious Ones)

In this case, don’t just focus on the direct costs of safety incidents. Map out the complete financial picture:

Direct Costs:

• Average cost per safety incident ($30-50K industry average)
• Annual incident rates by company size
• Regulatory fines and penalties

Hidden Costs:

• Worker productivity loss during incidents
• Training replacement workers
• Increased insurance premiums
• Project delays and timeline impacts

The magic happened with "helpful text" that highlights industry benchmarks. If someone didn't know their exact numbers, they could see "Industry average: 3-5 incidents per 100 workers annually" and get a realistic baseline.

This kind of transparency builds trust. Instead of fishing for numbers to plug into a black box, prospects felt like they were using a legitimate business tool.

Step 2: Show the Path to Better (With Real Efficiency Gains)

Here's where most calculators fail. They promise impossible improvements or use made-up efficiency gains.

Use actual customer data. For example, Get 30-60% efficiency improvements with this safety software. Real numbers from real customers.

But don’t just show savings. Show the full path:

• Current state costs (what they calculated in step 1)
• Efficiency improvements (based on real customer data)
• Net impact after software costs

The calculator literally shows prospects: "You're losing $200K annually with your current program. Our software costs $50K but saves you $100K. Net benefit: $50K in year one."

Step 3: Make It Stakeholder-Ready

The output isn't just numbers on a screen. It's a downloadable PDF that prospects can take to their CFO with:

• Clear breakdown of current costs
• Transparent calculation methodology
• Realistic savings projections
• Implementation timeline

Showing your work builds credibility.

The Lovable Build Process (Start to Finish)

Time investment: This calculator took about 3-4 hours total, including debugging.

The initial prompt: "I want an ROI calculator for safety directors in construction. It should help them estimate their current safety-related costs and potential savings from using safety compliance software. Here's the math and logic for how it should calculate..."

The process:

• First version: Basic calculator with all fields on one page
• Second version: Step-by-step form (better user experience)
• Third version: Added industry benchmarks and helpful text
• Final version: Stakeholder-ready PDF export

Pro tips:

• Use Claude or ChatGPT to refine your prompts before putting them into Lovable
• Chat with Lovable first about your requirements before using credits
• Start with a clear vision of the output format you want

How Sales Is Actually Using This

Live on discovery calls: AEs pull it up during demos and walk through the calculation with prospects in real-time. Instead of theoretical ROI discussions, they're building actual business cases together.

At trade shows: They have it running on screens at their booth. Prospects can calculate their costs on the spot and walk away with a PDF.

In follow-up sequences: Instead of generic nurture emails, they're sending personalized ROI calculations based on information gathered during initial conversations.

The result: prospects show up to follow-up calls already bought into the business case because they helped build it.

Why This Actually Works

Transparency over manipulation: Instead of black box calculations designed to make your solution look perfect, this shows real numbers and methodology.

Education over selling: The calculator teaches prospects how to think about their costs, regardless of whether they buy your solution.

Stakeholder enablement: The PDF gives champions what they need to sell internally, complete with industry benchmarks and clear calculations.

Real-time flexibility: Sales can adjust inputs during conversations instead of relying on generic scenarios.

You Don’t Need To Be Technical To Build Your Own Calculator

"But I'm not technical..." You don’t need to be.

You just need to know:

• What questions to ask prospects
• How the math should work
• What the output should look like

ROI calculators are in the sweet spot of "complex enough to be valuable, simple enough to build without coding skills."

Your ROI Calculator Playbook

Step 1: Map Your Value Equation

• What specific costs does your solution reduce?
• What efficiency improvements do real customers see?
• What industry benchmarks can you reference?

Step 2: Design the User Journey

• What's the minimum information needed for a useful calculation?
• How can you provide helpful defaults for unknowns?
• What format does the output need for internal sharing?

Step 3: Build and Test

• Start with Claude/ChatGPT to refine your requirements
• Use Lovable to build the actual calculator
• Test with friendly customers before rolling out to sales

Step 4: Enable Your Team

• Train sales on when and how to use it
• Create scenarios for different conversation stages
• Build it into your follow-up processes

The bottom line? This isn't just about building calculators. It’s about what’s possible when marketing can build tools without waiting for engineering resources.

Your prospects need help quantifying their problems. Your sales team needs better tools to have value-driven conversations. Now you know how to build both in an afternoon.

This is what I love about the AI stuff right now - it’s not about replacing marketers, but making us more useful! More full stack! Let’s create more things on our own without having to wait for dev/design…

– Dave

PS. Do you have an example of something you’ve vibe coded or created for marketing? Reply back and let me know here, maybe we can feature you in a future newsletter? Or just reply back and say hey, I love reading the replies. Makes me feel good for a minute before I am back into Slack and meetings…

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

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📚 LATEST CONTENT

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• 📰 How to Lead a High Functioning Marketing Org
• 📰 Marketing Is Broken: Why You’re So Busy and Still Not Getting Anything Done
• 📰 How to Put On a Virtual Event People Actually Want to Attend

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