This week, we hosted an actionable, insight-rich webinar titled “5 AI & No-Code Automations You Can Ship This Week” — and the response was overwhelming. Presented by Olivia Milton, a highly sought-after Fractional CMO and AI-powered growth strategist, the session walked through exactly how small and mid-sized businesses can use automation to grow faster — not just work faster.
If you’re a founder, marketer, or operator juggling too many tools and not enough time, this webinar was built for you. Below is a comprehensive recap to help you get started even if you missed the live event.
The Big Picture: Why AI + No-Code Is the Future of SMB Growth
Olivia opened the session with a powerful insight: automation is the new growth engine for SMBs, especially in an era of lean teams, rising costs, and aggressive competition. What was once the domain of large companies with engineering teams is now fully accessible to scrappy startups and small businesses — thanks to AI and no-code platforms like Make.com.
She outlined three macro trends that are converging:
- AI democratization: Tools like ChatGPT have made machine intelligence accessible without any ML background.
- No-code maturity: Platforms like Make.com, Airtable, and Zapier now rival what developers can build — visually and intuitively.
- Tool fragmentation: SMBs are using more tools than ever, and automation is the key to making them work together, without hiring ops teams.
In short, the webinar showed that you don’t need engineers — you need a plan. And Olivia delivered exactly that.
5 Automations That Unlock Revenue, Not Just Time
The heart of the webinar was a walkthrough of 5 ready-to-deploy automation workflows, each tied directly to a business objective — whether that’s capturing leads faster, increasing conversions, or keeping customers from churning. Each automation included:
- What it does and why it matters
- The exact stack used, mostly free or freemium
- The Make.com blueprint (shown live and included in the template bundle)
- The KPI it improves so you can measure ROI
Here are a few of the most popular automations covered:
1. Instant Lead Follow-Up
The problem: Many businesses wait hours (or days) to reply to leads — and that delay kills conversions.
The automation: As soon as a lead submits a form (via Webflow, Typeform, etc.), Make.com triggers an AI-personalized email and includes a booking link via Calendly.
Stack used: Webflow → Make → ChatGPT → Gmail/Outlook → Calendly
Result: Businesses using this flow saw a 40–60% increase in lead-to-call conversion.
2. AI-Based Churn Detection
The problem: Unhappy customers rarely say “I’m leaving” — they show it in subtle ways (support ticket language, tone, frequency).
The automation: Use GPT to analyze incoming support messages and flag customers showing frustration, confusion, or dissatisfaction. Trigger alerts in Slack or assign tasks in your CRM for human follow-up.
Stack used: Help Scout → Make → OpenAI → Slack/HubSpot
Result: Early intervention reduced churn by up to 15% for one beta tester.
3. Auto-Populating Sales Dashboards
The problem: Sales teams waste hours updating spreadsheets. Data is out of date and decisions get delayed.
The automation: Sync your CRM with Airtable to create live dashboards with deal stages, rep performance, and projected revenue. Updated in real time with no manual entry.
Stack used: Pipedrive/HubSpot → Make → Airtable → Notion (for team visibility)
Result: Weekly sales reporting time dropped by 90%, and forecasts improved in accuracy.
4. Smart Cart Recovery Without Shopify Plugins
The problem: Most e-commerce businesses rely on clunky or expensive plugins for abandoned cart recovery.
The automation: Track cart activity via Stripe or custom logs, then trigger AI-personalized recovery emails based on behavior (e.g., what was left in the cart, how many visits, urgency-based messaging).
Stack used: Stripe → Make → OpenAI → Gmail/Mailchimp
Result: Recovery rate improved by 18–22% without increasing software spend.
5. LinkedIn Lead Qualification Machine
The problem: Sifting through LinkedIn leads manually is time-consuming and inconsistent.
The automation: Scrape leads from LinkedIn searches or profile views, run them through AI to qualify based on job title, industry, or company size, and then push them into your CRM for follow-up.
Stack used: PhantomBuster → Make → GPT → HubSpot/Airtable
Result: Saved 8–10 hours/week in outbound lead research, while improving lead quality.
What’s in the Stack: Affordable, Modular, and Easy to Learn
A key takeaway: Olivia didn’t just show what to automate — she showed exactly how to do it using tools that any SMB can afford and master.
Core tools featured:
- Make.com: The automation hub, chosen for its visual interface and flexibility
- ChatGPT (OpenAI): Used for personalization, content generation, and sentiment analysis
- Airtable: The ultimate database for non-developers
- Slack, Gmail, Calendly, Stripe, Webflow: Tools most teams already use daily
- HubSpot / Notion: For sales and content ops
Importantly, all workflows avoided complex APIs or scripting — these were true no-code builds.
Templates, Tools, and the Monday Morning Plan
To help attendees hit the ground running, Olivia provided a template bundle and a build plan that removes all guesswork. The idea? You open the bundle Monday morning and ship your first automation before lunch.
Included in the bundle:
- ✅ 10 pre-configured Make.com flows — ready to clone and use
- ✅ SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for setting up each one
- ✅ A “choose your path” checklist based on your goals (more leads, faster sales, less churn)
- ✅ A replay link to the full webinar with visual demos
Final Words: Automation Isn’t Just About Efficiency — It’s Your Growth Advantage
Olivia closed with a challenge:
“Don’t automate for the sake of it. Automate what moves the needle. Focus on workflows that bring in revenue, save time you can reinvest, and help your team scale without burnout.”
For SMBs that want to grow smarter — not just faster — this new era of AI and no-code tools offers a once-in-a-decade advantage.