How Do You Know If a Tool Is Actually Helping Your Business?

How do I know if a tool is actually helping my business? Run the tool vs crutch test: does it solve a real problem and move the business, or does it just satisfy a weak moment and make you feel like progress is happening? A crutch buys the euphoric feeling. A tool buys results. I learned the difference in one humbling sentence from a stranger, and it changed how I buy every piece of software since.

The question that humbled me

As a newbie Realtor, a company came in and sold me on marketing software. Postcards, flyers, mailers, anything you wanted. The assets were genuinely great. I’m usually skeptical of a first-time pitch, but I bought it, and I loved it. I played with it, tested it, built things in it.

A year later I ran into that company at a convention and raved about them. A bystander, another Realtor, asked one honest question: that’s great, how much business have you gotten from it?

I had to hesitate. I had to admit I hadn’t sent out a single piece of marketing from this amazing marketing software. Maybe an open house flyer. That’s it.

That’s not a knock on the software. That’s a knock on me. It’s a knock on what could have been.

If the tool works, why didn’t it work?

The tool did everything it promised. That was never the problem. The problem was that I didn’t have a mechanism for getting things done. The capability sat there untouched for a full year, and that was an expensive year.

I see the same pattern every day now, with complicated CRMs, with AI subscriptions, with whatever marketing platform is being sold this quarter. People spend the money, the product sits there, and it does nothing except make them feel current.

And I say this as the tech guy. I’m not walking away from that. I talk about AI and technology all day. But not everything is technology, and not everything needs an AI component. Most of what makes us successful as business people is what we do personally, not what a tool does for us. Tools should be leveraged so the business works with you and for you, not so you work for the business.

What actually makes the difference? Focus.

Pick one tool. Commit to it. Use it. Then judge it critically, because you may need to move on, but give it a fair chance first.

People ask me constantly which AI software they should use. My answer is: the one you’re already using. Get into it, learn it, play with it. I’m the one who tests a pile of software, because explaining how things work is my job. That’s not your job. Your job is to stay focused and not chase the next shiny object because you saw something impressive at a convention. Take the class, watch the videos, put in the reps.

Does the tool close a communication gap?

Most of us are successful in our businesses because of communication, so that’s a fair test for any tool. Does it close a communication gap you actually have?

A tool can produce something technically correct and still fail, because it doesn’t sound like you or it doesn’t land with the person receiving it. If you’re using AI, put those components in the prompt. You have to know who you are and how you communicate, and you have to know who’s receiving it and how they like to be communicated with. That is not always the spoken word, and it all matters.

Can you lead yourself after the excitement wears off?

This is the part nobody sells you. Everything runs on energy, and energy ebbs and flows. A new tool is euphoric for a few weeks. Then it’s boring.

Two things carry you through. First, you know the value of the tool because you’re actually using it, not letting it become the most expensive paperweight on your desk. Second, you treat the tool as something that keeps momentum moving rather than something that creates momentum. So ask the question up front: what happens when I get bored? Because you will.

If you have a team, don’t just announce the tool in a meeting. Sell it, let them use it, give them practical ways in, and make sure they see a quick win early. Buy-in comes from instant hits, not announcements.

So: tool or crutch?

Here’s the one question to ask before you buy. Is it a tool, or is it a crutch?

Does it just make me feel better without solving a problem? Or is it solving a problem and moving business forward? Does it cover a real weakness in my model? Does it do something I genuinely don’t have time for? Does it take something off my plate?

When you buy a crutch, you’re buying a feeling that gets you no closer to the finish line.

Where does AI land in this?

AI is the biggest tool-versus-crutch case going right now.

Using AI to draft ten follow-up messages this morning and actually sending them before you walk out the door is a tool. Setting up an automation, assuming it’s running, and never checking it is a crutch. A tool keeps human intervention in the loop: you still automate, but you build in a validation check.

AI isn’t inventing this trap. It’s revealing it, and it will help you fall in faster, because it produces things that look like the needle moving when nothing has been verified.

The leadership tip

The tool was never the missing piece. The follow-through was.

When people buy tools hoping the tool will create a discipline, it never does. The discipline has to come first. A tool replaces a system; it doesn’t create a system. Once the system exists, the tool makes it faster.

So name it: what’s the one tool sitting in your business right now whose full potential you haven’t used, and what’s the one real send or use you could get out of it this week?

FAQ

Is AI a tool or a crutch? Both, depending on what you do after the output appears. Drafting ten follow-ups and sending them is a tool. Setting an automation you never verify is a crutch. Keep a human validation step and it stays a tool.

How do I stop buying software I never use? Ask the tool-or-crutch question before you pay: does it solve a problem you can name, cover a real weakness, or take something off your plate? If the honest answer is that it makes you feel current, that’s a crutch. And commit to one tool long enough to judge it fairly instead of switching at the next convention.

Should I switch AI tools or stick with the one I have? Stick with the one you’re already using long enough to actually learn it. Commit, use it, then judge it critically. You may well need to switch, but a switch made before you learned the first one is just the shiny object talking.

Grab the free AI Starter Pack, including the prompts from this episode: https://go.thejblteam.com/starter-pack

Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/cUGhcTTbzAM 49 (link once live)

Justin Letheby, The JBL Team