An Exciting Day: Why We Built the Tool Belt (and Why It Matters)
Today is one of those days that reminds me why I love building.
Not because of a flashy launch or a polished press release — but because something that started as a real, frustrating problem finally turned into a real solution that others can use.
Today, we launched The Tool Belt on johnbartz.com, along with the first AI tool in the suite: the Email Auto-Reply Extractor.
This wasn’t a “let’s build an AI product because AI is hot” idea.
It came straight out of the work.
The Problem That Wouldn’t Go Away
A few months ago, I was running high-volume outbound email campaigns for a client. Everything was going well on the surface — emails were sending, replies were coming in, activity was strong.
But then reality hit.
The inbox started filling up with auto-replies:
- “I’m no longer at this company.”
- “I’m out on leave — contact Sarah.”
- “Please reach out to my replacement at this email and phone number.”
- “I’ll be back next month. In the meantime, try this person.”
Anyone who’s done real outbound knows what happens next.
Those messages sit in inboxes.
Some get skimmed.
Most get ignored.
Almost all of the valuable data inside them is lost.
Manually extracting that information is tedious, inconsistent, and honestly… no one wants to do it. SDRs don’t. Marketers don’t. Ops teams definitely don’t.
But buried in those messages is pipeline gold:
- New contacts
- Replacement decision-makers
- Better routing
- Timing signals
And we were wasting it.
So We Built the Fix
Instead of complaining about the workflow, we decided to fix it.
That’s how our first tool in The Tool Belt was born.
It’s an AI data-extraction specialist built for one job:
analyze email auto-replies and extract anything useful inside them.
- Departing employees.
- Temporary/permanent leave notices.
- New contact information.
- Emails.
- Phone numbers.
It pulls the signal out of the noise and formats it cleanly for CRM import.
No copy-paste.
No guessing.
No missed opportunities.
It’s not flashy. It’s not theoretical. It’s practical — and it works.
Why We’re Building the Tool Belt
The launch of our first tool also represents something bigger.
At John Bartz & Associates, we’re leaning harder into building tools, along with strategies.
Traditional consulting still matters. Strategy still matters. But too often, companies get stuck with:
- decks instead of execution
- recommendations instead of systems
- ideas instead of leverage
The Tool Belt is about leverage. AI doesn’t replace people — but it does replace busywork. And busywork is where growth slows down.
Our goal with the Tool Belt is simple:
- Build AI tools that remove friction
- Eliminate repetitive manual tasks
- Help marketing and sales teams move faster with fewer resources
This is the first.
It won’t be the last.
What’s Coming Next
We’re actively building additional tools focused on:
- Lead enrichment and scoring
- Follow-up and sequencing support
- CRM cleanup and data hygiene
- Account research and ABM prep
- Content repurposing and messaging
Each tool is born from the same place Reese was:
a real workflow, a real problem, and a clear opportunity to make things better.
Tool Belt subscribers will get early access as new tools come online.
Want to try it out?
Our Auto-Reply Extractor is live today in trial mode, and you can test it directly on the site.
- Drop in an auto-reply.
Watch the data get extracted.
See how much information you’ve probably been missing.
If you want early access, beta features, or just want to kick the tires — reach out. I’d love feedback from people doing real work in the trenches.
Back to Building
Today was a good day.
Not because we “launched a product,” but because we turned a frustrating problem into something useful — and shared it.
That’s what we plan to keep doing.
More tools coming soon. More problems getting solved. More momentum ahead.
Real Strategy. Real Pipeline. Real Results.
— John