Zayd Ali
Jul 29, 2024
AI SDRs are the talk of the town in modern outbound right now.
AI can now automate more across the sales funnel than ever before, and there's a clear AI-driven shift happening in sales.
Every team we talk to has noticed it. They know they need to adapt. If they don't, they risk falling behind competition that's already figured out how to automate their sales process.
But the question is: how can teams adapt?
There's uncertainty around what tools sales leaders will be using in the next couple of years. This leads to questions about how to integrate these tools with their teams.
We often get asked if AI SDRs are replacements for human SDRs, BDRs, and AEs.
We believe we've built the best AI sales rep on the market with Valley AI, but a core part of our thesis is that the human element in sales is still critical – and will be for a long time.
Here's why:
1. Most AI SDRs aren't that great
Most AI SDRs take a one-size-fits-all approach. They send the same message to every prospect on a list of leads.
This doesn't work.
No top performer in any sales team uses the same message for everyone. They figure out what matters to that prospect, rework their product's messaging to resonate, and re-engage across multiple channels.
90% of AI SDRs can't do this. There's no way these should replace your human sales team.
2. Personalized AI SDRs still need human input
Thoughtfully-built AI SDRs, like Valley AI, are built around strategic engagement. They can:
- Research your prospects
- Understand custom instructions about your company
- Craft messaging that mimics your top performers
- Send contextually relevant re-engagement messages
But for the AI model to work effectively, it needs good instructions. Garbage in = garbage out.
Good instructions come from concrete knowledge about your company. This is built through trial-and-error in the early days. Founders and sales leaders hitting the pavement, talking to potential customers, figuring out product-market fit.
AI will never replace that human-centric process.
3. AI eliminates the mundane parts of outbound, not the whole sales process
We talk to hundreds of sales leaders each month. None of them want their team wasting time on tasks AI can do quicker and better.
They didn't hire a team to spend all day researching leads or copywriting. They hired them to close more deals and move the needle on revenue KPIs.
AI SDRs help with that. They divide the workload so each team member – AI and human – can focus on what they're best at.
AI SDRs handle:
- Generating lead lists
- Researching prospects
- Crafting relevant messages
- Nurturing and re-engaging leads
- Scheduling calls
Humans focus on:
- Taking calls
- Closing deals
AI SDRs tee you up with a booked call and a qualified lead. But only you can take that lead across the finish line and turn them into real revenue.
4. How different companies use AI SDRs with human sales
We have various types of customers using Valley:
- Founders of early-stage startups
- Large enterprise companies
- Agencies doing outbound for clients
For founders, it's a way to build more pipeline and scale founder-led sales. It might delay – not replace – hiring a sales team to stretch out runway.
For agencies and enterprise customers, it's about getting more from their existing sales teams. Valley boosts their top-of-funnel, giving their teams:
1. An unfair advantage
2. Time to focus on closing
Conclusion
The human element in sales is critical. AI SDRs aren't designed to make human sales teams redundant – they're designed to make parts of the sales process redundant. The mundane part.
This way, sales teams can focus on closing more deals. They have more leads, more outreach, more booked calls, and more time to do so.
If you're a sales leader or founder looking to automate the mundane parts of outbound, scale your founder-led outbound and make it truly personalized while sounding human - book a quick demo call with Valley here and let us help you 3x your meetings with less than 1/10th of the cost.
