Do AI SDRs really work?

The answer is yes, but the real question is who do they work for?

If you read social media you'll find dozens of claims that AI SDRs don't work.

Those claims come from people who either didn't use it or shouldn't have been qualified to use it, because the reality of digging into these case studies is simply... it works... but like anything else, it works for the right customers.

Here's a real-life example of a company crushing it with AiSDR...

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The company is called Hakkoda (an IBM company) who works with enterprise teams to build and manage data systems.

Their Demand Generation team was struggling to generate sales pipeline; response rates were low and manual outreach was too slow.

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They sent roughly 8,000 email in 4.5 months.

AiSDR created multi-touch outreach across email and LinkedIn with social triggers.

Positive Reply Rate = 1.67%

They also created event-based campaigns inviting prospects to invite-only events.

Positive Reply Rate = 6.19%

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When it comes to AI in sales, we need to curb our emotions and look at the data.

AiSDR is not a silver-bullet solution that can magically generate pipeline for any company.

It's an extremely strategic solution that works when the application is well suited.

One thing is clear, this is not a tool for "figuring out outbound".

It's a tool for companies with robust historic data, who understand their audience, know their buyer, and have nailed the right GTM messaging.

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The market is confused in thinking these tools are going to overnight replace the human SDR but that's not the intention nor the reality.

It's illegal for AI to make cold calls, so the objective for qualified AiSDR users is to enable their salespeople to spend MORE time actually talking to prospects.

Next month I'll share my thoughts on another real-life case study. 

There are a lot of unique use-cases where AI SDRs make a lot of sense. Many are not the traditional B2B SaaS companies we may assume but the world is filled with scenarios where automation can take something that works and make it work much better.

My objective with sharing these case studies is simply to help everyone understand which applications this could make sense for. Over time the net will cast wider and wider.

Happy Selling,