How the role of the SDR is being impacted by agentic AI

Agentic AI is the latest iteration of artificial intelligence entering the sales domain. Many of the world’s most influential tech platforms have adopted some type of AI-powered SDR to automate research and outreach tasks typically done by a human being. While this has, in some cases, uncovered millions in pipeline, experts say companies need to proceed with caution.

“The real story is not ‘human versus AI.’ It’s ‘human plus AI’ versus ‘human alone,’” said Er Jia Jiang, cofounder and VP of growth operations at agentic AI company Redcar. “AI skills the activity, but humans still bring that ultimate trust, creativity, and guidance. This combination is what wins for companies.”

The human touch

One of the most lively debates in the sales ecosystem is whether AI is snatching jobs from flesh-and-blood humans (meet Asymbl’s Theodore). For many companies AI is a cheap and relatively safe bet in automating some of an SDR’s tasks. However experts stress that a human element is crucial for personalization and nuance—still an important part of the seller’s toolkit.

“Founders and sales leaders are falling for the illusion that these AI companies are offering a silver bullet,” said Leslie Venetz, founder of the Sales-Led GTM Agency. “Instead of taking the time to build a sustainable strategy…to build repeatable processes that actually serve our buyers…they are using AI to just do what already didn’t work at scale.”

Venetz is touching on a core push-pull for salespeople: personalization versus scale. Both are important, but there are pitfalls when trying to achieve both at once. The strategy can manifest in a spray-and-pray tactic with questionable success rates.

“If you have to send out 30,000 emails to set 30 meetings, that’s not working,” Venetz said.

Agentic AI clearly has a role to play in a sector where the sequencing of outreach and urgency of follow-up is often just as important as first contact. The risk for companies is more of the dreaded “AI workslop,” where AI-generated content masquerades as thoughtful work.

“Just because something gets initial results, if we aren’t looking at the long-term impact of completely eroding trust, eroding our brand reputation, burning through our entire territory to get those few initial meetings, it’s just a very short-term focus,” Venetz said.

SDRs 🤝 AI

Overreliance on AI across the sales journey appears to be a big risk, especially when the technology is acting as a Band-Aid for actual improvement.

“If you sell like a robot, you’re more likely to be replaced by a robot,” said C. Lee Smith, founder and CEO of sales research firm SalesFuel. “What we see is the lower performing SDRs are more reliant on AI to do tasks that really they should be giving personal attention to.”

Personalization in sales outreach can take many forms: curated email subject lines, compelling copy, or a reference to specific company events. This tactic has been compromised thanks to the growth of “personalization at scale,” or mass emails that seem personal but are sent to broad distribution lists. AI can factor into all of this, and meeting somewhere in the middle seems most optimal at this stage.

“Those personalized takes are really where advancement in pipeline is coming from,” said Marshal Sawyer, an account executive working in security, AI, and strategic partnerships. “One of the simple things they can do well today is research. That’s something that I see as a quick way to win with AI or agentic AI as an SDR.”

Workforce reduction

The growth of AI will inevitably threaten some sales roles, but experts stress that entry-level SDR positions (human ones) are needed for sales professionals to develop skills.

C. Lee Smith says he’s seen some hiring managers prefer utilizing agentic AI over hiring entry-level employees.

"That’s going to impact development of your talent pool and going to make you more reliant on having to go out and hire experienced people and poach them from competitors,” Smith said.

Others see the role of the SDR evolving into other positions, with more opportunities on the horizon.

“The number of SDR titles may shrink, but the number of opportunities for people grows,” Jiang said. “People get upgraded, skills get upgraded, roles evolve, and sales professionals can move into more strategic and rewarding positions. Whether or not those roles are still called ‘SDR’ is a different conversation.”