Sales reps spend just 33% of their time actively selling with an average sales win rate of 21%. Compare this to the average junior Sales Development Representative (SDR) salary of just over $51,000 combined with commission rates (which can vary from 1-2% of closed deals to $500 per qualified opportunity) and it’s easy to see why businesses are exploring the idea of moving away from sales reps entirely.
Even a company size of 100 employees might have 10 SDRs, which could mean $550,000+ per year (considering salary, benefits, and commissions).
With most of the buyer journey happening before buyers even contact sales (B2B buyers conduct nearly 70% of their own research first) — the role of an SDR has become more difficult and obsolete. After all — who really wants to talk to a salesperson if they don’t have to?
Embedded tour platforms like Storylane — which enable potential buyers to try out solutions themselves — allow buyers to skip the sales conversation entirely and decide if a solution is right for them (even if the tour is limited, if your competitor has this option and you don’t, buyers may find your competitor’s offering more compelling and never come back around to you).
Add in the rapid development of generative AI to the mix and it’s likely that in the next five years, AI will be able to replace much (if not all) of what an SDR does on a daily basis. Even if AI doesn’t replace SDRs entirely, it could reduce staffing needs to 50% or more of current numbers — potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary expenses for many businesses.
That said, let’s take a look at how AI in sales is evolving — and where AI might just replace SDRs after all…
How Is AI Threatening SDRs?
Hubspot reports that 42% of salespeople are concerned that AI will replace their job within the next few years, and with 650,000+ SDRs currently employed in the US, it’s clear that the sales industry is about to experience significant change.
Source: HubSpot
So, why are SDRs most under threat?
SDRs spend most of their day trying to set meetings, assigning demos, and adding prospects to outreach email campaigns. The problem? Many of these tasks can be automated.
OneShot describes SDR workflows as “highly structured and repeatable by design”, arguing that these mundane processes are the exact tasks that AI excels at and, unlike Account Executives (AEs), SDRs do not always require the human-centric approach of senior sales roles.
Here are a few of the most common daily tasks completed by SDRs — and how AI is evolving to automate these tasks.
Assigning demo requests to the right AEs
One way SDRs set meetings is through inbound conversions (e.g., Demo requests, pricing requests, etc.). When a demo request is made, SDRs follow up with the prospect to set a meeting date and assign the correct AE.
AEs either control specific regions (e.g., East, Midwest, West) or company sizes (e.g., Enterprise, Mid-Market, Startup). There’s likely an AE on your team for each of these segments. So it’s crucial for SDRs to match the correct AE to the correct prospect — but this doesn’t have to be done by a human.
Automated routing platforms like Chilipiper automatically connect meetings with sales representatives, effectively cutting out the role of SDRs in scheduling inbound demo requests.
Some companies may claim this should still be a manual process because it’s too difficult to automate. For instance, a prospect may not fit neatly into any AE’s scope — making it hard to assign them — or there might be a partner network they need to align with first.
Companies may also want to check a prospect’s industry, company size, or even spend on a particular software product they use before committing to setting a meeting (i.e., The prospect might not be a good fit, even if they did request a demo).
However, platforms like Chilipiper already offer detailed routing capabilities to navigate these scenarios. For instance, Chilipiper can integrate with Salesforce to check a prospect’s company size, industry, geography, or any other custom field you have added (e.g., Spend data from a third-party platform or a partner region).
As AI advances, integrating it into a workflow like this seems highly likely — offering the ability to analyze data in real-time, set inbound meetings, and skip “the SDR and prospect back-and-forth, calendar juggling” process entirely.
Ever hear of the 5-minute rule? The rule outlines the importance of following up within five minutes of a demo submission, ensuring you connect with the prospect when they are most engaged, and they don’t lose interest in setting a meeting altogether (or move onto a competitor). The odds of contacting an inbound lead increase by 21 times if you respond within five minutes vs. 30 minutes.
SDRs are human — they take breaks, they have lunch, go for walks, or simply get busy with other tasks — making consistently following up with leads within five minutes difficult. AI will cut out the middleman, ensure leads are followed up promptly — and ultimately, book more meetings.
Prospecting and prioritizing outreach
Another big portion of an SDR’s day is spent on prospecting. According to a CSO Insights study, sales reps are spending 20% of their time researching prospects — equivalent to a full workday each week, or 52 days a year.
Prospecting has traditionally been a manual process. SDRs search LinkedIn and other databases to find potential leads that meet set criteria — the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) — that the company wants to target. This might include company size, industry, or monthly spend on a particular software platform.
Many AI tools can assist, automate, and could eventually replace an SDR’s role in the prospecting process. For example, Apollo.io and OneShot offer vast databases of B2B contacts with the ability to drastically cut down on time spent searching for new leads.
Platforms like Clay even integrate with multiple data sources to enrich their prospect database.
Sales reps spend just 33% of their time actively selling with an average sales win rate of 21%. Compare this to the average junior Sales Development Representative (SDR) salary of just over $51,000 combined with commission rates (which can vary from 1-2% of closed deals to $500 per qualified opportunity) and it’s easy to see why businesses are exploring the idea of moving away from sales reps entirely.
Even a company size of 100 employees might have 10 SDRs, which could mean $550,000+ per year (considering salary, benefits, and commissions).
With most of the buyer journey happening before buyers even contact sales (B2B buyers conduct nearly 70% of their own research first) — the role of an SDR has become more difficult and obsolete. After all — who really wants to talk to a salesperson if they don’t have to?
Embedded tour platforms like Storylane — which enable potential buyers to try out solutions themselves — allow buyers to skip the sales conversation entirely and decide if a solution is right for them (even if the tour is limited, if your competitor has this option and you don’t, buyers may find your competitor’s offering more compelling and never come back around to you).
Add in the rapid development of generative AI to the mix and it’s likely that in the next five years, AI will be able to replace much (if not all) of what an SDR does on a daily basis. Even if AI doesn’t replace SDRs entirely, it could reduce staffing needs to 50% or more of current numbers — potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary expenses for many businesses.
That said, let’s take a look at how AI in sales is evolving — and where AI might just replace SDRs after all…
How Is AI Threatening SDRs?
Hubspot reports that 42% of salespeople are concerned that AI will replace their job within the next few years, and with 650,000+ SDRs currently employed in the US, it’s clear that the sales industry is about to experience significant change.
Source: HubSpot
So, why are SDRs most under threat?
SDRs spend most of their day trying to set meetings, assigning demos, and adding prospects to outreach email campaigns. The problem? Many of these tasks can be automated.
OneShot describes SDR workflows as “highly structured and repeatable by design”, arguing that these mundane processes are the exact tasks that AI excels at and, unlike Account Executives (AEs), SDRs do not always require the human-centric approach of senior sales roles.
Here are a few of the most common daily tasks completed by SDRs — and how AI is evolving to automate these tasks.
Assigning demo requests to the right AEs
One way SDRs set meetings is through inbound conversions (e.g., Demo requests, pricing requests, etc.). When a demo request is made, SDRs follow up with the prospect to set a meeting date and assign the correct AE.
AEs either control specific regions (e.g., East, Midwest, West) or company sizes (e.g., Enterprise, Mid-Market, Startup). There’s likely an AE on your team for each of these segments. So it’s crucial for SDRs to match the correct AE to the correct prospect — but this doesn’t have to be done by a human.
Automated routing platforms like Chilipiper automatically connect meetings with sales representatives, effectively cutting out the role of SDRs in scheduling inbound demo requests.
Some companies may claim this should still be a manual process because it’s too difficult to automate. For instance, a prospect may not fit neatly into any AE’s scope — making it hard to assign them — or there might be a partner network they need to align with first.
Companies may also want to check a prospect’s industry, company size, or even spend on a particular software product they use before committing to setting a meeting (i.e., The prospect might not be a good fit, even if they did request a demo).
However, platforms like Chilipiper already offer detailed routing capabilities to navigate these scenarios. For instance, Chilipiper can integrate with Salesforce to check a prospect’s company size, industry, geography, or any other custom field you have added (e.g., Spend data from a third-party platform or a partner region).
As AI advances, integrating it into a workflow like this seems highly likely — offering the ability to analyze data in real-time, set inbound meetings, and skip “the SDR and prospect back-and-forth, calendar juggling” process entirely.
Ever hear of the 5-minute rule? The rule outlines the importance of following up within five minutes of a demo submission, ensuring you connect with the prospect when they are most engaged, and they don’t lose interest in setting a meeting altogether (or move onto a competitor). The odds of contacting an inbound lead increase by 21 times if you respond within five minutes vs. 30 minutes.
SDRs are human — they take breaks, they have lunch, go for walks, or simply get busy with other tasks — making consistently following up with leads within five minutes difficult. AI will cut out the middleman, ensure leads are followed up promptly — and ultimately, book more meetings.
Prospecting and prioritizing outreach
Another big portion of an SDR’s day is spent on prospecting. According to a CSO Insights study, sales reps are spending 20% of their time researching prospects — equivalent to a full workday each week, or 52 days a year.
Prospecting has traditionally been a manual process. SDRs search LinkedIn and other databases to find potential leads that meet set criteria — the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) — that the company wants to target. This might include company size, industry, or monthly spend on a particular software platform.
Many AI tools can assist, automate, and could eventually replace an SDR’s role in the prospecting process. For example, Apollo.io and OneShot offer vast databases of B2B contacts with the ability to drastically cut down on time spent searching for new leads.
Platforms like Clay even integrate with multiple data sources to enrich their prospect database.
So if you’re concerned that you might miss a potential prospect — or you find someone who is a good fit but your data provider doesn’t have their email — one of these other databases can help to fill in the blanks.
It’s not hard to imagine a world where a sales platform features a ChatGPT-like interface where you can simply add a prompt like this (and cut down on hours of prospecting):
Find 100 new contacts who meet our ICP and we have never sent an outreach email to.
The AI would check your defined ICP, search the 50 databases it’s connected to, verify information between the datasets for accuracy (like company size or email address), check your Outreach email platform (like Outreach.io), verify new prospects have not been contacted, and then provide you with 100 new prospects.
Beyond prospecting on LinkedIn, Apollo.io, Clay, or some other platform, SDRs also look to Intent platforms like 6sense to prioritize which contacts to outreach. For instance, a high number of visits to your website or recent search history around a list of high-intent keywords could signal an account is in the buying stage — and more likely to be receptive to outreach.
SDRs manually review this data — or they receive daily email alerts with the most active accounts — helping them prioritize their outreach efforts.
Again, it’s not hard to imagine where AI could automate process:
If an account visits X, Y, and Z pages on our website, and searches Keyword 1, Keyword 2, and Keyword 3 in the past 7 days, add them to this ABC sequence.
This process is already really close to what Warmly.ai is accomplishing with their AI Prospector feature:
In this scenario, Warmly recognizes that an account visited your website, finds the correct contact to reach out to, and then automatically adds them to an email sequence with content specific to the page they visited — cutting out the need for an SDR to do this process manually. Plus, it can connect with Apollo, 6sense, and Zoominfo via API keys to find stakeholders of high-intent accounts.
In other words, Warmly “does what your SDRs do but 24/7”.
Writing outreach emails (+ sequences)
SDRs write emails and add prospects to cold outreach email sequences. While this has been a manual process in the past, many new AI-powered tools are emerging to offer faster ways of building these email campaigns:
- Nutshell includes an AI-powered email writing assistant and an email health counter that tracks the danger of your emails being marked as spam.
- Instantly.ai offers automated outreach with an unlimited number of email accounts and a “Deliverability Network” to keep your emails out of spam.
I predict this technology will progress to the point of being able to write “AI-spun” emails at scale, crafting slightly different versions of emails to prevent Gmail (and other email providers) from marking them as spam.
It will also detect spam requirements and adjust on the fly — to account for a dip in click or open rates. For instance, if spam rates start to rise, the AI can adjust the email content automatically to prevent your emails from landing in someone’s junk folder.
If AI can replicate this process, sales teams may need just one person to manage the software, versus having five to 10 SDRs to manually run the process.
Personalizing outreach
One benefit SDRs maintain over AI (for now) is the ability to craft personalized messages based on the information they discover about the prospect. Maybe the person was just promoted. Or, maybe their company just closed on a new round of funding. Or, maybe the company is hiring for a new position.
SDRs can use this insight to craft a more compelling and timely message that will get the prospect to open and, hopefully, respond to an outreach email. SDRs can take it a step further by analyzing the contact’s LinkedIn feed or personal social media to hyper-personalize their outreach.
This certainly feels like something AI will be able to automate.
Lavender.ai is an example of an AI tool assisting SDRs and AEs with writing personalized outbound emails — bringing recipient research into your inbox with instant access to news, insights, personality data, and intro suggestions to maximize outreach.
Another option is an AI-powered tool like Warmer.ai, which allows users to input a prospect’s LinkedIn, website, or CSV file to create highly personalized emails — either for a single contact or a bulk list.
So, What Might An “AI-Driven” Sales Process Look Like?
Businesses are always trying to protect their bottom line, and with the rapid speed at which new AI tools are being brought to market, companies will inevitably reduce the number of SDRs in their sales teams. At the very least, AI will reduce the time SDRs spend on manual activities — and likely enable one SDR to do the job that previously took five SDRs to do.
But, if AI completely takes over these manual tasks, what might that look like?
- Meetings for inbound demo requests will be set by AI and/or advanced routing capabilities. No SDR intervention will be needed. Followup will be faster and calendar meetings will automatically be set. AI will check routing criteria and assign prospects to the right AEs.
- Prospecting will be nearly or fully automated. Instead of SDRs manually combing through LinkedIn, Apollo, or some other sales data platform, they can ask AI a specific prompt to automatically find new leads that match their company’s ICP — saving hours per week on manual prospecting. AI may even suggest new leads on a weekly or daily basis, reducing manual prospecting even further.
- Engaged accounts will automatically be placed in outreach sequences. SDRs won’t need to manually review intent data from platforms like 6sense. AI will notice this activity, find the appropriate contacts at the engaged account, and add contacts to an email sequence.
- AI will craft unique, hyper-personalized emails at scale. AI will find personal information on the appropriate contact — scanning the prospect’s company website, personal LinkedIn, or even other social media platforms like Instagram, and search for company media mentions — to craft a timely, personalized email, all without input from the SDR. It will also be able to tweak email sequences on the fly, adjusting for dips in engagement rates or increases in spam rates.
How Can Sales Teams Stay Competitive?
So, how can salespeople future-proof their careers against the imposing threat of AI?
According to an article by LSE Business Review, there are “three levels of irreplaceable human contributions” that AI cannot compete with: “Intelligent hand, intelligent mind, and intelligent heart”.
Keep this in mind as we explore the key ways sales teams can stay competitive.
1. Build product knowledge
AI can instantly read, interpret, and summarize vast amounts of data — and it can do it much faster than humans can.
It’s not enough to have a vague understanding of the products you sell because AI will outperform you. Instead, take the time to dig deep into the complexities of the products you sell and examine how they address the pain points of your prospects.
2. Focus on career progression
SDRs also need to work on their progression — specifically, moving into more senior sales roles like AEs.
The human-centric focus of senior positions like AEs is much harder to replicate with AI because customers experience human emotions like doubt and uncertainty in a way that Large Language Models (LLMs) cannot understand.
Membrain reports that 60% of customers who fail to buy have “human” reasons (such as feeling overwhelmed or confused), rather than a lack of data or information about the product.
According to Hubspot’s 2024 Sales Trend Report, 82% of sales professionals say building relationships and connecting with people is the most important part of selling. In other words, AEs succeed because they develop genuine human connections with their prospects and, above all else, trust.
3. Learn how to use AI
At the very least, AI will supplement the roles of SDRs to cut down on manual and repetitive tasks.
We could see one SDR doing what used to take five SDRs to do. To survive in a junior sales role, you need to understand how to use the AI tools that your employer is onboarding and which tools they may consider in the future.
Don’t let the fear of being replaced by AI push you away from it.
According to Nutshell, 40% of senior-level sales and marketing professionals are already using AI, with another 29% planning to start using it in the future. In other words, if you aren’t AI literate, you are in the minority.
4. Embrace being human
Finally, consider everything you can offer as a human salesperson. Interpersonal skills are a key part of closing deals — Forbes argues that despite the incredible capabilities of AI, “the human ability to build personal connections […] is paramount.”
Humans can perceive complex subtleties in a way that technology cannot (yet) mimic, with skills like active listening and empathy being crucial for the sales process.
By focusing on what makes us human, you can career-proof your career growth against AI — as long as you’re prepared to adapt.
By focusing on your product knowledge, your career progression, and your interpersonal skills, you’ll learn how to prove your worth alongside the use of AI.
Will AI Actually Replace SDRs?
So, is AI an imminent threat to SDRs? OneShot argues “no” — not entirely. While the sales industry is changing to incorporate AI tools into workflows, there is not yet a comprehensive way to replace SDRs.
In other words — it’s not time to panic, but it is time to adapt. AI will transform the role of SDRs with tools like Apollo.io, OneShot, and Chillipiper all becoming a crucial part of sales strategies.
Sales teams need to adapt to the use of AI in their sales workflows and find ways to remain competitive against the rising threat of AI.
Remember: While AI excels at simple, repetitive tasks, it is the human ability to build personal connections that is crucial to succeeding in sales.
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