As B2B sales and marketing has matured, many companies have invested in building out two key roles, business development representatives (aka BDRs) to handle outbound leads and sales development representatives (aka SDRs) to handle inbound leads.
BDRs and SDRs are proving grounds to do lead scoring, research, cold calls and lead qualification. Focused on the early stage in the sales process, companies often hire junior sellers for these roles so they can learn the fundamentals of sales before they go in for high-profile pitches. However, make no mistake, these are vital touchpoints in the sales cycle and first impressions are irreplaceable.
A number of tech-forward business leaders have recently predicted that BDR and SDR jobs will be replaced by AI. Companies have installed AI chatbots, AI email campaigns and even AI generated voice assistants to increase scale and reduce the cost of early stage sales work, but cautionary tales abound. These technological innovations are best used to support, not replace early stage sales roles.
Sales Is Art and Science
In business, executives strive to reduce the amount of work in the art bucket, which is code for “not measurable,” and increase the science bucket, which can be measured, automated and clearly defined.
AI is very much in the science bucket, but many companies attempt to have it handle the art side as well to increase efficiency and scale, and reduce costs. AI-first fans look at BDR and SDR work purely as a game of numbers. The more leads that can be processed, the more qualified leads and early stage prospects can be handed to sellers.
The problem, of course, is that for most businesses, the early-stage sales process has many undefinable moments of art woven in. AI can use statistics and past use cases to make a best guess on a chat session, but it completely lacks intuition, understanding, emotion and empathy. All critical elements in connecting with a potential client. What’s more, if someone just wants to pick up the phone and talk to a person, there isn’t one.
AI as a Powerful Sales Tool
In sales, the rule of thirds states that at any given time, one-third of prospects want in-person communication, one-third wants remote communication, and one-third wants self-service. That means at any stage of the sales process, about 66% want to be able to pick up the phone or more – have an in-person meeting. Clearly AI is not ready to replace BDRs and SDRs, let alone senior sales executives.
For the early-stage sales process, the goal is not to try to replace the people on the BDR or SDR team, but to make them more effective at making those valuable connections. AI can help with a host of critical actions:
- Account scoring – AI can consider the relevance of a prospect, compare their profile to an ICP, evaluate budget, market position, and company health.
- Lead expansion – Companies can use AI to find additional leads that fit the profile of their best customers.
- Prospect research – AI can pull profiles for BDRs and SDRs to deepen their understanding of the company’s needs, position in the market and recent activity.
- Talk tracks and email templates – BDRs and SDRs can use AI to help draft content, which they can then personalize.
- Results analysis – AI can evaluate BDR and SDR activity to help optimize behavior over time.
Better Tools Make Better BDRs
The good news is that companies don’t have to make a tradeoff. The best solution is one that empowers BDRs and SDRs with AI tools and insights so that they can increase effectiveness. By reducing manual work, improving precision and prioritizing the right next steps, BDRs can drive up qualified leads and improve close rates for the larger sales team.
AI is just starting to enter the business world, and there will be many AI technology innovations to evaluate from new analytics to more accurate automated chat bots. Companies will do best by considering where AI brings net-new capabilities that can enhance the sales process, rather than ripping and replacing the elements that already work well.
