In sales, teams have long struggled to balance speed with the quality of their outreach. Despite advancements in technology, much of the outreach process remains manual. SDRs handle a multitude of tasks—from prospecting and list building to researching each prospect and crafting personalized emails, all while managing follow-ups and coordinating multiple campaigns.
Sounds tiring, doesn't it? The overwhelming workload makes it extremely challenging to keep every interaction both prompt and personalized.
Speaking of personalized outreach, even though personalized emails are far more effective than generic ones, it's nearly impossible to craft custom messages for everyone when you're reaching out to hundreds of contacts. All of this amounts to loads of manual work that consumes SDRs' time, with little to show for it.
This is where AI comes to the rescue. It automates key functions such as list building, researching, crafting personalized emails and LinkedIn messages, and following up with them. Even when contacting hundreds of prospects, AI can run outreach that doesn’t compromise on either quality or speed.
So, do you want to see exactly how AI makes sales outreach easier? Let's take a look at how it works and why AI is such a big deal!
SALES OUTREACH THEN VS NOW:
1. Traditional vs List building automated by AI
Traditional: Sales reps use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to create prospect lists manually. They set filters (such as industry, company size, and location), review the results, and cross-check the data with other tools. This method works, but it takes a lot of time—SDRs can spend hours each week sorting through data to find the right prospects. They might miss promising leads or waste time on those that aren’t well-qualified.
AI powered List building: Instead of manually setting filters, you can simply describe your ideal target audience, and the AI uses natural language processing (NLP) and smart filtering to quickly sift through vast amounts of data and surface relevant leads. Essentially, it builds lists by analyzing large datasets, interpreting verbal or textual cues, and pinpointing prospects that match your specified criteria.
AI tools like AI SDRs use big data and machine learning to analyze thousands of data points in seconds, identifying decision-makers who perfectly align with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This approach saves your team valuable and ensures that the prospects you target are highly relevant, leading to more qualified leads and improved overall results.
2. Traditional vs Prospect research automated by AI
Traditional: Sales reps often spend significant time researching each prospect by reviewing LinkedIn profiles, company websites, and industry reports. They collect details about the prospect’s role, recent company updates, and potential challenges to tailor their outreach. However, this manual process is time-consuming, inconsistent, and difficult to scale. As a result, many SDRs resort to sending generic emails that lack personalization because the research done is insufficient.
AI powered Prospect research: AI tools such as ChatGPT can quickly gather insights about a prospect or their company. With the right prompts, you can retrieve valuable information in seconds, enabling SDRs to craft more relevant emails. However, while ChatGPT offers immediate insights, specialized AI SDR tools take it further by automatically researching every prospect on your list.
They aggregate data from multiple sources—company websites, social signals, intent data, and even competitor activity—to provide deep insights that would otherwise take hours to collect manually. As a result, sales reps receive detailed prospect profiles that include company pain points, recent decision-maker activities, and an overview of the competitive landscape.
3. Traditional email personalization vs. AI-powered email personalization:
Traditional: Most SDRs rely on manually crafting emails using pre-built templates. While these templates help maintain consistency, they still require customization to be effective. SDRs typically research each prospect and adjust the message to address specific pain points or industry trends.
But this process is time-consuming and challenging to execute consistently across hundreds of prospects, often resulting in generic emails that lack a personal touch and lead to lower engagement
“Hi [First Name],
I hope you’re doing well. I came across [Insert information]” - these kinds of generic templates don't yield the expected results anymore.
AI Powered Email Personalization: ChatGPT can help SDRs generate personalized emails by providing the necessary context through well-crafted prompts. By incorporating prospect-specific details, these tools produce emails that are far more tailored than static templates. Dedicated AI email tools on the market can analyze key information—such as industry trends—to craft customized messages.
Tools like AI SDRs can also do this, as they consider a lead’s pain points, company context, and industry challenges, ensuring that the resulting emails are both highly relevant and engaging.
4. Traditional email follow-ups vs. Email follow-ups automated by AI:
Traditional: Follow-ups can be managed in two ways. On one hand, manual follow-ups often lead to inconsistencies and missed opportunities. On the other hand, many teams rely on automated sequences from Sales Engagement Platforms (SEPs), such as Klenty, to handle follow-ups.
Although these automated tools are efficient, their preset sequences rarely adjust to the unique behavior or engagement levels of individual prospects, often resulting in outreach that feels impersonal and poorly timed.
When sales reps try to modify these static templates in response to prospect interactions, they frequently encounter challenges, further increasing the risk of missed opportunities.
AI Powered email follow ups: Tools like AI SDRs overcome this challenge by automatically scheduling follow-ups based on prospect behavior and intent signals. Instead of relying on a generic cadence, AI examines how prospects interact with previous emails or calls and dynamically adjusts both the timing and messaging of follow-ups.
This approach ensures that each follow-up is optimally timed to re-engage the prospect when they're most likely to respond. The follow up content is tailored to the specific stage of the buying journey, keeping the conversation relevant & smooth.
5. Traditional multichannel outreach vs. AI driven Multichannel outreach:
Traditional: SDRs manage multichannel outreach by manually coordinating each communication channel. For instance, they send personalized cold emails using pre-written templates, schedule and make cold calls based on a set cadence, and reach out via platforms like LinkedIn via messages.
Each channel is handled separately, following predetermined sequences and using manual tracking methods—often spreadsheets or basic CRM tools—to monitor responses and adjust follow-up efforts as needed.
AI driven Multichannel outreach: AI SDRs simplify multichannel outreach by automating the creation and management of personalized communications across various channels. They analyze prospect data and the buyer’s journey to generate targeted, human-centric emails designed to secure meetings, drive engagement, or get replies.
These tools manage LinkedIn outreach automatically—sending connection requests based on predefined criteria and engaging with responsive prospects by tailoring messages with specific profile details. This kind of approach increases the likelihood of proper interactions.
HOW SDRx (klenty’s AI SDR) Simplifies Your Sales Outreach:
1. Targeted List Building
- SDRx filters and identifies ICP-aligned companies using targeted criteria, ensuring that you select only the most relevant prospects.
- Its research parameters confirm that these companies meet quality standards, while prospects are filtered and qualified based on predefined criteria.
- Data is enriched with verified emails and phone numbers, delivering complete and reliable contact information. Hence a comprehensive list is built.
2. Multi-Source Prospect Research
- SDRx gathers data from both internal sources, such as your CRM, and external sources like LinkedIn, 10-K reports, and news articles.
- Users have the choice to decide which data to include in their cold emails and can select specific sources, giving them full control over the information they send.
- This comprehensive research reveals key pain points and needs, which will be helpful for a more tailored outreach.
- It builds a deeper understanding of each account and helps improve engagement and ensures that your messaging resonates with prospects.
3. Personalized Outreach at Account- and Prospect-Level
- SDRx allows you to customize emails both at the account level and for individual prospects.
- It uses multiple external and internal data sources to identify triggers and insights that form a relevant business case. Prospect-level insights are then used to personalize each email.
- With AI parameters in place, SDRx performs hallucination checks, ensures proper structure and formatting, and verifies the correctness of links in each email.
- By combining account-level relevance with prospect-level personalization, SDRx crafts emails that adhere to the highest standards, ensuring each message is impactful, accurate, and tailored to the prospect's needs.
4. Adaptive Follow-ups
- SDRx customizes follow-up timing and messaging according to the prospect's buying stage and awareness level.
- Your sales outreach is aligned with the prospect's decision-making process, with adjustments in frequency and content to maintain relevance and engagement.
- Goal-driven follow-ups are incorporated, with timing and content tailored to achieve specific outcomes—whether it's getting a reply, booking a meeting, or driving further engagement.
5. Multi-Channel Outreach
Email Writing: SDRx uses 25 proven frameworks to create personalized, human-centric emails designed to achieve specific goals, such as securing meetings, increasing engagement, or driving replies. Each email is tailored based on prospect data and the prospect's stage in the buying journey, ensuring that the messaging is relevant, concise, and aligned with the prospect’s needs.
LinkedIn Messaging:
- SDRx sends connection requests based on your target criteria and automatically engages with prospects who accept those requests.
- Messages are personalized using details from each prospect’s profile, increasing the likelihood of meaningful interactions.
- Unaccepted connection requests are removed after 30 days to maintain a clean outreach process.
6. Email Warmups For High Deliverability
SDRx ensures email deliverability by combining multiple strategies:
- Warming Up Email Accounts: Email volumes are gradually increased over time to build a natural sender reputation. This steady ramp-up prevents sudden bursts that might trigger spam filters.
- Rotating Inboxes: Multiple inboxes are cycled to distribute the email load. This minimizes repetitive patterns and reduces the risk of triggering spam alerts.
- Authenticating with DKIM and SPF: DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature, and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) verifies authorized sending IPs. Together, they build trust with email providers, lowering spam classification.
- Controlling Sending Frequency and Volume: Email frequency and volume are managed to mimic natural human communication. This prevents sudden spikes that could alert spam filters or raise suspicions.
- Randomizing Sending Patterns: Email send times and order are varied to avoid predictable, automated patterns. This randomness mimics human behavior, reducing the likelihood of spam detection.
CONCLUSION:
Sales teams no longer need to make compromises between speed and the quality of their outreach. That challenge is becoming a thing of the past, thanks to AI.
AI enables sales teams to overcome many common hurdles, such as spending excessive time building lists, researching prospects, writing personalized emails, managing multiple outreach campaigns, and following up with contacts. With these tasks handled effortlessly, human SDRs can focus on what they do best—calling and engaging with prospects directly.
AI SDR tools like SDRx can revolutionize how your team works. So, if you want to remain competitive, boost your sales pipeline, and prepare your team for the future, incorporating AI into your sales outreach is essential.
