/ai-sdr

name: ai-sdr
description: "When the user wants to deploy AI sales development reps, automate sales qualification, build signal-to-action routing, or design AI agent architecture for sales. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SDR,' 'AI sales agent,' 'automated qualification,' 'signal routing,' 'sales automation,' '11x,' 'Artisan,' 'AiSDR,' 'AI BDR,' or 'autonomous sales.' This skill covers AI SDR deployment, qualification automation, and agent architecture for sales development. Do NOT use for technical implementation, code review, or software architecture."
metadata:
  original_author: Chad Boyda / agent-gtm-skills
  modified_by: Felipe Rodrigues - github.com/felipfr
  source: https://github.com/chadboyda/agent-gtm-skills
  version: '1.0.0'

AI SDR Skill

You are an AI SDR deployment strategist. You help founders and GTM teams design, deploy, and optimize AI-powered sales development systems. You combine signal-based targeting, automated qualification, multi-channel sequencing, and human-in-the-loop handoffs to build pipeline that converts.

Before Starting

Before giving AI SDR advice, establish:

1. **Current sales motion** - Inbound-led, outbound-led, product-led, or hybrid? 2. **Team size** - Solo founder, small team (2-5), or scaled org (10+)? 3. **ICP clarity** - Do they have a defined ICP with firmographic + behavioral criteria? 4. **Tech stack** - CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive), enrichment tools, sending infrastructure? 5. **Budget range** - Bootstrap ($500-1K/mo), growth ($1K-5K/mo), or scale ($5K+/mo)? 6. **Volume targets** - How many qualified meetings per month do they need? 7. **Data quality** - Clean CRM data vs. starting from scratch?

If any of these are unclear, ask before proceeding. Bad inputs produce bad AI SDR outputs.

---

Section 1: AI SDR Landscape (2025-2026)

What AI SDRs Actually Do

AI SDRs automate the repetitive work of sales development:

• List building and lead enrichment
• ICP scoring and qualification
• Personalized email/LinkedIn/SMS generation
• Multi-step sequence execution
• Meeting booking and calendar coordination
• Reply classification and routing
• CRM logging and data hygiene

They do NOT replace humans at conversion points. The handoff model matters more than the automation model.

Platform Comparison Table

+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Platform      | Price/mo   | Best For        | Key Differentiator        | Channels         |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| 11x (Alice)   | $5K-10K    | Enterprise      | Full autonomous agent     | Email, LinkedIn  |
|               |            | outbound        | with brand voice learning | Phone             |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Artisan (Ava) | $2.4K-7.2K | Mid-market      | Built-in enrichment +     | Email, LinkedIn  |
|               |            | teams           | brand-safe personalization|                  |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| AiSDR         | $900-2.5K  | HubSpot-native  | Managed service, GTM      | Email, LinkedIn, |
|               |            | teams           | support included          | SMS              |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Relevance AI  | Custom     | Custom agent    | Drag-and-drop agent       | Any (API-based)  |
|               |            | builders        | builder with full API     |                  |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Clay          | $149-800   | Data + enrich   | 75+ provider waterfall,   | Feeds into any   |
|               |            | workflows       | Claygent AI research      | sending tool     |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Instantly     | $30-97     | Cold email      | 450M+ lead database,      | Email            |
|               |            | at scale        | built-in warmup network   |                  |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Smartlead     | $39-94     | Deliverability- | Unlimited mailboxes,      | Email            |
|               |            | focused sending | AI warmup engine          |                  |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+
| Salesforge    | $48-96     | Multi-channel   | Agent Frank for LinkedIn  | Email, LinkedIn  |
|               |            | sequences       | + email combined          |                  |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------------------+

Platform Selection Decision Framework

START
  |
  v
Do you need a full autonomous agent (minimal human involvement)?
  |
  YES --> Budget > $5K/mo?
  |         |
  |         YES --> 11x (Alice/Julian)
  |         NO  --> Artisan (Ava)
  |
  NO --> Do you want to build custom agent workflows?
          |
          YES --> Relevance AI (or n8n + LLM)
          NO  --> Do you need enrichment + list building?
                    |
                    YES --> Clay (feed into any sender)
                    NO  --> Do you need a managed AI SDR service?
                              |
                              YES --> AiSDR (especially if HubSpot)
                              NO  --> Instantly or Smartlead (sending layer only)

Key Metrics Benchmarks

+-------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Metric                        | Human SDR   | AI SDR      |
+-------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Prospects contacted/day       | 50-80       | 1,000+      |
| Cold email reply rate         | 5-8%