AI for SDRs and AEs — powerful one-two punch for boosting revenue
Discover how AI for SDRs and AEs can transform your sales process and boost revenue. Here we explore how AI enhances “outreach-to-meeting conversion” and accelerates “meeting-to-closure" rates
Sales teams are often split into two key roles: SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) and AEs (Account Executives).
These roles focus on different parts of the sales process, each with its own set of challenges and key metrics.
Outreach – The SDR’s Responsibility
SDRs are the outreach specialists. Three Things that they usually follow:
Prioritizing Target Accounts
Researching target accounts for insights and signals
Personalized outreaching using Emails, Calls and Linkedin
Their job is simple but tough: get in front of the right people. The outreach they follow is usually a mix of:
Cold emailing
LinkedIn messages
Cold calls
The goal? To start a conversation and ultimately book a meeting.
Here’s they are using AI with sub-par tools:
- Prioritize leads based on intent signals – Not working anymore
- Automate follow-ups so no opportunity slips – Opportunities are actually slipping with generic follow-ups
- Personalize outreach by analyzing data on past interactions – Not helping anymore… As buyers are already overwhelmed with noise.. It’s unsaid that needs to be identified and use to surprise.
Example: Think of how traditional outreach works—SDRs manually look for leads, send out hundreds of emails, dials 100s of cold calls and hope for a reply. With AI, they can focus on leads who are more likely to engage and improve their Outreach to Meeting Booked conversion rates.
Nurture and Close – The AE’s Responsibility
Once the meeting is booked, it’s the AE’s job to nurture and close the deal. The AE’s role focuses on:
Demo meetings
Follow-up emails and calls
Negotiations and closure
The process looks like this:
1. First demo meeting – Show the value.
2. Follow-up meetings – Address concerns, provide more information.
3. Negotiation and closing meetings – Seal the deal.
Here’s where half-baked AI tools are adding value:
Predictive analytics tell AEs which deals are most likely to close.
Call analysis helps AEs refine their pitch by highlighting what worked in past successful calls.
Automated scheduling and follow-up reminders to make sure that no lead goes cold.
Example: In a typical sales cycle, AEs might struggle with knowing which deals are hot and which aren’t. AI can analyze deal momentum (email response times, engagement levels, etc.) and help them focus on the most promising opportunities, leading to faster closures.
The key measure for AEs is the conversion from Demo to Closure. AI enables them to be more efficient, reducing the sales cycle by focusing on deals with a higher probability of closing.
To help you with cracking revenue goals leveraging AI for SDRs and AEs, We are gonna cover following topics below…
What’s AI for SDR?
What’s AI for AE?
Why are both Important - AI for SDRs and AI for AEs?
What do companies need?
What’s available out there?
Evabot – An AI tool for SDRs and AEs
What’s AI for SDR?
AI for SDRs isn’t just about automating tasks—it’s about enabling the entire outreach process with speed, precision and efficiency.
SDRs are responsible for reaching out to cold contacts, engaging them, and booking meetings. Their success is measured by how many Outreach to Booked Meetings they secure.
But here’s the catch: this process is tedious, and without the right tools, SDRs often spend more time researching and less time actually engaging with prospects. That’s where AI steps in.
AI doesn’t replace SDRs; it acts as a powerful partner that helps them perform better. Here’s how AI can boost the typical SDR workflow:
1. Building a Targeted List
AI can help SDRs build a highly targeted list of accounts based on signals and insights.
- Example: If you sell hiring solutions, AI can analyze companies showing signs of hiring (e.g., job postings, company growth announcements, or LinkedIn activity) and prioritize those accounts.
- Why it’s important: SDRs waste time on superficial lists. AI ensures that they focus only on prospects with immediate needs, increasing chances of engagement.
Where it could be better: Many SDRs rely on generic lists from databases. AI can take this further by adding context—not just who to target, but why they should be a priority, based on real-time data.
2. Getting Research Done Quickly
AI can gather detailed insights on target accounts, eliminating the need for manual research.
- How it works: AI scans LinkedIn, company websites, recent news, and even financial reports to pull out the most relevant data. SDRs get 3–5 high-priority insights about the prospect, without spending hours digging through information.
- Example: Instead of visiting multiple sources, AI can provide an SDR with specific insights like recent funding news, key hires, or a company’s product launch that are relevant to the SDR’s pitch.
Why it matters: Personalization is critical. Prospects can easily tell when an email is generic. AI can enable SDRs to hyper-personalize every touchpoint using relevant insights and frameworks.
3. Crafting Hyper-Personalized Emails
The days of sending generic emails are over. AI can:
- Write custom emails based on the prospect’s pain points and insights gathered.
- Schedule follow-ups to keep the conversation moving without extra manual input.
- Integrate seamlessly with outreach tools like SalesLoft or Outreach, and your CRM to ensure everything is tracked and automated.
Example: Imagine an AI tool that knows your prospect just received a round of funding and is expanding into new markets. It can help you craft an email that addresses how your solution can help them scale quickly in those new regions.
4. Maximizing Calling Outcomes
Calls are critical to SDR success, but time is limited. AI can help with:
- Parallel Auto-dials so SDRs don’t waste a minute.
- Provide instant call scripts based on the prospect’s profile when they pick up. The script is crafted based on insights and frameworks that increase the chances of meaningful engagement.
Example: While on a call with a prospect, AI can generate a script that highlights their recent LinkedIn activity or mentions specific business challenges, making the conversation instantly relevant.
5. LinkedIn Personalization
LinkedIn has become one of the primary channels for prospecting, but it can be a time sink. AI can:
- Highlight posts from prospects that SDRs can engage with.
- Automatically generate comments for SDRs to use.
- Craft personalized LinkedIn messages based on the prospect’s recent posts, activities, or company news.
Efficiency and relevance are what AI brings to the table. SDRs can finally spend more time in conversation and less time on manual, repetitive tasks. AI enables them to focus on the right prospects, with the right message, at the right time.
Opinion: The future of SDR success is in AI-powered outreach. By automating the busywork, SDRs can focus on what they do best—building relationships and booking meetings.
What’s AI for AE?
For AEs (Account Executives), the game is about moving deals from Demo to Closure. AEs handle the middle to the end of the sales process, working with prospects who have shown interest but need nurturing and follow-up before they make a final decision.
Traditionally, this involves:
Running demo meetings to showcase the solution.
Following up with emails or calls to answer questions and build trust.
Managing nurture meetings to address objections.
Pushing toward closure through negotiation and final agreements.
But here’s where AI steps in and becomes a true game-changer.
AI for AEs goes beyond basic automation—it’s about providing real-time insights, context, and personalization to move deals faster. Here’s how AI transforms the AE workflow:
1. Recording and Analyzing Conversations
AI can record all your meetings with prospects and extract actionable insights from them.
- Example: In a demo meeting, AI can pick up on specific keywords, questions, or challenges raised by the prospect. It can identify pain points that may not be immediately obvious and create a summary of the entire conversation.
This feature can also help in team collaboration. AEs can share these AI-generated summaries with other stakeholders, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
2. Identifying Pain Points and Latest Updates
AI is your go-to research assistant. It pulls data from LinkedIn, news outlets, websites, and company reports to keep you informed about your prospect’s goals, challenges and latest activities.
- Example: If your prospect’s company just launched a new market or raised funding, AI will alert you to these updates. This allows you to adjust your pitch, making it more relevant and timely.
- Why it matters: Prospects are more likely to respond when they feel like you understand their current needs. AI helps you with that critical information without spending hours researching.
3. Personalizing Follow-ups with Behavioral Insights
Every prospect has a unique communication style. AI can analyze the prospect’s social media activity to identify their tone, preferences, and engagement style.
- Example: If a prospect uses a lot of data-driven language on LinkedIn, AI will suggest you use numbers and statistics in your follow-up. If they post motivational quotes, AI might recommend a more inspirational tone.
- Why it’s important: Personalization goes beyond addressing someone by their first name. With AI, AEs can tailor follow-ups to each prospect’s personality and preferences, which increases engagement.
4. Mapping Out Stakeholders
In complex sales cycles, it’s never just one person making the decision. AI can map out other stakeholders involved in the buying process based on company hierarchies and social interactions.
- Example: If you’re selling to a mid-market company, AI might identify the VP of Finance as a key decision-maker, even though you’ve been speaking with the Director of Operations. AI provides a list of these potential players so you can build relationships with them too.
- Why it matters: The more stakeholders you engage, the stronger your position. AI helps you go beyond the initial contact and multi-thread into different departments, increasing your chances of closing the deal.
5. Building Relationships with AI-Powered Multi-Threading
AI can suggest a sequence for multi-threading—meaning it can guide you on how to approach multiple stakeholders in the account over time.
- How it works: AI helps you identify the right people to engage with, what content to send, and when to send it. It also tracks responses, helping you adjust your strategy based on engagement levels.
- Example: AI might recommend sending a product update to the CFO, a case study to the COO, and a thought leadership article to the VP of Operations, all within the same account.
6. Alerts on High-Priority Insights
AI doesn’t just sit back and wait for you to ask questions—it actively monitors for any new signals or updates related to your prospect. If there’s a news article, social media post, or internal announcement that’s relevant, AI will alert you in real time.
- Example: You’re preparing for a follow-up call, and AI alerts you that your prospect just posted about a recent business challenge. You can immediately weave that into your conversation and offer a tailored solution.
- Why it matters: Timing is everything in sales. AI ensures you’re always up-to-date with the latest information, helping you engage at the right moment with the right message.
At the end of the day, AI helps AEs stay organized, personalize their approach, and build stronger relationships with prospects. From analyzing conversations to tracking stakeholder engagement, AI ensures that AEs are always one step ahead in the sales process.
The demo-to-closure metric becomes more achievable when AEs have real-time insights and personalized strategies at their fingertips.
Final Thought: While AI offers incredible potential, it’s important for AEs to balance automation with the human touch. AI can guide the process, but genuine connection and trust are what close the deal.
Why are both Important - AI for SDRs and AI for AEs?
Revenue is the ultimate goal for any sales team. But to generate revenue, you need to close deals. And closing deals is a two-part process:
1. Outreach to Meeting Booked (SDR’s job)
2. Meeting Booked to Closure (AE’s job)
Both functions are crucial. If one side of this equation fails, revenue doesn’t grow.
Part 1: SDRs – From Outreach to Meeting Booked
The SDR is responsible for getting those first conversations started. Their role is to:
- Reach out to cold leads through email, LinkedIn, and calls.
- Engage prospects and book meetings.
It sounds simple, but the reality? SDRs face challenges like:
Getting ignored by prospects.
Sending hundreds of emails but receiving few replies.
Juggling too many leads and not enough time to personalize each outreach.
That’s where AI steps in. AI can help SDRs:
Prioritize leads based on pain based insights and signals.
Craft hyper personalized communications (emails, call-scripts, linkedin engagement) at scale.
Contextual and Relevant follow-ups based on the conversation history and latest insights.
The result? More meetings booked with less manual effort.
Example: An SDR can now focus on the hottest leads that AI has identified, instead of randomly reaching out. AI takes the guesswork out of the process and increases the SDR’s outreach-to-meeting conversion rate.
Part 2: AEs – From Meeting Booked to Closure
Once the SDR has booked the meeting, the baton passes to the AE. Their role is to:
- Run demos, answer questions, and handle follow-ups.
- Guide prospects through nurturing meetings and close the deal.
But AEs have their own set of challenges:
How to prioritize which deals to focus on?
How to personalize every demo and follow-up?
How to move deals through the pipeline faster?
Again, AI can help. AI enables AEs to:
Analyze conversations and highlight key insights - pain based, intent signals, social activities.
Personalize follow-up emails and demo presentations based on real-time data.
Track stakeholder engagement and map out other key decision-makers.
With AI, AEs spend more time focusing on high-value opportunities, increasing the demo-to-closure conversion rate.
Why?
To increase revenue, you need to focus on improving both Outreach to Meeting Booked (SDRs) and Meeting Booked to Closure (AEs).
If you improve only one part of the process, you’ll hit a bottleneck somewhere else.
- If SDRs book more meetings but the AEs can’t close them, you won’t grow.
- If AEs are great at closing but SDRs aren’t booking enough meetings, your pipeline dries up.
AI accelerates both processes, helping the entire sales team work more efficiently.
Opinion: Speed is Everything
In today’s competitive market, speed is critical. SDRs and AEs need to hit their quarterly and yearly goals, and they need to do it fast. AI allows them to:
Automate repetitive tasks.
Personalize outreach and follow-ups at scale.
Focus on the right leads at the right time.
AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not a magic bullet. SDRs and AEs still need to build authentic relationships with prospects. AI can help with the process, but it’s up to the sales team to turn conversations into connections.
When SDRs and AEs leverage AI effectively, they become an unstoppable revenue-generating combo. SDRs book more high-quality meetings, and AEs close more deals, faster. The synergy between these two roles, amplified by AI, is what drives sustained revenue growth.
What do companies need?
Companies today need more than just automation tools. They need a full-stack AI solution that can supercharge both SDRs and AEs—helping them execute faster, smarter, and more efficiently. It’s no longer about just increasing volume; it’s about increasing conversions and speed of execution at every stage of the sales cycle.
What’s Missing?
Most sales teams are bogged down by inefficiencies:
- SDRs struggle with manual research and generic outreach.
- AEs waste time chasing deals without real insights or urgency indicators.
What they need is a solution that brings AI-driven speed and precision into their workflow, focusing on five key areas:
Account Research
Hyper-Personalization
Alerts
Multi-Threading
Multi-Channel Outreach
The Full-Stack AI Solution
A full-stack AI solution should offer both breadth and depth, providing support to SDRs and AEs in the following ways:
1. Prioritize Accounts with Real Insights
AI can prioritize accounts based on real-time data. This isn't about having a long list of leads—it’s about knowing which ones are worth your time.
- Example: If a company is expanding into new markets, AI can flag it as a high-priority account. This allows SDRs to focus on accounts that are actively seeking solutions.
- Why it matters: Prioritization increases the likelihood of meaningful conversations. No more wasting time on cold leads with no immediate needs.
2. Hyper-Personalized Outreach at Scale
AI doesn’t just save time; it makes every touchpoint more relevant. With insights-driven outreach, you can:
Personalize emails, calls, and LinkedIn messages based on the prospect’s activity, preferences, and challenges.
- Example: AI can analyze a prospect’s recent LinkedIn posts and generate a personalized message that ties your solution to their current challenges.
Some argue that AI can make outreach feel robotic. But the reality is AI enhances personalization by doing the heavy lifting—giving SDRs and AEs more time to build authentic relationships.
3. Real-Time Alerts
Speed is everything in sales. AI should provide real-time alerts for:
New insights about your prospects (funding news, product launches, etc.).
Changes in stakeholder roles.
- Example: AI could alert an AE if a prospect’s company just received a funding round, allowing them to pitch a relevant solution within hours.
- Why it matters: Timing is key. Being the first to respond to new developments often means closing the deal.
4. Multi-Threading
AI can identify other stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. It can:
Map out key players within an account.
Provide personalized messaging sequences for each stakeholder.
- Example: If you’re selling to a tech company, AI can suggest engaging not just with the CTO but also with the CFO, providing personalized touchpoints for each.
5. Multi-Channel Outreach
AI allows SDRs and AEs to run multi-channel campaigns with ease:
Emails: Hyper-personalized based on insights.
Calls: Real-time call scripts tailored to the prospect’s pain points.
LinkedIn: Personalized comments and messages based on activity.
Example: AI can help an SDR launch a sequence where they first engage with a prospect on LinkedIn, follow up with an email, and then make a call—all seamlessly integrated with personalization at each step.
SDRs and AEs need the ability to prioritize accounts, personalize at scale, and engage in meaningful conversations with multiple stakeholders.
With AI, companies can achieve the speed, precision, and scale needed to not only meet but exceed revenue targets.
What’s available out there?
The market is flooded with AI tools claiming to improve efficiency and conversion rates, but let’s break down what’s actually available and how effective they are.
1. Email Generators
Tools like Regie and Lavender have gained popularity for email generation.
- What they do: These tools help SDRs write more effective emails by offering templates, personalization suggestions, and even AI-driven improvements based on the recipient’s tone and style.
- Why it matters: Writing personalized emails at scale is hard. These tools promise to make it easier by optimizing subject lines, body copy, and calls-to-action.
But is it enough?: These tools are great for one specific task—email generation. But they don’t consider account insights for precision or help with other parts of the sales cycle. That’s where they fall short.
2. List Generators and Hyper-Personalization
Tools like Clay take email generation a step further by hyper-personalizing emails based on the target account’s data.
- What they do: Clay pulls data from multiple sources to help you build a list of accounts that are more likely to engage. Then, it personalizes each email with insights, ensuring it’s not just a generic outreach.
- Example: If a company recently launched a new product, Clay can tailor your email to address how your solution fits into their expansion.
While these tools help with personalization at scale, they lack depth. They don’t help with multi-channel outreach or managing stakeholder engagement. They’re great for starting a conversation or sending sequences in Product-led Growth motions, but that’s it.
3. Intent Signal Aggregators
There are several tools out there that aggregate intent signals, but most of them aren’t pain-based.
- What they do: These tools track signals like web activity or product reviews to identify potential prospects. They can tell you who’s browsing for a solution like yours.
- Example: A tool might alert you when a company visits your website multiple times or engages with your competitor’s products.
But what’s missing?: Intent signals are helpful, but they don’t always highlight the pain points driving the decision. AI that digs deeper into a company’s challenges—like hiring, budget constraints, or growth pressures—offers more valuable insights for outreach.
4. Power Dialers
Power dialers are a favorite for SDRs who rely on cold calling. Tools like this enable parallel calling, meaning you can call multiple prospects at once.
- What they do: These tools allow SDRs to automatically dial through lists, saving time and increasing the number of calls made in a day.
- Why it matters: More calls = more chances to engage prospects. But without personalization or real-time insights, these calls can still feel cold.
Opinion: Power dialers are good for speeding up the calling process, but without personalization, they are still not generating enough meetings. Today prospects expect relevance, cold calls need more context than just volume.
5. LinkedIn Automation
Tools like Dripify are making waves in LinkedIn automation.
- What they do: Dripify automates LinkedIn outreach with pre-written connection requests, follow-ups, and messages.
- Why it matters: LinkedIn is a critical platform for SDRs and AEs, and these tools help automate repetitive tasks like sending follow-ups and engaging with prospects.
Is it effective?: Yes, for routine tasks, but the danger is that it can feel impersonal if not done correctly. AI can help personalize these messages, but over-automation risks making your outreach feel like spam.
Is It Enough?
The tools listed above each serve one piece of the sales puzzle, but here’s the issue: They’re not holistic solutions. Each tool focuses on a single activity—email, calls, or LinkedIn—but doesn’t provide a full view of the prospect or help with multi-threading, real-time alerts, or deep personalization across multiple channels.
Fancy or Functional?
These tools are effective in their own lane, but relying on them alone may not drastically improve conversion rates. Why? Because they’re not solving the bigger problem: the need for a full-stack AI solution that ties everything together. One that helps SDRs and AEs:
- Prioritize accounts based on pain points and real insights.
- Engage across multiple channels with hyper-personalized outreach.
- Multi-thread into organizations by identifying all key stakeholders.
What could be better?: A true AI solution should not only automate tasks but also give context—helping SDRs and AEs understand their prospects deeply and act strategically. Right now, too many companies rely on disconnected tools that don’t talk to each other, missing the bigger picture.
Final Thought: One Tool vs. The Full Stack
So, the big question is: Are these tools enough?
They help in specific use cases, but the real magic happens when they’re part of a larger, full-stack solution. Companies that want to increase conversion rates need to look beyond just email generators or power dialers. They need a holistic approach that brings together:
Insights,
Multi-channel personalization,
And real-time action steps.
Only then will they see a meaningful boost in revenue growth.
Evabot – A Solution That Can Help
When it comes to supercharging both SDRs and AEs, Evabot is the kind of full-stack AI solution that truly makes a difference. It’s not just about automation—it’s about smarter sales. Evabot helps teams prioritize, personalize, and engage with precision, all while making the sales process more efficient.
Here’s how Evabot can be a game-changer for your sales team:
1. Prioritize Accounts with Precision
Evabot takes the guesswork out of prospecting by using pain-based insights to prioritize accounts.
- How it works: Instead of randomly selecting leads, Evabot scans for signals that show which accounts are experiencing pain points that your product can solve.
- Example: If a prospect is expanding their team and struggling with scaling operations, Evabot flags this as an opportunity, allowing SDRs to focus on accounts that are likely to engage.
Why it matters: Prioritizing the right accounts means fewer dead-end conversations and more meetings booked with relevant prospects.
2. Find Pain-Based Insights
Evabot doesn’t just collect surface-level data. It digs deep to find insights that matter.
- How it works: It scans LinkedIn posts, company websites, and news articles to find specific pain points or recent challenges faced by the prospect.
- Example: Let’s say a company is struggling with new remote work policies. Evabot identifies this pain point, helping you tailor your pitch to address that specific need.
Opinion: Many tools offer insights, but Evabot stands out by focusing on what actually drives buying decisions—the pain the prospect is experiencing.
3. Hyper-Personalize Outreach at Scale
Evabot enables hyper-personalized outreach across emails, calls, and LinkedIn—at scale.
- How it works: Once it identifies pain points and account priorities, Evabot crafts customized messages for each touchpoint, ensuring every email or call feels relevant and personal.
- Example: Evabot can tailor a message that highlights a prospect’s specific challenge (e.g., “I noticed you’re hiring rapidly—here’s how we can help you manage the scaling process…”).
Counter-opinion: While automation tools often feel impersonal, Evabot avoids this by using context-driven insights to make every message feel relevant and tailored to the individual.
4. Multi-Channel Outreach with Ease
Sales is no longer about sticking to one channel. Evabot helps SDRs and AEs create multi-channel outreach strategies that span across:
Emails
LinkedIn messages
Calls
Example: Evabot might recommend starting with a personalized LinkedIn message, following up with an email that includes a case study, and then scheduling a call—all of which are tailored to the prospect’s pain points and writing style.
Opinion: Multi-channel outreach is powerful, but only when it’s done in a cohesive, personalized way. Evabot ensures consistency across all channels, increasing the likelihood of engagement.
5. Multi-Threading to Engage All Stakeholders
Evabot helps identify and engage other stakeholders involved in the buying decision, making multi-threading easy.
- How it works: It maps out key decision-makers within the account and crafts personalized messages for each.
- Example: While the SDR is engaging with the VP of Operations, Evabot might suggest sending a tailored message to the CFO, highlighting cost-efficiency.
Why it matters: Multi-threading means building relationships with multiple decision-makers, which increases your chances of closing the deal.
6. Analyze All Prospect Discussions
Evabot doesn’t just track outreach—it analyzes every conversation you’ve had with a prospect.
How it works: It pulls out key details from each conversation, including:
Requirements
Urgent needs
Challenges
Action items
Urgency
Example: After a demo call, Evabot provides a summary of the prospect’s key pain points and the next steps required to move the deal forward.
Where it could be better: While Evabot provides actionable insights, AEs still need to drive the conversation forward and maintain a human touch.
Why Evabot Stands Out
Evabot isn’t about generating emails or aggregating signals or automating tasks—it’s about enabling smarter, faster, and more personalized engagement across the entire sales cycle. From identifying pain points to crafting multi-threaded outreach strategies, it empowers both SDRs and AEs to focus on what matters—building relationships and closing deals.
In today’s fast-paced sales environment, tools like Evabot aren’t just helpful—they’re essential for scaling revenue and hitting quarterly goals.
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