Agentic SDR Stack: What AI Will Really Eat in Outbound

Agentic SDR Stack: What AI Will Really Eat in Outbound

AI won’t replace SDRs. It will replace the 60–80% of their work that is mechanical, context‑light, and soul‑destroying. Here’s how I think about an “agentic SDR stack” and where humans still matter most.

1. What an “agentic SDR stack” actually means

When I say “agentic,” I don’t mean a chatbot that writes emails.

I mean:

A set of AI agents that can observe, decide, and act across the SDR workflow with minimal hand‑holding.

Practically, that breaks down into:

• Research agents

• Persona + messaging agents

• Sequence orchestration agents

• Post‑reply routing agents

Humans sit on top as editors, closers, and strategists, not as manual task machines.

2. The SDR job, decomposed

If you break the SDR role into tasks, you get something like:

• List building

• Account and contact research

• Message drafting

• Data entry and CRM hygiene

• Follow‑up scheduling

• Reply classification and routing

• Actual conversations (email, LinkedIn, calls)

• Qualification and discovery

Only the last two really require human judgment at scale. The rest is workflow glue.

Which means: AI doesn’t replace SDRs—it replaces glue.

3. The “4‑agent” outbound loop

Here’s how I’d design an agentic SDR loop:

1. Research Agent

   • Takes a list of domains

   • Pulls basic firmographics, recent news, hiring, tech stack

   • Outputs a 5–10 bullet brief per account

2. Persona Agent

   • Maps contacts at that account

   • Chooses the right persona (Head of Sales, RevOps, Founder)

   • Adapts messaging angle based on role

3. Sequencer Agent

   • Chooses when and how to reach out (email, LinkedIn, etc.)

   • Inserts personal snippets from the brief

   • Ensures we don’t over‑touch accounts

4. Reply Router Agent

   • Classifies replies (positive, objection, referral, spam, OOO)

   • Routes good ones to humans with context

   • Auto‑handles basic “not now / send info” cases

Humans step in when something is non‑obvious, high‑value, or politically sensitive.

4. Where humans are non‑negotiable

Things I would not automate away:

• Live calls and discovery

• Pricing and commercial negotiation

• Navigating internal politics at big accounts

• Strategic objections and competitive battles

• Choosing new ICPs, experiments, and offers

AI is terrible at understanding stakes. Humans are. That’s why the highest‑leverage interactions should stay human.

5. What changes for hiring and comp

In an agentic SDR world:

• You need fewer SDRs, but better ones

• You care more about writing, thinking, and curiosity than raw activity volume

• SDRs become more like junior AEs or mini‑strategists

Comp can follow:

• Less emphasis on activity KPIs

• More on qualified opportunities created

• Even shared variable with AEs on closed revenue

The AI stack does the grunt work. The humans do the asymmetric work.

6. A simple roadmap for teams today

If you run outbound today and want to move in this direction:

• Phase 1: Automate research + data entry

• Phase 2: Layer in AI‑assisted messaging (but keep human review)

• Phase 3: Automate reply classification + routing

• Phase 4: Reduce headcount on low‑value tasks and re‑invest in training SDRs as mini‑AEs

You don’t have to jump straight to “full agentic stack.” Just stop making humans copy‑paste data.

7. The mindset shift

The biggest shift is this:

SDRs are not your workflow engine. They are your judgment engine.

Once you accept that, it becomes obvious what AI should do instead.