What is AI SDR?
An AI agent that handles outbound sales development tasks — research, outreach, and follow-up — autonomously.
Definition
An AI SDR (Sales Development Representative) is an AI agent that automates the top-of-funnel sales development workflow: researching prospects, writing personalized outreach emails, running follow-up sequences, handling objections, and logging activities to a CRM — without requiring a human to trigger each step. AI SDRs are not template-based email tools; they reason about each prospect individually.
Example
An AI SDR receives a list of 200 target accounts, researches each one using web search and company data, writes a personalized first-touch email for each, sends them from a rep's Gmail, runs a 5-touch follow-up sequence, detects replies and pauses sequences, and logs all activity to HubSpot — automatically.
AI SDR vs email-automation: What's the difference?
An AI agent that handles outbound sales development tasks — research, outreach, and follow-up — autonomously.
Email automation sends pre-written templates based on triggers. An AI SDR reasons about each prospect individually and generates unique, researched outreach.