---

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%        | 8-12%       |
| Cost per meeting booked       | $800-1,500  | $150-400    |
| Meetings booked/month         | 12-20       | 30-60       |
| Meeting show rate             | 75-85%      | 65-75%      |
| Lead-to-opportunity rate      | 20-25%      | 15-20%      |
| Ramp time                     | 3-6 months  | 2-4 weeks   |
| Annual cost (fully loaded)    | $75K-120K   | $12K-36K    |
+-------------------------------+-------------+-------------+

Important: AI SDRs win on volume and cost. Human SDRs win on conversion quality and complex deal navigation. The best teams combine both.

---

Section 2: The 4-Week AI SDR Deployment Program

Week 1: Foundation (Signal Setup + List Building)

Day 1-2: ICP Definition and Signal Configuration

Define your ICP with scoring criteria:

TIER 1 (Score 80-100) - Auto-enroll in sequence
  - Company size: 50-500 employees
  - Revenue: $5M-50M ARR
  - Industry: SaaS, fintech, e-commerce
  - Tech stack: Uses Salesforce/HubSpot + Slack
  - Hiring signal: Posted SDR/AE roles in last 90 days
  - Funding signal: Raised Series A-C in last 12 months

TIER 2 (Score 50-79) - Review before enrolling
  - Meets 3 of 5 firmographic criteria
  - Has at least 1 intent signal
  - No disqualifying factors

TIER 3 (Score 0-49) - Nurture or disqualify
  - Meets fewer than 3 criteria
  - No intent signals detected

Day 3-4: Enrichment Waterfall Setup

Build a Clay table (or equivalent) with cascading data providers:

Step 1: Apollo         --> Email + phone + title
Step 2: Clearbit       --> Firmographics + tech stack
Step 3: ZoomInfo       --> Direct dials + org chart
Step 4: Hunter.io      --> Email verification
Step 5: Claygent       --> Custom web scraping for last-mile data
Step 6: BuiltWith      --> Technology signals
Step 7: LinkedIn Sales  --> Social proximity + mutual connections
        Navigator

Target: 80%+ email match rate across your ICP list. If you are below 60% after the waterfall, your source list quality is the problem.

Day 5: Build Initial Prospect List

• Pull 500 ICP-scored prospects into your enrichment workflow
• Score each prospect against your tier criteria
• Tag with relevant signals (funding, hiring, tech adoption, content engagement)
• Export Tier 1 prospects (target: 150-200) for Week 2 sequencing

Week 2: Content (Sequence Creation + Personalization)

Day 6-7: Persona-Based Email Variants

Create 3 email variants per buyer persona. Each variant needs:

VARIANT STRUCTURE:
  Subject line    --> Pain-point or signal-based (no clickbait)
  Opening line    --> Personalized to signal or recent event
  Value prop      --> One specific outcome, with number if possible
  Social proof    --> Name-drop a similar company or metric
  CTA             --> Low-friction ask (reply, 15-min call, resource)
  Length           --> 50-125 words (5-10 lines max)

Example persona matrix:

+------------------+--------------------+---------------------+--------------------+
| Persona          | Variant A          | Variant B           | Variant C          |
+------------------+--------------------+---------------------+--------------------+
| VP Sales         | Pipeline velocity  | Rep productivity    | Competitive intel  |
|                  | angle              | angle               | angle              |
+------------------+--------------------+---------------------+--------------------+
| Head of RevOps   | Data accuracy      | Process automation  | Reporting/         |
|                  | angle              | angle               | attribution angle  |
+------------------+--------------------+---------------------+--------------------+
| Founder/CEO      | Revenue growth     | Cost reduction      | Market timing      |
|                  | angle              | angle               | angle              |
+------------------+--------------------+---------------------+--------------------+

Day 8-9: AI Personalization Layer

For each prospect, generate a personalized opening line using:

• Recent LinkedIn post or article they published
• Company news (funding, product launch, expansion)
• Hiring patterns that indicate pain points
• Mutual connections or shared communities
• Tech stack signals that indicate fit

Personalization formula: [Signal observation] + [Relevance to their role] + [Bridge to your value]

Day 10: Conditional Branching Logic

Build sequences with conditional paths:

                    Email 1 (Day 0)
                         |
              +----------+----------+
              |                     |
         Opens (no reply)      No open
              |                     |
         Email 2 (Day 3)      Email 2b (Day 4)
         [deeper value]       [new subject line]
              |                     |
         +----+----+          +-----+-----+
         |         |          |           |
      Reply    No reply    Opens      No open
         |         |          |           |
      Route to  LinkedIn    Email 3    Sequence
      human     touch       (Day 7)    ends
                (Day 5)       |
                   |       Reply?
                Reply?        |
                   |     +----+----+
              +----+     |         |
              |    |   Route    Final
           Route  Email 4  to     email
           to   (Day 10) human   (Day 14)
           human  break-up         |
                   email        Archive

Week 3: Launch (Sending Infrastructure + Go-Live)

Day 11-12: Domain and Mailbox Setup

Infrastructure requirements:

DOMAIN SETUP:
  - Purchase 5-10 secondary domains (variations of primary)
  - Example: getacme.com, acmehq.io, tryacme.com, useacme.co
  - Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for each
  - Create 2-3 mailboxes per domain
  - Total: 10-30 sending mailboxes

WARMUP PROTOCOL:
  - Day 1-7:   5 emails/day per mailbox (warmup only)
  - Day 8-14:  10 emails/day (mix of warmup + real)
  - Day 15-21: 20 emails/day (mo