Don't expect an AI agent to invent a successful sales process. First, have your human team identify and document what works—effective emails, scripts, and objection handling. Then, train the AI on this proven playbook to execute it flawlessly and at scale. The AI is a scaling tool, not a strategist from day one.

Don't just replace human tasks with AI. Deploy AI agents to handle leads your sales team ignores, like small deals or low-scored prospects. This untapped segment, as SaaStr found with a 15% ticket revenue lift, represents significant growth potential by filling a gap in your GTM process that humans create themselves.

The problem with AI agents isn't getting them to work; it's managing their success. Once deployed, they operate 24/7, generating a high volume of responses and meetings. Your biggest challenge will shift from outreach capacity to your human team's ability to keep up with the AI's constant activity and output.

Implement AI effectively by allocating 10% of your time to human-led strategy (ideation), delegating 80% to AI for repetitive execution (research, list building), and reserving the final 10% for human review and integration. This framework ensures human taste and vision remain central to the process.

The work of managing AI agents isn't less, it's different. It trades the emotional exhaustion of managing people for a more intense, sustained cognitive load, as you're constantly problem-solving and optimizing systems rather than dealing with interpersonal issues.

The most effective use of AI in sales is not to replace core selling activities but to handle low-value 'grunt work' like research, list building, and follow-ups. This strategy frees up a salesperson's time to focus on irreplaceable human skills like listening, building trust, and navigating complex emotions.

Don't just "turn on" an AI sales agent and expect results. The only path to success is to first identify what works with your human reps—the scripts, the process, the data. Then, you must manually train the AI on that proven playbook, iterating and refining its performance daily for at least a month. The AI automates success; it doesn't create it from scratch.

Unlike older sales tools, AI agents shouldn't be handed to individual SDRs to manage. This approach leads to failure. Instead, centralize the strategy: a core team must own agent training, contact routing, and performance tuning to ensure a consistent and effective GTM motion across the entire organization.

Sales leaders are growing skeptical of 'black box' AI that gives directives without context. The most effective AI serves as a coach, augmenting human skills by handling informational tasks. It cannot, however, replace the emotional intelligence and human judgment required for true sales transformation.