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 best initial use for AI in marketing operations is automating high-volume, low-complexity "digital janitor" tasks. Focus AI agents on answering repetitive questions (e.g., "Why didn't this lead qualify?") and cleaning data (e.g., event lists) to free up specialist time for more strategic work.

Instead of fully automating conversations and risking sounding robotic, use AI to provide real-time suggestions and prompts to a human sales rep. This scales expertise and consistency without sacrificing the human touch needed to close deals.

For service-based businesses, speed-to-lead is everything. An AI-powered office manager using advanced voice AI can provide 24/7, instant responses to inquiries. This isn't just a cost-saving measure; it's a revenue-generating tool that captures leads competitors miss due to slow, manual follow-up, dramatically increasing the likelihood of winning the job.

An advanced inbound AI agent does more than book meetings. By ingesting your website, tracking visitor behavior, and having contextual conversations, it provides the sales team with such deep pre-qualification that the initial discovery call becomes unnecessary, allowing reps to jump directly into problem-solving.

A primary AI agent interacts with the customer. A secondary agent should then analyze the conversation transcripts to find patterns and uncover the true intent behind customer questions. This feedback loop provides deep insights that can be used to refine sales scripts, marketing messages, and the primary agent's programming.

Traditional pre-qualification uses rigid scripts, potentially missing high-value clients who don't fit the mold. Agentic AI analyzes conversation nuances to identify various customer archetypes and high-intent signals beyond the primary avatar, ensuring top prospects aren't overlooked.

By building a custom AI agent for inbound lead qualification, Vercel reduced its inbound SDR team from ten people to one. The agent, which cost only $1,000 per year to run, maintained conversion rates while decreasing response time and number of touches needed.