So I believe AI will disrupt Outbound. It's already started to do so. And it's going to accelerate very quickly.
What I mean is, first of all, AI, used correctly today, is a huge help to both AEs and SDRs: It can do the research for you, improve your emails, create target lists, set up meetings to some extent, and, yes, the dreaded… rhythm for you.
And I think Outbound is going to be partially destroyed by AI.
This is a conversation I have literally every week with 2-3 sales executives. Every week:
“I have my own AI system that I use to do targeted outbound. It really works.”
Uh huh. And then I'd explain that what startups, or SaaStr itself, really need is thoughtful ABM. A deliberate, strategic, account-by-account approach to outreach. Slowing down and carefully researching outreach to a few or a few hundred high-value prospects. A selective, thorough approach.
When I explain this to sales executives, they rarely pause and always repeat the same phrase, or some variation of it: “I have a proprietary AI system that I use to do targeted outbound, and it really works.”
That's all they want to do. That's the problem. “Set it and forget it” AI outbound. Outbound has the lowest lift. Whether you're enterprise, mid-market, or SMB, you run a series of AI-powered outbound campaigns. It's infinite cadence, 2.0, but more of it. You get more emails that don't actually work. It's slightly better than pre-AI, for sure. But at 100x, it's even worse overall.
The problem is, even if this is some magic sales strategy for 2024, it doesn't work. It's not good enough. A slightly better email sent from a computer won't solve my problems. You don't really know the workflow or how people use your product. You don't really know what your competitors are even using and how.
Outbound still works in 2024. It just needs to be done slower and more efficiently.
Too many managers and high-velocity sales executives want to do the opposite – let AI magically do all the work.
I think it means the end of outbound. Not all of it. But the final end of a terrible rhythm. And the end of outbound behavior for a lot of people. A lot of people today don't want to put the human effort into doing it right. Even with powerful AI assists.
(Photos here)
