Guide · AI SDR
What is an AI SDR, and what should you check before you trust one?
An AI SDR (AI sales development representative) is software that does the early part of a salesperson's job: finding prospects, researching them, writing the first emails and following up. Here's how it works, the two main styles, and the questions worth asking before one sends email in your name.
By the KnockB team · Updated · 6 min read
What an SDR does, and what the AI version does
A human SDR spends most of the day on the same loop: build a list of companies that fit, look each one up, write a first message, follow up, and hand anyone interested to whoever runs the sales call.
An AI SDR runs that loop with AI agents. Typically it:
- Builds a list of prospects that match a description of your ideal customer.
- Researches each one, usually from their website and the wider web.
- Writes a personal first email and follow-ups.
- Sends them, watches for replies, and flags or answers the interested ones.
Autopilot or approval-first
AI SDRs differ most in who decides what gets sent.
Autopilot tools write and send on their own, at volume. That can be fine for some teams, but every mistake goes out under your name, and a bad week can hurt your domain's reputation.
Approval-first tools draft everything and wait for a person to approve, edit or reject each email. It's slower, but you see every word before a prospect does, and the drafts get better as the tool learns from your edits.
Where the prospects come from
Most AI SDRs pull from large B2B contact databases built around job titles at mid-size and large companies. That works well for selling to “VP of Marketing at a 500-person SaaS company”.
It works less well when your customers are owner-run local businesses, like dental practices, contractors, clinics or law offices, which are thin in those databases. If that's your market, ask where the business data comes from and how it covers your area.
What to check before it uses your mailbox
- Who approves the emails? Can you see and edit every draft before it sends?
- Where does the research come from? Can you see the sources behind each claim in an email?
- What happens when the AI isn't sure? It should leave a detail out rather than guess.
- Which mailbox sends? Your own, or a set of new look-alike domains?
- How fast does it send? A few emails a day per mailbox, in business hours, is gentler than hundreds.
- What protects your domain? Look for SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks, warm-up for new mailboxes, and an automatic pause if bounces rise.
- How are opt-outs handled? They should be immediate and permanent.
- What happens with replies? Drafted answers you approve, or automatic replies?
When an AI SDR is a good fit
An AI SDR makes the most sense when you know who you sell to, you have a clear offer, and the bottleneck is the hours it takes to find and research prospects and write to each of them. It won't fix an unclear offer, and no tool can promise a number of meetings.
Where KnockB fits
KnockB is an approval-first AI SDR for companies that sell to local businesses: web and IT agencies, marketing agencies, MSPs and local software vendors. Its agents find businesses from open map data, read each website, and write a short first email and a follow-up that cite what they found. Every email waits for your YES in the app, Slack or Telegram, and goes out slowly from your own Google Workspace mailbox.
Knock on every business in your town.
Early access is open to a small number of agencies. Tell us what you sell and where.