12 Qualities to Search for in the Best AI Sales Rep That Delivers 10% Growth Month-on-Month
Which 12 qualities do AI sales reps need? Find out what they are
The right AI sales rep has the potential to breathe new life into your sales, whether it’s booking 3-5 meetings per 100 leads or increasing your MQL to SQL conversion. However, the top AI sales tools not only streamline and scale your outreach, but they write messages that sound like a real human wrote them and support a meaningful conversation.
And not only that. If an AI-powered virtual team is properly configured to embody the right qualities, it can drive consistent, measurable growth each month.
Here’s a look at the top 12 qualities you need to look for when choosing an AI sales rep.
What is an AI sales rep?
An AI sales representative is specialized software that uses AI to reproduce and carry out the work of real salespeople. Different AI reps possess different features that allow them to run everyday sales tasks from prospecting and qualification to outreach, follow-ups, and objection handling 24/7.
AI-powered sales assistants like AI SDRs and AI BDRs excel at high-volume, easily reproducible tasks, but there are areas where human salespeople outshine their AI counterparts.
| Human reps | AI reps |
| Building relationships with prospects Reading between the lines for nuances On-the-spot pitch adjustments based on the prospect’s mood | Follow-ups and auto-reply handling Data entry and enrichment Personalization at scale Lead scoring and enrichment |
That said, AI sales assistants like AiSDR still need some human support as they need to be configured to learn your brand voice, customer profile, and complex questions.
While AI sales reps are powerful sidekicks, they’re best when paired with human intuition. This combination blends the efficiency of high-speed data processing and text generation with the personal touch that only people can bring.
Why are sales qualities important?
Sales is as much about the person behind the pitch as it is about the product. For human SDRs, sales qualities like persistence, confidence, and great communication skills are their key to success.
Why? If a sales agent doesn’t have them, they won’t be able to convert leads into possible customers.
For instance, sales reps with persistence don’t give up or let leads go cold after the first “no.” Since 60% of buyers say “no” four times before saying “yes,” SDRs give up on over half of all possible deals. Or sales teams with confidence know how to present themselves and your product in a way that gets people excited about it.
Without such qualities, even the best sales process can come across as flat or uninspired. Reps either lose a lead’s interest or aren’t about to build sufficient trust to lose the deal.
Do AI sales assistants need sales qualities?
Human sales teams can compensate for low persistence with charm or a deft hand at forging relationships. AI sales reps are forced to face more of an uphill battle.
AI sales tools struggle to pivot on the fly or relate to someone with a humorous anecdote. If anything, their strengths – targeted follow-ups, professional language, concise language – can make it easy for people to figure out they’re talking to an AI.
Certain weaknesses such as specific word choice can be corrected for with the help of email frameworks and copywriting hacks. But even then, what looks normal to you can seem like AI to someone else.
But if the right qualities are built into your AI SDR, you can stay confident in AI-powered outreach.
12 qualities to look for in an AI sales rep
When scanning your options for sales representative software, you should try to identify these qualities in your top choices.
Adaptability
No two leads are the same. A good AI solution will be able to tailor its approach based on how people behave.
This is where sales tools like AiSDR shine. Depending on the email framework you choose (such as the Justin Michael Method) and how leads engage, AiSDR adjusts its outreach strategy in real time.
This level of adaptability lets you connect with leads in a much more dynamic and personal way, helping sales teams improve their chances of closing.
Active listening
To tailor its approach to lead needs and interaction styles, the AI needs to “listen.” AI virtual sales assistants are designed to understand what leads say by picking up on keywords and patterns. This allows them to craft more personalized responses to keep a conversation going.
In addition to “listening” to your instructions about your voice, writing style, and company, AiSDR actively reads lead responses and adjusts its message. This makes interactions feel more natural and engaging for the lead, increasing your chances of pushing the lead to demo.
Flexibility
The best AI sales assistants can be configured for different roles and tasks: prospecting, running inbound or outbound sales, or searching for lookalike audiences. They can operate on autopilot for routine tasks, or they can work as a copilot on higher-value work, giving sales agents the right tips at just the right time.
AiSDR can perform all these roles and tasks, from simple lead search and qualification to outbound prospecting and inbound lead management. This allows you to streamline multiple tasks through one sales rep tool.
Independence
A huge advantage of an AI sales rep is its ability to work autonomously. A well-designed AI can handle tasks like prospecting, follow-ups, and even closing deals without constant human oversight. This frees sales teams up for more complex tasks while AI manages the daily grind.
Unlike other tools, which are built for a human in the loop, AiSDR was designed from the ground up to work independently from human agents. It can manage your whole pipeline, from finding qualified leads and their first touchpoint to transferring a warm lead to a human agent. And even better, it works with dozens of leads simultaneously.
Communication
An AI sales rep should be able to write clear, persuasive messages that communicate your value to potential leads. Here, proven sales frameworks, best sales practices, and multiple outreach channels make all the difference.
With AiSDR, you get the best sales tactics from 50 experts under the hood. AiSDR combines these with the values and specifics of your company’s approach to generate crisp, effective messages that convert in your brand voice.
Confidence
The best AI sales assistant software will sound confident like a seasoned salesperson, not a people-pleasing AI bot who relies on weasel words to keep the conversation going. Look for deep training and configuration options so you can match your human SDR tone and style, and make it feel like an extension of your brand.
With AiSDR, you get the best of both worlds: super-fast onboarding and fine-tuning to match your sales team’s tone, ensuring all outreach sounds professional and confident without feeling mechanical.
Data-driven focus
AI sales reps rely heavily on data to make their decisions. Instead of using guesswork or intuition, they analyze customer behavior, past interactions, and other data points to decide who to engage with, when, and how to do it.
AiSDR actively monitors lead activity on your website to assess intent signals, analyzes LinkedIn bios and a lead’s three most recent posts, and tracks lead activity straight from your CRM.
This data-driven approach means you’re more likely to reach out at the right time, maximizing conversion rates.
Persistence
AI sales reps won’t forget to circle back to leads who were unresponsive or on vacation. Instead, they keep track of each lead’s status and make sure to follow up at the right time without being too pushy or resorting to phrases that are likelier to harm than help.
For example, AiSDR sends follow-up emails at optimal intervals and recognizes out-of-office auto-replies, pausing communication until the lead returns from vacation or a work trip. If AiSDR gets an email stating that the contact is no longer available, it automatically redirects messages to the new person responsible for communication.
Lead-centricity
A good AI sales rep knows it’s all about the lead, not bragging or pushing a hard sell. It creates messages that focus on the lead’s needs and how your product or service can help them. This approach ensures that interactions feel less like a sales pitch and more like a solution to their problem.
Likewise, AiSDR avoids sending emails that are feature-heavy and all about the company. Instead, AiSDR’s messages are crafted to directly address pain points and highlight value. It also can process a lead’s objections and anticipate possible answers based on the history of similar prospects.
Scalability
Whether you’re dealing with 50 leads or 5,000, AI can manage the workload without sacrificing personalization or quality. This helps businesses close more deals without sacrificing growth just so they can hire staff and expand their teams.
AiSDR can easily scale based on your needs, whether it’s high-volume outbound with 3+ follow-ups or highly tailored answers with deep personalization to inbound leads.
Reliability
Successful sales requires minimal downtime. This means day in and day out, you’re sending emails, researching prospects, and personalizing each email based on intent, customer segment, and other key factors.
Then there are tasks that have to get done in the background, like setting up new domains and email warm-up.
AiSDR fits this role perfectly. It replies to leads within 10 minutes 24/7, covers gaps in your time zone coverage, automates research, and sends personalized emails in 60 seconds.
Consistency
One big challenge for human reps is maintaining a high level of quality across multiple leads and industries over time. This is something that’s much easier for an AI solution as it’s designed to fulfill high-volume work at a consistent quality.
Emails are sent on time according to the planned cadence. AI creates high-quality messages every time regardless of the lead or industry. And AI never suffers from writer’s block, fatigue, or the desire to cut corners to finish Friday faster.
With AiSDR’s ability to craft emails in your voice, it will seem like you’re still manning your workstation and responding to incoming messages even though you’re taking the day off.
