The 5 kinds of ROI to look for when evaluating AI agents
Discover the 5 types of AI SDR agent ROI to make a stronger case to leadership.
Sarah Casteel
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Discover the 5 types of AI SDR agent ROI to make a stronger case to leadership.
What follows is a preview of insights from the full GTM Partners report on agentic marketing.
When you’re looking at AI agents for sales or marketing, ROI is usually the first question. But here’s the truth: ROI isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are five distinct types you should think about before making the case to leadership.
This is the obvious one. Direct revenue impact you can track like pipeline created, meetings booked, deals influenced. If a lead converts because an AI SDR agent followed up instantly, that’s attributable ROI you can point to in a dashboard.
This is where things get interesting. AI agents reshape how sales and marketing work together. Instead of SDRs being the bottleneck, AI steps in to handle first-touch engagement and qualification. The result is that reps are able to focus on higher-value conversations, and the whole system operates differently.
Think of this as productivity ROI. AI SDR agents remove bottlenecks, reduce time-to-lead, and help SDRs and AEs hit more at-bats without increasing headcount. It’s about squeezing more output from the same resources.
Some ROI is less about gain and more about survival. In high-velocity markets, manual follow-up is too slow. AI becomes the only way to keep up with inbound demand and ensure no lead slips through. That’s necessity ROI, which indicates that the cost of not having AI is higher than the cost of adopting it.
Not everything shows up neatly in revenue numbers. AI SDR agents boost brand perception, improve buyer trust, and reduce lead decay. When a buyer gets an immediate response instead of waiting days, that trust translates into higher conversion down the road.
When you evaluate AI SDR agents, think beyond pipeline dollars. ROI has multiple layers. Some are measurable, some are strategic, and some are essential for long-term growth. The best evaluations look at all five.
Want a deeper breakdown of how agentic AI changes the funnel and drives measurable ROI? Check out our full guide, Agentic Marketing and the Collapse of Traditional Funnels.
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Stay up to date with weekly drops of fresh B2B marketing and sales content.
Discover the 5 types of AI SDR agent ROI to make a stronger case to leadership.
What follows is a preview of insights from the full GTM Partners report on agentic marketing.
When you’re looking at AI agents for sales or marketing, ROI is usually the first question. But here’s the truth: ROI isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are five distinct types you should think about before making the case to leadership.
This is the obvious one. Direct revenue impact you can track like pipeline created, meetings booked, deals influenced. If a lead converts because an AI SDR agent followed up instantly, that’s attributable ROI you can point to in a dashboard.
This is where things get interesting. AI agents reshape how sales and marketing work together. Instead of SDRs being the bottleneck, AI steps in to handle first-touch engagement and qualification. The result is that reps are able to focus on higher-value conversations, and the whole system operates differently.
Think of this as productivity ROI. AI SDR agents remove bottlenecks, reduce time-to-lead, and help SDRs and AEs hit more at-bats without increasing headcount. It’s about squeezing more output from the same resources.
Some ROI is less about gain and more about survival. In high-velocity markets, manual follow-up is too slow. AI becomes the only way to keep up with inbound demand and ensure no lead slips through. That’s necessity ROI, which indicates that the cost of not having AI is higher than the cost of adopting it.
Not everything shows up neatly in revenue numbers. AI SDR agents boost brand perception, improve buyer trust, and reduce lead decay. When a buyer gets an immediate response instead of waiting days, that trust translates into higher conversion down the road.
When you evaluate AI SDR agents, think beyond pipeline dollars. ROI has multiple layers. Some are measurable, some are strategic, and some are essential for long-term growth. The best evaluations look at all five.
Want a deeper breakdown of how agentic AI changes the funnel and drives measurable ROI? Check out our full guide, Agentic Marketing and the Collapse of Traditional Funnels.
Stay up to date with weekly drops of fresh B2B marketing and sales content.
Discover the 5 types of AI SDR agent ROI to make a stronger case to leadership.
What follows is a preview of insights from the full GTM Partners report on agentic marketing.
When you’re looking at AI agents for sales or marketing, ROI is usually the first question. But here’s the truth: ROI isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are five distinct types you should think about before making the case to leadership.
This is the obvious one. Direct revenue impact you can track like pipeline created, meetings booked, deals influenced. If a lead converts because an AI SDR agent followed up instantly, that’s attributable ROI you can point to in a dashboard.
This is where things get interesting. AI agents reshape how sales and marketing work together. Instead of SDRs being the bottleneck, AI steps in to handle first-touch engagement and qualification. The result is that reps are able to focus on higher-value conversations, and the whole system operates differently.
Think of this as productivity ROI. AI SDR agents remove bottlenecks, reduce time-to-lead, and help SDRs and AEs hit more at-bats without increasing headcount. It’s about squeezing more output from the same resources.
Some ROI is less about gain and more about survival. In high-velocity markets, manual follow-up is too slow. AI becomes the only way to keep up with inbound demand and ensure no lead slips through. That’s necessity ROI, which indicates that the cost of not having AI is higher than the cost of adopting it.
Not everything shows up neatly in revenue numbers. AI SDR agents boost brand perception, improve buyer trust, and reduce lead decay. When a buyer gets an immediate response instead of waiting days, that trust translates into higher conversion down the road.
When you evaluate AI SDR agents, think beyond pipeline dollars. ROI has multiple layers. Some are measurable, some are strategic, and some are essential for long-term growth. The best evaluations look at all five.
Want a deeper breakdown of how agentic AI changes the funnel and drives measurable ROI? Check out our full guide, Agentic Marketing and the Collapse of Traditional Funnels.
Stay up to date with weekly drops of fresh B2B marketing and sales content.
What follows is a preview of insights from the full GTM Partners report on agentic marketing.
When you’re looking at AI agents for sales or marketing, ROI is usually the first question. But here’s the truth: ROI isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are five distinct types you should think about before making the case to leadership.
This is the obvious one. Direct revenue impact you can track like pipeline created, meetings booked, deals influenced. If a lead converts because an AI SDR agent followed up instantly, that’s attributable ROI you can point to in a dashboard.
This is where things get interesting. AI agents reshape how sales and marketing work together. Instead of SDRs being the bottleneck, AI steps in to handle first-touch engagement and qualification. The result is that reps are able to focus on higher-value conversations, and the whole system operates differently.
Think of this as productivity ROI. AI SDR agents remove bottlenecks, reduce time-to-lead, and help SDRs and AEs hit more at-bats without increasing headcount. It’s about squeezing more output from the same resources.
Some ROI is less about gain and more about survival. In high-velocity markets, manual follow-up is too slow. AI becomes the only way to keep up with inbound demand and ensure no lead slips through. That’s necessity ROI, which indicates that the cost of not having AI is higher than the cost of adopting it.
Not everything shows up neatly in revenue numbers. AI SDR agents boost brand perception, improve buyer trust, and reduce lead decay. When a buyer gets an immediate response instead of waiting days, that trust translates into higher conversion down the road.
When you evaluate AI SDR agents, think beyond pipeline dollars. ROI has multiple layers. Some are measurable, some are strategic, and some are essential for long-term growth. The best evaluations look at all five.
Want a deeper breakdown of how agentic AI changes the funnel and drives measurable ROI? Check out our full guide, Agentic Marketing and the Collapse of Traditional Funnels.
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