We hope this newsletter edition instills hope that, while the ol’ trusty spray-and-pray sales role might be gone, there's still plenty of opportunity for the salespeople who are willing to adapt to make a darn good living

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Well, isn't this ironic...

OpenAI, the company often cited in "AI is going to replace SDRs" conversations, just posted an in-person SDR role in San Francisco.

However, once you read the job description the irony fades a bit. They're not hiring the SDR most people picture. They're hiring what the role is becoming.

Old SDR job vs. what OpenAI just posted

The traditional SDR posting from a few years ago looked something like this:

Here's what OpenAI is actually asking for:

The former is a dialing job.

The latter is closer to what a junior AE was doing four years ago.

What's actually getting replaced

When people say outbound is dead, they're describing the 2019 version. Spray and pray. Templated everything. Quantity over signal. That motion is what AI is replacing. That specific layer (not the entire function).

The new version looks different. Reads earnings calls and podcasts of priority accounts before lunch. Spots a CFO mentioning AI hesitation on a Q3 earnings call and builds a point of view around it. Maps stakeholders intentionally. Publishes content that pulls ICP into conversations instead of cold-pushing into them.

Roughly 90% of that work is done with AI in the loop. The human jumps in to approve, edit, sharpen, and take the conversation once a reply comes back.

What this means if you're in the SDR seat

If you're an SDR right now, the bar has moved. Activity metrics still matter to your manager, but they're not the thing that protects your seat anymore. What protects your seat is being someone who can do account research like an analyst, write like a marketer, and run a real discovery call like an AE.

A few things worth getting good at asap:

For AEs and managers reading this

The same compression is happening one level up. If AEs are mostly running discovery scripts and forecasting deals their manager already knew about, AI is coming for that layer too.

The sellers who stay valuable are the ones who can think. Build a thesis on an account. Hold a real conversation with a CFO. Push back on a buyer with something other than a feature list.

Tools handle the mechanical work. The premium goes to judgment, taste, and point of view.

The honest read

OpenAI didn't just post a job. They posted a preview of where this role is going across the market. Any legit player hiring SDRs in the next 12 months will be aiming to hire against something that looks like this.

Plan accordingly!

Here are some open sales roles to check out:

Have an open role you want to promote? Inquire here.