Deepak Singh: hybrid SDR+AI teams boost conversion, reframes AI‑vs‑SDR debate
- Deepak Singh’s X post about “AI vs. SDRs” points to a specific operating model already in use: Zembl, an Australian energy consultant, paired human reps with AI agents and reported higher conversion. - Zembl said its first AI sales agent, “Toni,” went live in January 2025 after the company started building in October 2024, helping deliver a 30% increase in customer conversion and 24/7 coverage. - The setup shifts routine qualification and follow-up to software while human salespeople focus on selling, a model major vendors now market as augmentation rather than replacement. (salesforce.com)
The “AI vs. SDR” debate is increasingly being framed around division of labor, not headcount replacement. Zembl, an Australian energy consultant, said its hybrid setup lifted customer conversion by 30%. (relevanceai.com) Sales development representatives, or SDRs, handle the top of the funnel: qualifying leads, following up fast, and booking next steps. Salesforce says those teams often spend more than two thirds of their time on non-selling tasks. (salesforce.com) At Zembl, those low-value tasks included researching businesses on Google and LinkedIn, validating contact details, and chasing missing information before a rep could make a first call. Edan Shelley, head of acquisition and sales enablement, said that work was pulling qualified salespeople away from selling. (relevanceai.com) The company also had an after-hours problem. Shelley said a prospect who opted in on a public holiday or Saturday morning might not speak to a salesperson until midday Monday, after the lead had already gone elsewhere. (relevanceai.com) Zembl said it started building with Relevance AI in October 2024 and put its first agent, “Toni,” into production in January 2025. The company described Toni as an AI sales agent that worked alongside humans rather than replacing the team. (relevanceai.com) Relevance AI’s March 2026 customer story says the result was a 30% increase in customer conversion, 24/7 AI sales coverage, and a 60% faster average call time. The same case study says Zembl achieved that without adding headcount. (relevanceai.com) A March 24, 2026 video from Relevance AI added more detail on the workflow. Sunny Singh, Zembl’s head of digital marketing, and Shelley said the system handled more than 100 inbound leads a day and closed a weekend-coverage gap that had previously been zero. (youtube.com) Large software vendors are selling the same division of labor. Salesforce defines an AI SDR as software that automates top-of-funnel work such as outreach, qualification, and engagement so human reps can focus on conversations further down the funnel. (salesforce.com) That leaves the strongest verified claim here narrower than the social-media framing: one named company, Zembl, says a hybrid human-plus-AI sales setup improved conversion by 30%. The broader argument is that the work changed first, and the org chart followed. (relevanceai.com)
