AI in sales is everywhere in 2025. Every vendor promises self driving GTM, AI SDRs, automated outbound and instant pipeline creation. Most of it is noise. The useful part is much smaller.
The real question for revenue leaders is simple.
What are top performing teams actually doing with AI today, and what does that mean for building a competitive GTM in 2026?
The sales rep is not dead. The hiring pattern has changed because AI now handles the repetitive work that used to sit on junior reps.
What is happening in real teams:
The biggest shift is operational.
Outbound is being centralised inside GTM or Growth rather than inside each rep’s inbox.
This centralised model defines the winning teams:
AI has not removed sellers. It has removed the low value work that used to slow them down.
Let's break down how this looks, channel by channel.
Email is the channel that AI has changed most.
Human SDR outbound averaged roughly 2 to 4 percent reply rates in 2024. AI driven outbound has now closed most of that gap. Several SaaS companies now see AI sequences performing at the same level as human written sequences.
This is the workflow top performing teams actually use:
The tools vary but the pattern is identical.
Humans define the ICP and the logic.
AI executes the volume and the personalisation at scale.
This is why low quality automation agencies get poor results. Most of them automate without strategy.
The companies that win either hire GTM Engineers internally or work with specialist outbound agencies who build and maintain sophisticated workflows.
If you want introductions to the ones who actually produce results, email bill@katapult.amsterdam.
LinkedIn does not allow the same level of automation as email.
Manual personalised InMails still outperform everything else.
AI is useful on LinkedIn, but it sits in the support and writing layer, not the sending layer.
Teams that are winning on LinkedIn use a mix of these tools:
The formula is simple.
AI writes.
Humans send.
LinkedIn stays clean.
LinkedIn AI outbound at the end of 2025 is roughly where AI email was at the end of 2024. It is getting better, but email is still the more mature channel.
AI callers exist, but they cannot replicate the quality of a capable human rep on any call that involves real qualification or real objections.
The real breakthrough is AI that supports reps live.
Gong has moved beyond simple post call analysis. It now provides:
This gives reps something they never had before.
A senior manager is effectively in their ear, guiding them through the call.
Teams using these tools see:
AI is not closing deals.
It is improving the quality and consistency of the humans who do the selling.
Top SaaS companies are converging on the same operating model.
This is the co pilot era.
AI increases scale.
Humans maintain trust.
The highest performing teams do not use endless tools.
They use focused stacks that generate leverage.
Commonly used tools include:
Clay provides insight and automation.
The sequencer delivers the message.
AI produces relevance at scale.
Typical setups include:
AI supports the writing.
Humans execute the sending.
Teams that perform well on the phone use:
High performing SaaS teams share the same foundations:
AI will multiply the quality of whatever system you already have.
If your system is sloppy, AI will simply scale the sloppiness.
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These insights come directly from data and workflow analysis across our fifty active SaaS partners.
If you want guidance on integrating AI tooling into your GTM stack or want introductions to agencies and GTM engineers who are actually producing results, email bill@katapult.amsterdam.