How to build and launch an AI SDR
Open AI Agents, click + New agent, and select AI SDR. The wizard opens at Step 1. Use the step rail on the left to jump between steps at any time.1
Name her and pick a seller style (Persona)
Give your SDR a Name — this is how she appears in your agent list. Set what she Signs emails as (for example, “Sales Development” or your own name). Then configure her targeting from your AI Library:
- Target ICP — the Ideal Customer Profile that defines which companies she goes after.
- Modeled after persona — the persona profile she patterns her outreach on.
- Style of seller — choose one of three archetypes:
- Hunter — cold, high-volume prospecting. Best for opening new accounts.
- Farmer — re-engages cold pipeline and past deals. Best for warming dormant contacts.
- Researcher — thorough account briefing with lighter, more considered outreach.
Don’t have an ICP or persona saved in your AI Library yet? You can leave either field blank and the agent will target all matching leads without a profile filter. Create profiles in the AI Library first for sharper, more targeted outreach.
2
Review and trim your audience (Audience)
This step shows the exact people your ICP and persona filters surfaced — real names, companies, and titles. Switch between the Leads and Companies tabs to review both views. Use the checkboxes to keep or remove individuals. Sally only contacts the prospects you leave checked.The live count at the top of the tab updates as you check and uncheck people, so you always know exactly how many prospects she’ll work.
3
Teach her how to write (Voice)
Set a single voice for the entire cadence. Sally adapts the angle automatically by contact role — a CEO gets different framing than an end user — so you only need to configure this once.
- Tone — choose from Direct & warm, Casual, Buttoned-up, Punchy, or Curious.
- Words to avoid — press Enter after each word or phrase to add it. Defaults include “circle back,” “touch base,” and “synergy.”
- Voice instructions — write freeform guidance in plain English. Describe your value prop, what makes your company different, objections to pre-empt, or anything else Sally should keep in mind.
- Saved prompts — pull a prompt from your AI Library with Use, or save your current instructions as a reusable prompt with Save as prompt.
Voice instructions work best when they’re specific. Instead of “be friendly,” try “lead with the ROI stat from our case study, avoid feature lists, and always end with a low-friction ask like a 15-minute call.”
4
Choose her channels (Channels)
Toggle each outreach channel On or Off, and set daily caps on the channels that support them:
At the bottom of this step, choose Who handles inbound replies from your saved reply-handler profiles. Leave it blank and all replies route directly to your inbox.
5
Pick a cadence (Playbook)
Select the rhythm Sally follows to work each prospect. Choose a preset or build your own:
- 5-touch outbound (recommended) — Day 0 email → Day 2 LinkedIn → Day 5 follow-up email → Day 9 call → Day 14 break-up. A balanced default for most teams.
- Aggressive 8-touch — daily touches across email, LinkedIn, and call over two weeks. Best for high-intent, time-sensitive campaigns.
- Light 3-touch — email-only, low volume. Best for high-consideration sales or senior buyers.
- Intent-triggered — only reaches out when an account hits your site or shows a buying signal. Best when paired with the Website Visitor or Intent source.
- Custom flow… — opens the Automation Builder so you can hand-build the exact step sequence you want, then returns here to finish setup.
6
Set her limits (Guardrails)
Guardrails control how aggressively Sally works prospects and when she’s allowed to reach out.Use the Aggressiveness slider to set her overall pace — the panel beside it shows you the resulting estimate: sends per day, follow-up frequency, and whether she auto-handles replies or surfaces them for approval first.Then configure the individual rules:
When you’re satisfied, click Review campaign → to move to the final step, or Save draft to keep your configuration and return later.
7
Review and launch (Review)
The Review step summarizes your full configuration — agent, audience, channels, playbook, and guardrails — and generates a real email preview using your actual prompt, voice, and a live prospect from your audience.
- Switch the recipient — use the dropdown to change the prospect and see how the email reads for different people on your list.
- Regenerate — click to generate a fresh version if you want to see variation or test a tweak.
- Save draft — stores your configuration without activating. Nothing sends. Come back and launch when ready.
- 🚀 Launch — saves and activates the agent. Sally begins prospecting immediately.
Troubleshooting
My audience is empty or shows 'No one matches these filters'
My audience is empty or shows 'No one matches these filters'
Your ICP or persona filters are too narrow for the data available. Go back to Step 1 (Persona), loosen the ICP or persona — or clear one entirely — and return to Step 2 (Audience). Click the re-run button (the circular arrow on the tab strip) to refresh the list. The Leads and Companies tabs each show their own count independently.
The email preview won't generate on the Review step
The email preview won't generate on the Review step
The preview needs a real enrolled prospect to write to. If no one is loaded in your audience, the preview will prompt you to go back and select prospects first. If your audience is populated but generation fails, click Generate or ↻ Regenerate to retry. Persistent failures usually mean a connectivity issue — wait a moment and try again.
My saved prompts don't appear in the Voice step
My saved prompts don't appear in the Voice step
The Voice step pulls prompts of type “email” from your AI Library. If none appear, you haven’t saved any yet. Write your voice instructions directly in the field and click Save as prompt to create your first one, or add prompts to your AI Library directly. Prompts saved as other types (e.g., LinkedIn) won’t appear here.
What's the difference between Save draft and Launch?
What's the difference between Save draft and Launch?
Save draft stores your full configuration without activating anything — no outreach is sent and no prospects are enrolled. The agent appears in your grid with a Draft status badge. Launch saves and activates the agent immediately. If you’ve saved a draft before, launching from that same session doesn’t create a duplicate — it activates the existing draft.
Do I need to write different messages for each contact role?
Do I need to write different messages for each contact role?
No. You write one voice and one set of instructions for the whole cadence. Sally infers each contact’s role — Decision Maker, Champion, Influencer, or End User — from their job title and persona data, then adapts the angle automatically. If you need fully custom per-role prompts at every step, build the cadence in the Automation Builder instead, where you can write a distinct prompt for each persona at each step.
Can I change the playbook after launching?
Can I change the playbook after launching?
Yes. Click Edit on the agent’s card to reopen the wizard. You can update any step — including the Playbook — and save. Changes take effect on prospects who haven’t yet reached the modified steps. Prospects already past a changed step continue from where they are.
Related
AI Agents Overview
Understand what AI Agents are, the status and type badges, and how the grid works.
Automation Builder
Hand-build a multi-step cadence in Plain English or Flow mode with per-step prompts and condition branches.
Managing Agents
Monitor performance, pause or resume your SDR, and manage the individual leads she’s working.