We asked three sales experts

"Most reps reach for AI to write outreach faster — but the real leverage often sits upstream in research and judgment. Is there one part of prospecting you'd tell a rep to never hand to AI. If so, why does guarding it matter more, not less, as the tools get better?"

Leslie Venetz

Founder - The Sales-Led GTM Agency

The gap is forgetting to connect the AI-enabled message to the human receiving the message.

We can build lists in a few clicks, do hours of research in minutes and launch a 12-step sequence in an hour.

We get so obsessed with moving fast, we forget to ask, "Was the cost of prioritizing speed worth the ability to earn the right to my prospect’s attention?"

I’d tell reps to ensure there is a human-in-the-loop sense checking the logic behind segmentation and messaging relevance.

It doesn’t matter how many emails you use AI to send at blinding speed if you’re not saying the right things to the right people.

Diego Mangabeira

AE - The Linux Foundation

Never hand AI the "Why now?"

I'm talking about the account-specific reason this prospect should care today.

AI can summarize a 10-K and guess at pain, but it can’t sit with the ambiguity and decide which trigger actually matters to a human buyer.

That judgment is the whole job.

As the tools improve, everyone’s outreach converges on the same competent, machine-drafted average.

The rep who’s done the real thinking upstream — the one who understands the account better than the model does — is the one who stands out.

I use AI to draft. I never use it to decide what’s worth saying. Guard the thinking, and the writing takes care of itself.

Collin Cadmus

Founder - Collin Cadmus LLC

AI can hurt the most where it's supposed to help.

It's great at polishing emails or social media engagement, crafting flawlessly formatted messages — but that "flawlessness" might tell a prospect those messages aren't human-written.

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That said, AI does what you program it to do, so "over-polishing" is generally a user error. 

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If I were to narrow it down, I'd say reps should avoid leaning too heavily on AI for research. 

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When I do that, it turns into vague insight about a prospect like, "He's in management consulting," — which lends itself to the kinds of generic messages I constantly see in my inbox.

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I think AI can help surface some research, but reps should lean on human judgment to determine what's relevant.