What Is SDR (Sales Development Rep)?

The role scope typically covers outbound outreach across channels, qualifying prospects against an ideal customer profile and confirming real pain, budget signal, and timeline, then handing off a vetted meeting to an account executive. Some companies use SDR and BDR interchangeably; where a distinction is drawn, SDR often refers to inbound-lead follow-up and BDR to outbound prospecting, though the convention varies enough by company that the titles cannot be assumed to mean the same thing everywhere.

The title has taken on new weight because a wave of software tools branded themselves "AI SDRs," promising to replace the human role outright. That framing has taken real, documented damage. TechCrunch's March 2025 investigation found 11x displaying ZoomInfo and Airtable customer logos without authorization, ZoomInfo confirmed it was never an actual customer and threatened legal action for deceptive trade practices and trademark infringement. The FTC settled with Air AI in March 2026 for roughly an $18 million judgment and a permanent ban on marketing "business opportunities." One industry analysis found 50% to 70% of managed AI SDR contracts cancel within 90 days.

Category research also found that none of the eight established human-led appointment-setting agencies studied are currently contesting the "AI SDR vs. human SDR" search results, leaving that question to AI-tool-adjacent publishers instead of the agencies with the most at stake in the answer.