Reduce the time to outcome: where AI agents actually fit in your sales process

A lot of companies want to use AI, but they're cautious. How will their leads respond to an agent? What does it mean for their team? The honest answer is that agents are about efficiency. The best place to start is inbound, where a voice or conversational agent picks up on interest the moment it appears and moves the lead to the next stage of your sales process, whatever time of day it is.

Why are companies cautious about using AI agents?

Most companies we speak to are exploring ways to bring AI into the business. They want to use it. But they're conscious about how.

Will leads be put off by talking to an agent? What will it mean for the people already doing the job?

Some roles will change, and some people will be replaced. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But that isn't the point. Agents are there to make companies more efficient: to improve workflows and get more out of the interest you've already worked hard to create.

Why does speed matter so much on inbound?

For B2C businesses like home improvement, HVAC, dentists and surgeons, most people are shopping around. They're looking at a number of different providers at once.

They won't make their decision purely on who replies first. Some will look into who's best at this particular thing. Some were referred by someone they trust, so they're waiting to hear from you specifically.

But a lot of people are shopping around, and the business that gets back to them first and gives them the best experience is likely to win them. Research published in Harvard Business Review found that companies who tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify that lead as those who waited longer.

When is buying intent highest?

Buying intent is live the moment someone needs something.

If someone is shopping around at 10pm or on a Sunday afternoon, that's when you need to create a buying experience for them. It doesn't matter whether you sell B2B or B2C.

A sales leader at a SaaS company might be doing research in the evening, looking at different products and testing demos. You need to be there with a solution for them straight away, and give them a next step that keeps them in your sales process.

Most companies can't do that, because it's always needed a human. Picking up an inbound lead, sending the message, giving them a call: that's always been someone's job. It doesn't need to be anymore.

Why do AI agents work better for inbound than outbound?

Voice agents and conversational AI work really well for inbound enquiries, more so than outbound.

For voice, outbound isn't ready yet. Who's to say there won't be a time? But with compliance regulations, it's very difficult to take a number and hand it to an agent to reach out.

That doesn't mean AI doesn't work in outbound. It does, it just depends on who you're targeting. Across email and LinkedIn, AI already helps B2B companies find the right accounts, spot buying signals and start relevant conversations at a scale no one person can. If that's what you're looking for, you can see how it works on our outbound lead generation page, or take the free Outbound Audit to see your market and the signals worth watching.

But for voice and conversational agents, inbound is where they come into their own. The lead has already opted in. They've given you permission to contact them, and they want to be contacted.

And most of the time, as long as the process of getting to the next step is efficient, people don't mind. It isn't really about talking to an agent. If the agent gives them all the information they need, it doesn't matter whether it came from an agent or a person, because they actively asked for it. If the same information arrived in an email or came up on Google, they'd still be satisfied.

So why not let an agent do it for you?

What is "time to outcome"?

When someone requests information, books a demo or enquires about a service or product, the sooner they get to the outcome they want, the better.

If they enquire in the evening or at the weekend and nobody replies until Monday, their time to outcome is delayed. Agents reduce the time to outcome. That means more people make their decision with you, because you got back to them fast enough, instead of going to someone else.

That's how voice agents and conversational AI fit into companies today: they capitalise on inbound interest and convert it to the next stage.

How do AI agents improve show rates?

They also make sure that next stage actually gets attended.

We've had automations and workflows for a long time. An automated SMS or email goes out, personalised to an extent with custom values: their name, their company, a few answers they submitted on a form.

But it's responses that make people feel like they owe you a show. What we found was that automated messages that didn't prompt a response would get seen, or they wouldn't, but they weren't enough for someone to decide whether they were actually showing up. The more people replied with a yes, or actively said they'd be there, the higher the show rates.

An agent can have a real conversation with a lead ahead of their appointment, call or demo. That conversation is what gets them to commit.

Where do agents sit in your sales process?

Agents sit between the new opt-in and the call actually taking place.

They respond the moment someone comes in, 24/7. They nurture the lead with relevant information based on the conversation they've just had. And they make sure the meeting happens.

If a voice call doesn't connect, the conversation is picked up by SMS or email, and it stays natural and human-like throughout. You can see how it works on our AI receptionist page.

What does this look like for a B2B company that relies on inbound?

We were in early conversations recently with a B2B tech company whose customers are businesses that sell directly to consumers, like restaurants.

The way those businesses buy is very different. If you're targeting restaurant managers, outbound is hard. Their emails are hard to find, they're not really on LinkedIn, and they don't engage there. They make decisions differently.

So this company relied on inbound to generate its sales. They put out lead magnets, ran Meta ads and invested in SEO, and it was working. They were generating real inbound attention. Their sales reps were even going door to door, walking into restaurants and speaking to managers directly. Literally on the streets, which is really cool to see.

But they needed a way to capitalise on the inbound that was already coming through.

That's where voice agents came into the conversation. They want agents to:

• Pick up every lead magnet download the moment it comes in, while that person is still engaged.
• Work the first-party signals in their CRM: the interactions buyers have already had with them, which say more about who's ready than any bought data.

What happens to the leads who don't respond?

This is where inbound and reactivation meet.

With anything, not everyone picks up. Some leads won't answer the call or reply to the message. Then they sit in the CRM, and that interest you paid for quietly goes cold.

An agent doesn't only pick up the leads that have just come through. A reactivation agent picks those quiet conversations back up later, with a simple, personal message based on why they got in touch in the first place. So the agent that answers your new enquiries can also make sure the ones who went quiet get another chance. (I wrote about this in Stop feeding a leaky bucket, and you can see how it works on our lead reactivation page.)

Inbound gets the conversation started. Reactivation makes sure none of them are lost.

What does this look like in practice?

For an aesthetics practice we work with, an agent now answers every enquiry with no delay, saving 14 hours a week and opening up £500 to £700 in potential revenue a day. For a locksmith business, it saves around 10 hours a week.

Imagine hiring someone who never misses an enquiry

Just imagine you hired someone you had to pay very little. They responded to every new enquiry the moment it came in, 24/7. And they made sure every one of your meetings showed up.

That's the exact use case for voice agents.