Teams are seeing returns from AI prospecting, but they're struggling to prove they deserve more.

Our survey found:

AI prospecting returns can be like "trees falling in the woods."

They might be there, but leaders are struggling to really hear them.

​64% of our respondents report a lift from AI prospecting (19% say meaningful, 45% say moderate), but their measurement stacks are limited.

Volume of outreach (36%) and reply rate (31%) are the main metrics sales leaders use to gauge their AI prospecting success — but AI can inflate both without improving pipeline quality.

Only 14% use quality scores from manager reviews, and another 14% can't consistently measure AI's impact to say whether it's successful.

So while most teams are seeing improvements in AI prospecting, they're underinformed about how effective it is.

Research Is the winning use case (with an extremely visible coaching gap).

Our survey found:

Investing in AI tools for research (21%) is the most popular positive-impact lever among our respondents.

It tops coaching POV (17%), outreach standards (16%), and AI tools for writing (12%).

Our survey also indicates that prompting for research (33%) is the most-taught AI skill, but the feedback loop is missing.

"Evaluating and iterating on what's working" is the least coached skill (16%).

That 17-point gap could indicate that, while teams might be teaching reps how to use AI for research, they're skimping on how to learn from the results.

No coached iteration cycle means reps repeat what they were taught versus what actually converts.

Without that kind of compounding mechanism, even good use cases lose steam and investments get undermined.

What can you do with this next-level insight?

For reps:

Start tracking which AI-informed messages actually converted. That'll improve your process and help develop proof of concept — even if your org lacks a sound measurement infrastructure.

For managers:

You might be teaching reps how to prompt — but not how to learn from the feedback that comes back. Add a standing question to every 1:1: What did your last batch of outreach tell you about what converts?

For leadership:

Fund the iteration loop, not just the rollout. Research is the right bet — leading every other AI use case as a positive-impact lever. But enablement programs that stop at onboarding don't compound.

"They say I'm arrogant and grandiose about how good this newsletter is. I resent that. Would you tell Steve Jobs, Gandhi, and Zeus they were 'arrogant and grandiose' about the cool stuff they worked on? Didn't think so."

Jay Fuchs. Managing Editor, The Science of Scaling Newsletter

Cruise through the prospecting process

We’ve got AI prompts for research... Emails... Cold calls… Even the bonus situations you’ll undoubtedly encounter on your quest.

Turn ChatGPT into a prospecting assistant with 28 simply smart prompts that cut through the fluff.

Apply AI to sales:

• Pull rich insights
  
• Generate email variations
• Nail your openers
• Prep for objections
• Find those “Show you know me” fun facts

The data in question

 As always, we sourced our data through Panoplai: I'm going to name my first born child after this panoramic research platform: Straight-up "Panoplai" if it's a boy and "Panoplaia" if it's a girl.

Since your team adopted AI prospecting tools, what has happened to your reply and meeting-booked rates?

● Improved meaningfully (>15% lift) - 19%
● Improved modestly (up to 15% lift) - 45%
● Roughly flat - 19%
● Declined modestly - 3%
● Declined meaningfully - 0%
● We don't measure this consistently enough to say - 14%

What metrics do you primarily use to evaluate rep prospecting performance today? (Select up to three)

● Volume of outreach sent (emails, calls, LinkedIn touches) - 36%
● Reply rate - 31%
● Pipeline generated from prospecting - 24%
● Meeting-booked rate - 22%
● Opportunity-to-close rate from self-sourced pipeline - 20%
● Meeting-held rate - 17%
● Quality scores from manager review of outreach - 14%
● Time spent on prospecting activities - 12%

Which of the following do you explicitly coach reps on when it comes to AI-assisted outreach? (Select all that apply)

● How to prompt for research, not just writing - 33%
● When to use AI vs. when to write from scratch - 30%
● How to inject point of view that AI can't generate - 29%
● How to verify accuracy of AI-generated claims - 23%
● How to avoid AI tells in tone and structure - 20%
● How to evaluate and iterate on what's working in their AI-assisted outreach - 16%
● We don't formally coach on AI use yet - 9%
● Other - 1%

Which of the following has had the biggest positive impact on your team's prospecting outcomes in the last 12 months? (Select one)

● Investing in AI tools for research - 21%
● Coaching reps on point of view and messaging - 17%
● Defining a shared standard for what good outreach looks like - 16%
● Changing how we measure prospecting performance - 14%
● Investing in AI tools for writing - 12%
● Tightening ICP and account selection - 8%
● Restructuring how reps multi-thread accounts - 7%
● None of the above have moved the needle - 5%