68 AI in Sales Statistics for 2026 (Updated September)

Top 10

18 of 2,391 human replies (0.75%) to Sales.co's AI-written cold emails said the email looked AI-written or automated, using words like "AI slop", "your automation" and "AI generated emails".
Sales.co's AI-written cold emails got a reply from a real person 0.70% of the time, across 1,288,605 emails sent between October 2025 and August 2026.
Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey of 4,050 sales professionals found that 87% of sales organizations use some form of AI.
A Gartner survey of 1,026 B2B sellers in 2024 found that sellers who effectively partner with AI tools are 3.7 times more likely to meet quota than those who do not.
A Gartner survey of 210 sales leaders in early 2026 found that AI tools save sellers an average of 4.8 hours per week.
Outreach's Prospecting 2025 survey of 500 sales professionals found that 22% of teams had fully replaced their SDRs with AI, and 23% did not use AI at all.
Gartner predicts that by 2028 AI agents will outnumber human sellers ten to one, but fewer than 40% of sellers will say AI agents improved their productivity.
LinkedIn's 2025 ROI of AI report found that 56% of sales professionals use AI every day.
Gartner's 2025 survey of 632 B2B buyers found that 73% actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach.
Compensation data from Pave shows the share of employees with SDR job titles fell from 1.9% to 1.5% over about two and a half years, about 8,000 fewer SDRs in its dataset (January 2026).

How many sales teams use AI

1
Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey of 4,050 sales professionals found that 87% of sales organizations use some form of AI.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) · 2026 · 4,050 sales professionals, double-anonymous survey
2
Salesforce's 2024 State of Sales survey of 5,500 sales professionals found that 81% of sales teams were experimenting with AI or had fully implemented it.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (6th edition) · 2024 · 5,500 sales professionals in 27 countries, surveyed March 8 to April 18, 2024
3
HubSpot's State of AI in Sales survey found that the share of salespeople using AI rose from 24% in 2023 to 43% in 2024.
Source: HubSpot, State of AI in Sales · 2024 · sales professionals; sample size not stated on the page
4
LinkedIn's 2025 ROI of AI report found that 56% of sales professionals use AI every day.
Source: LinkedIn, The ROI of AI · 2025 · sales professionals; sample size not stated in the press release
5
ZoomInfo's State of AI in Sales and Marketing survey of more than 1,000 go-to-market professionals found that 45% of sellers use AI at least once a week.
Source: ZoomInfo, State of AI in Sales and Marketing 2025 · 2025 · more than 1,000 GTM professionals (vendor survey)
6
In ZoomInfo's 2025 survey, 32% of go-to-market respondents said they never use AI or could not recall using it.
Source: ZoomInfo, State of AI in Sales and Marketing 2025 · 2025 · more than 1,000 GTM professionals (vendor survey)
7
In Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey, 55% of sales professionals said they use AI for prospecting, and another 38% said they plan to.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) · 2026 · 4,050 sales professionals
8
In Salesforce's 2024 State of Sales survey, 83% of sales teams with AI reported revenue growth that year, compared with 66% of teams without AI.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (6th edition) · 2024 · 5,500 sales professionals in 27 countries
9
McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey of 1,719 people found that nearly nine in ten respondents' organizations use AI regularly in at least one business function.
Source: McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026 · 2026 · 1,719 participants in 97 countries, surveyed May 4 to June 8, 2026
10
McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey found that respondents most often attribute revenue gains from AI to its use in marketing and sales.
Source: McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026 · 2026 · 1,719 participants in 97 countries
11
Gong's 2025 survey of 3,048 revenue leaders found that 87% of US companies use AI, with another 9% planning to adopt it within a year.
Source: Gong, State of Revenue AI report (2nd annual) · 2025 · 3,048 revenue leaders in the US, UK, Australia and Germany (vendor survey)
12
Gartner reports that 87% of sales leaders say their CEO and board are pushing them to implement generative AI.
Source: Gartner, Sales AI topic page · sales leaders; sample and date not stated on the page

What reps use AI for and how much time it saves

13
A Gartner survey of 210 sales leaders in early 2026 found that AI tools save sellers an average of 4.8 hours per week.
Source: Gartner, CSO & Sales Leader Conference survey · 2026 · 210 CSOs and senior sales leaders, January to February 2026
14
In the same 2026 Gartner survey, 72% of sales organizations said they reinvest little of the time AI saves into high-value selling.
Source: Gartner, CSO & Sales Leader Conference survey · 2026 · 210 CSOs and senior sales leaders
15
Gartner's 2026 survey found that 25% of sales organizations report a return of 50% or more on AI investments, while 20% report a negative return of 50% or more.
Source: Gartner, CSO & Sales Leader Conference survey · 2026 · 210 CSOs and senior sales leaders
16
HubSpot's 2024 survey found that sales professionals estimate they save about 2 hours and 15 minutes a day using AI or automation tools.
Source: HubSpot, State of AI in Sales (via HubSpot blog) · 2024 · sales professionals' own estimates; sample size not stated
17
LinkedIn's 2025 ROI of AI report found that 38% of sellers who use AI to research leads and companies save more than 1.5 hours a week.
Source: LinkedIn, The ROI of AI · 2025 · sales professionals; sample size not stated
18
Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey found that sellers expect AI agents to cut prospect research time by 34% and email drafting time by 36% once fully implemented.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) · 2026 · 4,050 sales professionals
19
Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey found that the average seller spends 40% of their time selling, and Gen Z reps spend 35%.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) · 2026 · 4,050 sales professionals
20
Bain's Technology Report 2025 says sellers may spend only about 25% of their time actually selling to customers.
Source: Bain & Company, Technology Report 2025 · 2025 · Bain analysis; no survey sample stated

AI use and sales results

21
A Gartner survey of 1,026 B2B sellers in 2024 found that sellers who effectively partner with AI tools are 3.7 times more likely to meet quota than those who do not.
Source: Gartner, B2B seller skills survey · 2024 · 1,026 B2B sellers, January to March 2024
22
LinkedIn's 2025 ROI of AI report found that sales professionals who use AI daily are twice as likely to exceed their targets.
Source: LinkedIn, The ROI of AI · 2025 · sales professionals; sample size not stated
23
LinkedIn's 2025 ROI of AI report found that sellers who improved response rates with AI saw an average lift of 28%.
Source: LinkedIn, The ROI of AI · 2025 · sales professionals; sample size not stated
24
A Gartner survey of 227 chief sales officers found that organizations that give sellers AI-enabled next best actions are 2.6 times more likely to achieve commercial growth.
Source: Gartner, CSO survey (Business Wire release) · 2026 · 227 CSOs, August to September 2025
25
Bain's Technology Report 2025 says early AI deployments in sales have improved win rates by 30% or more.
Source: Bain & Company, Technology Report 2025 · 2025 · Bain client work; no sample stated
26
Gong Labs' 2025 research found that teams using AI as a core driver of revenue strategy were 65% more likely to increase win rates.
Source: Gong, State of Revenue AI report (2nd annual) · 2025 · 3,048 revenue leaders plus 7.1 million opportunities across 3,613 companies (vendor data)
27
In ZoomInfo's 2025 survey, 81% of sellers who use AI frequently said their deal cycles got shorter.
Source: ZoomInfo, State of AI in Sales and Marketing 2025 · 2025 · more than 1,000 GTM professionals (vendor survey)

AI SDRs and AI agents

28
Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey found that 54% of sellers have used AI agents, and nearly 9 in 10 plan to by 2027.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) · 2026 · 4,050 sales professionals
29
Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey found that top-performing sellers are 1.7 times more likely than underperformers to use AI agents for prospecting.
Source: Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) · 2026 · 4,050 sales professionals
30
McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey found that 40% of respondents at companies with more than $1 billion in revenue report scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier.
Source: McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026 · 2026 · 1,719 participants in 97 countries
31
Outreach's Prospecting 2025 survey of 500 sales professionals found that 22% of teams had fully replaced their SDRs with AI, and 23% did not use AI at all.
Source: Outreach, Prospecting 2025 · 2025 · 500 sales professionals (vendor survey)
32
Outreach's Prospecting 2025 survey of 500 sales professionals found that 45% of teams run a hybrid model where AI supports human SDRs.
Source: Outreach, Prospecting 2025 · 2025 · 500 sales professionals (vendor survey)
33
In Outreach's Prospecting 2025 survey, nearly 40% of users of AI-powered SDRs said the tools saved them 4 to 7 hours a week.
Source: Outreach, Prospecting 2025 · 2025 · Outreach survey respondents (vendor); sample size not stated
34
MarketsandMarkets estimates the AI SDR software market at $4.12 billion in 2025 and forecasts $15.01 billion by 2030, a 29.5% annual growth rate.
Source: MarketsandMarkets, AI SDR Market report · 2025 · market-research estimate (paid report) · full report gated
35
11x, the AI SDR startup, said it approached $10 million in annual recurring revenue two years after launch, TechCrunch reported in March 2025; former and current employees told TechCrunch the figure counted trial periods as full-year contracts.
Source: TechCrunch, reporting on 11x · 2025 · company claim, disputed by employees in press reporting · secondary source, original not public
36
11x raised a $24 million Series A led by Benchmark and a $50 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2024, according to TechCrunch.
Source: TechCrunch · 2025 · funding rounds · secondary source, original not public
37
TechCrunch found in March 2025 that several companies whose logos appeared on 11x's website, including Airtable, said they were not customers.
Source: TechCrunch · 2025 · reporting based on customer and employee interviews · secondary source, original not public
38
Artisan's CEO told TechCrunch in April 2025 that its AI BDR Ava had reached $5 million in annual recurring revenue across 250 customer companies, as the company raised a $25 million Series A.
Source: TechCrunch, reporting on Artisan · 2025 · company claim · secondary source, original not public
39
Artisan's CEO told TechCrunch that the response-rate sweet spot for its AI SDR's outbound email is about 1%.
Source: TechCrunch, reporting on Artisan · 2025 · company statement · secondary source, original not public

How recipients react to AI-written outreach

40
18 of 2,391 human replies (0.75%) to Sales.co's AI-written cold emails said the email looked AI-written or automated, using words like "AI slop", "your automation" and "AI generated emails".
Source: Sales.co · 2025-10-06 to 2026-09-22 · 2,391 human replies in the Sales.co workspace (558,505 emails sent in the window) · method
41
Sales.co's AI-written cold emails got a reply from a real person 0.70% of the time, across 1,288,605 emails sent between October 2025 and August 2026.
Source: Sales.co · 2025-10-06 to 2026-08-17 · 1,288,605 emails sent
42
53.7% of the 34,269 replies to Sales.co's AI-written cold emails were automated: auto-responders, out-of-office notices and bounce notices.
Source: Sales.co · 2025-10-06 to 2026-08-17 · 34,269 replies
43
Sales.co got one interested reply for every 421 AI-written cold emails it sent (0.24%).
Source: Sales.co · 2025-10-06 to 2026-08-17 · 1,288,605 emails sent
44
Out-of-office notices made up 63.8% of the 3,593 automated replies to Sales.co's cold emails.
Source: Sales.co · 2025-10-06 to 2026-09-22 · 3,593 automated replies in the Sales.co workspace · method
45
11.8% of automated replies to Sales.co's cold emails said the recipient had left the company.
Source: Sales.co · 2025-10-06 to 2026-09-22 · 3,593 automated replies in the Sales.co workspace · method
46
Gartner's 2025 survey of 632 B2B buyers found that 73% actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach.
Source: Gartner, B2B buyer survey · 2025 · 632 B2B buyers, August to September 2024
47
Hunter's cold email survey found that 67% of decision-makers do not mind receiving AI-generated emails.
Source: Hunter, cold email survey · 2025 · decision-makers who receive cold email; sample size not stated (vendor survey)
48
In Hunter's cold email survey, 47% of the B2B professionals who send email with generative AI said they would be less likely to reply to an email they thought was AI-generated.
Source: Hunter, cold email survey · 2025 · B2B senders who use generative AI; sample size not stated (vendor survey)
49
When Hunter asked senders to spot AI use in 9 emails, most correctly identified fewer than 4.
Source: Hunter, cold email survey · 2025 · B2B senders; sample size not stated (vendor survey)
50
A 2025 University of Florida study of 1,100 professionals found that 40% to 52% of employees saw a supervisor as sincere when the supervisor's email was heavily AI-assisted, compared with 83% for lightly assisted emails.
Source: University of Florida, study of workplace email · 2025 · 1,100 professionals
51
Validity's 2026 email survey found that 40% of consumers say they are less likely to trust marketing emails they know were written by AI.
Source: Validity (reported by Demand Gen Report) · 2026 · consumers and marketers; sample in the Validity report · secondary source, original not public

B2B buyers and AI

52
Gartner's survey of 646 B2B buyers, fielded in late 2025, found that 67% prefer a buying experience without a sales rep.
Source: Gartner, B2B buyer survey · 2026 · 646 B2B buyers, August to September 2025
53
In Gartner's late-2025 buyer survey, 45% of B2B buyers said they used AI during a recent purchase.
Source: Gartner, B2B buyer survey · 2026 · 646 B2B buyers, August to September 2025
54
Gartner's survey of 645 B2B buyers found that 69% prefer to check AI-generated insights with a sales rep.
Source: Gartner, B2B buyer survey · 2026 · 645 B2B buyers, August to September 2025
55
In the same Gartner buyer survey, 51% said they are more likely to get misleading information from generative AI, and 49% said they are more likely to get it from a sales rep.
Source: Gartner, B2B buyer survey · 2026 · 645 B2B buyers
56
G2's March 2026 survey of 1,076 B2B software buyers found that 51% start software research with an AI chatbot more often than with Google, up from 29% in April 2025.
Source: G2, AI Search Insight Report · 2026 · 1,076 B2B software buyers and decision-makers, March 2026 (vendor survey)

Forecasts

57
Gartner predicts that by 2028 AI agents will outnumber human sellers ten to one, but fewer than 40% of sellers will say AI agents improved their productivity.
Source: Gartner, press release November 18, 2025 · 2025 · Gartner prediction
58
Gartner predicts that by 2027, 95% of sellers' research workflows will begin with AI, up from less than 20% in 2024.
Source: Gartner, press release May 20, 2026 · 2026 · Gartner prediction
59
Gartner predicts that by 2030, 75% of B2B buyers will prefer sales experiences that put human interaction ahead of AI.
Source: Gartner, press release August 25, 2025 · 2025 · Gartner prediction
60
Gartner predicted in 2023 that by 2028, 60% of B2B seller work will be done through conversational interfaces using generative AI, up from less than 5% in 2023.
Source: Gartner, September 2023 announcement (reposted by BizTech Reports) · 2023 · Gartner prediction · secondary source, original not public
61
Gartner predicts that over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027 because of cost, unclear business value or weak risk controls.
Source: Gartner, press release June 25, 2025 · 2025 · Gartner prediction; poll of 3,412 webinar attendees in January 2025
62
Gartner predicts that 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1% in 2024.
Source: Gartner, press release June 25, 2025 · 2025 · Gartner prediction

Jobs and headcount

63
Compensation data from Pave shows the share of employees with SDR job titles fell from 1.9% to 1.5% over about two and a half years, about 8,000 fewer SDRs in its dataset (January 2026).
Source: Pave (CEO Matt Schulman's LinkedIn post) · 2026 · Pave's compensation dataset of client employees
64
McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey found that 39% of respondents expect AI-related declines in their organization's total employment in the coming year, up from 32% the year before.
Source: McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026 · 2026 · 1,719 participants in 97 countries
65
McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey found that the share of respondents reporting headcount cuts in marketing and sales was about half the share that had predicted such cuts in 2025.
Source: McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026 · 2026 · 1,719 participants in 97 countries
66
In Gong's 2025 survey of 3,048 revenue leaders, 28% expected AI to eliminate jobs within three years.
Source: Gong, State of Revenue AI report (2nd annual) · 2025 · 3,048 revenue leaders (vendor survey)
67
HubSpot's 2024 State of AI in Sales survey found that 23% of sales directors expect to add AI-assisted administrative roles to their teams.
Source: HubSpot, State of AI in Sales · 2024 · sales directors; sample size not stated
68
An Alleyoop review of the top 200 AI companies found that 39% of those with open go-to-market roles were hiring SDRs or SDR leaders in 2026.
Source: Alleyoop, SDR hiring in the AI era · 2026 · job listings at the top 200 AI companies (SDR agency analysis)

Widely quoted numbers with no source we could find

“Sellers who use AI are 3.7x more likely to meet quota”
Seen on 9 of the pages we read, usually credited to Gartner, 2024.
Nine of the roundups we fetched quote 3.7x. Some link Gartner's September 16, 2024 press release; 11x writes "sales teams using AI" and links Landbase; Clara says reps using AI SDR tools and cites devcommx.com. The Gartner release is the only producer: a survey of 1,026 B2B sellers from January to March 2024.
Verdict: primary says something else: "Sellers who effectively partner with AI tools are 3.7 times more likely to meet quota than those who do not." Gartner scored a skill (how well a seller works with AI) among individual sellers. It did not compare AI users with non-users, and it did not measure teams or AI SDR tools.
“Companies using AI in sales see 50% more leads (and 40-60% lower costs, 60-70% shorter calls)”
Seen on 3 of the pages we read, usually credited to Harvard Business Review / McKinsey.
Roundups credit Harvard Business Review or "McKinsey, 2025". The link goes to the HBR article "Why Salespeople Need to Develop 'Machine Intelligence'" by three McKinsey partners, dated June 10, 2016 (live page is paywalled; read via the Wayback Machine copy from 2017). The article says the figures come from companies the authors studied for their book Sales Growth.
Verdict: primary is a 2016 article sold as current: "companies that have pioneered the use of AI in sales rave about the impact, which includes an increase in leads and appointments of more than 50%, cost reductions of 40%–60%, and call time reductions of 60%–70%." No sample, no method, and it predates generative AI.
“AI will automate 40% of sales tasks”
Seen on 3 of the pages we read, usually credited to McKinsey.
Pages credit McKinsey; one academic paper credits "Hunter, 2019". The oldest source is the same 2016 HBR article by McKinsey partners (Wayback copy, 2017). Some pages pair it with "by 2020, 85% could be automated", which in the HBR article is a separate claim about customers managing 85% of their relationship with a company without a human.
Verdict: primary is a 2016 study sold as current, and it measured time, not tasks: "We found that 40% of time spent on sales work activities can be automated by adapting current technologies." Current technologies meant 2016 technology.
“41% of enterprise B2B teams run an AI SDR in production (Q1 2026), up from 12% a year earlier”
Seen on 4 of the pages we read, usually credited to Salesforce State of Sales 2026 / Outreach.
Every copy leads back to a Digital Applied blog post of April 21, 2026, which credits "Salesforce State of Sales 2026 and Outreach State of Sales Engagement". Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales announcement and statistics page contain no 41% figure and no enterprise, mid-market or SMB split. We found no Outreach report by that name; Outreach's Prospecting 2025 and 2025 data analysis pages contain no 41% figure.
Verdict: no primary found. The nearest real figure is Salesforce's 2026 finding that 54% of sellers have used AI agents, which measures individual sellers, not teams with an AI SDR in production.
“AI SDRs book 3x more meetings”
Seen on 2 of the pages we read, usually credited to no one named.
Overloop and Autobound write "2-3x more meetings per rep" and credit unnamed sources. A search for the exact phrase returns a customer quote on Qualified's AI SDR product page ("We booked 3X more meetings in 6 months"), vendor marketing from Salestools and a DesignRush headline. None links a study.
Verdict: no primary found. The figure appears only as single-customer testimonials and vendor marketing.

Frequently asked questions

How many sales teams use AI?

Salesforce's 2026 State of Sales survey of 4,050 sales professionals found that 87% of sales organizations use some form of AI. Daily use is lower: LinkedIn put it at 56% of sales professionals in 2025, and ZoomInfo found 45% of sellers use AI at least once a week.

How is AI being used in sales?

Prospecting is the most common use. In Salesforce's 2026 survey, 55% of sales professionals use AI for prospecting and another 38% plan to. Sellers expect AI agents to cut prospect research time by 34% and email drafting time by 36%.

Are SDRs being replaced by AI?

Partly. In Outreach's 2025 survey of 500 sales professionals, 22% of teams had fully replaced their SDRs with AI and 45% ran a hybrid of AI and human SDRs. Pave's compensation data shows the share of employees with SDR titles fell from 1.9% to 1.5% in about two and a half years.

Can people tell when a sales email is written by AI?

Often not. In Hunter's survey, most senders shown 9 emails correctly identified fewer than 4 as AI-written. In Sales.co's own campaigns, 18 of 2,391 human replies (0.75%) said the email looked AI-written or automated.

How much time does AI save salespeople?

A Gartner survey of 210 sales leaders in early 2026 found AI saves sellers an average of 4.8 hours per week. The same survey found 72% of sales organizations reinvest little of that time in high-value selling.

What does Gartner predict for AI agents in sales?

Gartner predicts that by 2028 AI agents will outnumber human sellers ten to one, and that fewer than 40% of sellers will say the agents improved their productivity. It also predicts that over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027.

Method

We searched Google and Perplexity for the questions writers ask about AI in sales, read the top-ranking statistics pages, and ranked every number by how many pages repeat it. Each number on this page was traced to the organisation that produced it and checked against that page on September 23, 2026. A few come from a news report or a repost because the original is not public, and their source line says so. Forecasts are marked as predictions. Sales.co numbers come from our own sending database: the reply rates cover every campaign sent through Sales.co between October 2025 and August 2026, and the newer reply-text counts cover the Sales.co workspace only, so the two groups have different denominators.

Sales.co numbers new on this page:

18 of 2,391 human replies (0.75%) to Sales.co's AI-written cold emails said the email looked AI-written or automated, using words like "AI slop", "your automation" and "AI generated emails". We removed the quoted thread from each reply and searched the reply text for AI, bot, automated, ChatGPT, template and similar words: 163 replies (6.8%) matched, most of them because of an AI company name in a signature. We read a random 50 of the 163 (9 called our email AI-written or automated), then read every one of the other 113 that matched a stricter phrase list (9 more). 18 is a floor; one or two unread cases may remain.
Out-of-office notices made up 63.8% of the 3,593 automated replies to Sales.co's cold emails. Replies labelled automated, out of office, automated referral or error notification were sorted by keyword rules on subject and reply text: out of office 63.8%, left the company 11.8%, ticket or receipt confirmation 7.9%, new address or unmonitored inbox 5.3%, delivery failure 1.5%, newsletter 0.8%, spam-filter or screening notice 0.7%, unclassified 8.3%.
11.8% of automated replies to Sales.co's cold emails said the recipient had left the company. Same keyword classification as f05 (phrases such as "no longer with", "has left", "last day").

All 68 statistics as a CSV: ai-in-sales-statistics.csv.

Cite this page

Sales.co, “68 AI in Sales Statistics for 2026 (Updated September)”, updated September 2026, https://sales.co/research/ai-in-sales-statistics

To cite one number, link its anchor: each statistic has one, for example https://sales.co/research/ai-in-sales-statistics#stat-1.

Sales.co runs done-for-you cold email campaigns for B2B companies. Service and pricing.