New research shows Business Development Representatives (BDRs) embracing AI while achieving stronger performance metrics
6sense®, the leading platform revolutionizing B2B revenue generation, today released its annual State of the BDR 2025 Research Report, offering comprehensive insights into the evolution of the BDR role. The research, which surveyed 262 BDRs primarily across North America's technology sector, reveals that despite concerns about AI replacing sales roles, BDR teams are expanding and performing better with AI integration.
"Our research shows that AI is currently enhancing, not replacing, the BDR role," said Kerry Cunningham, Head of Research and Thought Leadership at 6sense. "We're seeing BDR teams embrace AI tools while maintaining strong performance metrics and team growth."
The research also revealed a strong correlation between BDR support and performance outcomes. Using a comprehensive Support Index that measures factors such as role clarity, adequate tooling, and leadership backing, the study found that BDRs who reported feeling strongly supported in their roles achieved 15% higher quota attainment compared to their peers. While the overall Support Index has stabilized at 5.9 in 2025 after a slight decline in recent years, the data clearly demonstrates that organizations investing in BDR support – through proper tools, training, and leadership recognition – see significantly better business outcomes.
Key findings from the report include:
- 62% of BDRs report that AI makes their role more productive, with this number rising to 70% among those actively using AI tools
- 79% of BDR teams have either grown (58%) or maintained (21%) their size over the past year
- BDRs are achieving 88% of their quotas on average
- 90% of BDRs are now employing multi-threading strategies when engaging prospects
- High-support BDRs outperform their peers by 15% in quota attainment
- AI email writing tools lead adoption at 62.5%, with most users leveraging them weekly or daily
The research also highlighted a significant shift in buyer engagement strategies, with BDRs prioritizing more value-led approaches like offering tailored content while moving away from focusing solely on aggressive meeting requests. The data shows buyers typically don't engage with sellers until they're 69% through their buying journey, emphasizing the importance of providing enabling content and building buyer readiness.
"What's particularly interesting is that companies investing in AI are simultaneously investing in their people," noted Cunningham. "This demonstrates that AI is being viewed as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for human expertise."
Access the Complete Report
To download the complete State of the BDR 2025 Research Report, visit: https://6sense.com/resource-library/the-2025-science-of-b2b-bdr-benchmark-succeeding-in-a-changing-landscape/
The report includes:
- Detailed analysis of AI adoption trends in sales development
- Best practices for BDR team support and performance
- Insights into modern buyer engagement preferences
- Recommendations for optimizing BDR team performance
About 6sense
6sense is on a mission to revolutionize the way B2B organizations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage, and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate, and a 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything. Do anything®, with 6sense.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250214747884/en/
