Buyers can now tell when an email was written by AI, and they are tuning it out. So where are enterprise conversations actually coming from?
In this episode of the True Conversations podcast, Tom Happé sits down with Robbie McGregor, Co-Founder of Sentrama. Robbie is a former CRO who built a phone-first outbound business after scaling revenue in his previous company without adding headcount.
From LinkedIn and email to phone-first
Sentrama started out running LinkedIn and email outbound. The shift to phone-first came from what buyers were telling them: as inboxes fill up with automated, AI-written messages, senior buyers increasingly want a real human conversation. A well-prepared call cuts through in a way another sequence does not.
Data is the fuel
Robbie’s view is that outbound lives or dies on data. Before a single dial, Sentrama uses AI to pre-qualify the target list, and that step typically removes 40–60% of a “target” list as a poor fit. Fewer, better-qualified accounts means reps spend their time on conversations that can actually go somewhere.
SDR is no longer an entry-level job
Robbie calls SDR the hardest job in sales. Demand for junior SDR roles is falling while demand for senior SDRs is rising, because the role now needs judgement, commercial understanding and the confidence to hold a real conversation with an executive.
The two outbound problems: infrastructure and pitch
When outbound is not working, Robbie splits the problem in two:
- Infrastructure: the data, targeting, tooling and process that decide who you reach and when.
- Pitch: what you actually say once you are in front of them.
Most teams try to fix both at once. Diagnosing which one is broken first saves months.
What 600,000+ call transcripts reveal
Sentrama has logged more than 600,000 call transcripts, which shows how differently each ICP responds to the same pitch. The lesson: there is no universal script. What lands with one persona can fall flat with another, and the only way to know is to observe real conversations at volume.
Have 100 conversations before you scale
Robbie’s rule is to have 100 conversations with your market before scaling any campaign. That matters even more for vendors entering the UK, where assumptions carried over from other markets often do not hold.
Who outsourced outbound is right for
Robbie outlines three types of company that need outsourced outbound, including the “fingers burnt”: businesses that have already tried and failed with outbound and need it done properly the second time.
Why Sentrama built an AI caller, and chose not to use it
Sentrama built its own AI caller, then decided not to use it. The conversation covers why AI callers do not work for this kind of selling, and what outbound looks like over the next two years, when nobody can forecast beyond six months.
Who this episode is for
If you lead sales, marketing or revenue at a B2B tech company and your outbound is getting louder without getting results, this one is for you.
Connect with Robbie: Robbie McGregor on LinkedIn, or visit sentrama.com.
