We’re Not a “Bodies on Seats” Agency – And Here’s Why That Matters

Too many outsourced sales providers still sell the same thing: bodies on seats. A quick fix. A headcount number. Someone to make the calls and tick the activity box.

If you’ve worked with that kind of partner, you’ll know what it really means – inconsistent conversations, poor brand representation, and a revolving door of SDRs who never truly understand your business. At Air, we’ve built our reputation on doing the opposite.

The “bodies on seats” model: quantity over quality

In traditional outsourced sales, speed and volume take priority. Providers hire fast, onboard faster, and push people into campaigns before they’re ready.

  • Training is minimal and generic –SDRs are put on the phones with little preparation.
  • Coaching is rareand often replaced by unrealistic KPIs.
  • Support structures are thin,leaving SDRs to struggle without guidance.
  • High turnoverbecomes the norm, causing brand inconsistency and lost momentum.

The result is more than wasted budget – it risks your reputation and drains the energy out of your pipeline.

The Air Approach: placing high-calibre sales talent

We don’t fill seats. We build exceptional salespeople.

  • Rigorous recruitment focused on mindset – resilience, curiosity, and coachability come before experience.
  • Sales Academy training with structured onboarding and continuous development across objection handling, outreach strategy, and client communication.
  • Best-in-class technology powering every campaign – CRM, sequencing, analytics, and AI-driven insight.
  • Wrap-around support from managers, coaches, data specialists, and performance leads – nobody is left to figure it out alone.
Clients don’t just get people – they get a ready-built sales infrastructure designed for consistent performance.

Why this matters to our clients

  • Brand-safe conversations with SDRs who understand your proposition and tone of voice.
  • Faster ramp and higher conversion because capability and coaching are in place from day one.
  • Predictable, scalable outbound that grows with you – not a revolving door of short-term hires.
  • Shared accountability for ROI and reputation, not just activity volume.

Bodies don’t build pipelines. People do.

There’s a world of difference between having someone in a seat and having someone who’s equipped to represent your business, connect with your audience, and drive growth.

At Air, we’re proud to be known for the calibre of our people – because that’s what truly powers results. We don’t do “bodies on seats.” We build confident, capable salespeople who deliver impact from day one.

Diving deeper

A side-by-side look at how Air Marketing compares to a typical lead gen agency – from the structure of the team to the strength of the results.

Air Marketing Typical Lead Gen Agency
Builds revenue engines, not just meetings Measured on pipeline and revenue impact — aligning data, messaging, SDR performance, and conversion strategy for sustainable growth. Books meetings, not outcomes Measures success on activity volume and meetings set, with limited focus on pipeline quality or revenue progression.
A fully built SDR function, with wrap-around support High-calibre SDRs trained through an expert academy, supported by sales leadership, data specialists, and advanced tech to form a complete outbound engine. Supplies ‘an SDR’ or appointment setter Provides individual reps with minimal structure, coaching, or leadership support, leading to inconsistent performance.
Deep industry and target market expertise SDRs matched to industries and markets for sharper, senior-level conversations with defined Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs). Generic messaging Relies on one-size-fits-all scripts with limited understanding of industry nuances or buyer pain points.
Built by sales leaders who’ve scaled teams Approach shaped by proven experience in building, leading, and scaling high-performing sales teams. Run by telesales managers Operates with a volume-first mindset — prioritising dial count over process, forecasting, and conversion analysis.
Precision cadences Data-driven, message-tested, multi-channel outreach designed to maximise contact rates and conversion performance. Spray-and-pray outreach Executes bulk sequences at scale with limited targeting or optimisation, resulting in poor engagement and conversion.
A plug-and-play partner for sustainable growth Seamless to launch and built to scale — SDR teams embed within your existing sales function to deliver consistent, long-term results. A short-term supplier, not a partner Designed for quick activation but limited scalability — disconnected delivery teams focused on activity rather than sustainable revenue impact.

Ready to see the difference for yourself?

If you want outbound that delivers revenue, not just activity, let’s talk about what a performance-led model could do for your pipeline.

Outbound: The Sales Function That Refuses to Die

Every few years, someone writes its obituary. The market moves. Budgets tighten. A new technology promises shortcuts. And yet, outbound keeps delivering.

It happened in 2020, when remote work and shifting priorities made cold outreach feel tone-deaf. It happened again in 2023, when leaders were told to do more with less. And now, in 2025, AI is the latest silver bullet pointed at SDR teams, hailed as the cheaper, faster, smarter alternative.

Each time, the same story plays out: outbound gets cut first, then rebuilt later. Because when the pipeline slows, every business rediscovers the same truth: you can’t grow predictably without outbound.

Why outbound keeps coming back

On a spreadsheet, cutting SDRs looks tidy. In the real world, it creates a different cost: the cost of silence. Inbound puts you in front of buyers who are already looking. Outbound gets you in front of the ones who should be.

  • Creates net-new conversations with accounts that aren’t coming inbound yet.
  • Brings timeliness – you don’t wait for intent signals; you create them.
  • Builds reach across buying groups where deals are won (or quietly lost).

The problem isn’t outbound – it’s bad outbound

Much of what gets labelled “outbound” is just mass automation. That isn’t strategy, it’s noise. Effective teams treat outbound as a craft.

  • Precise ICP & segmentation over spray-and-pray lists.
  • Human talk tracks that show understanding, not just personalisation tokens.
  • Consistency and coaching that compound into pipeline, not just activity.

AI won’t replace SDRs – it’ll expose weak ones

AI will sharpen research, trigger detection and message drafting. Useful. But the decisive moment is still human: a relevant opener, control of the conversation, confident qualification.

Reality check: Buyers don’t buy the model. They buy the person who makes the problem feel solvable.

What high-performing outbound looks like in 2025

  • Clean, segmented data with role and timing context.
  • Tight talk tracks focused on pain, impact and next step.
  • Phone-first discipline supported by email, social and paid, not replaced by them.
  • Outcome metrics: meetings, opportunities, revenue, not just dials and opens.
Bottom line: Outbound isn’t dying, it’s evolving. Pair disciplined SDRs with smart data and pragmatic coaching, and you get the one thing the board cares about most: predictable pipeline.

Final thought

Every few years, someone will try to retire outbound. The businesses that keep growing don’t argue, they execute. They modernise the function, back their people, and keep the phone ringing.