The sales team of the future

The Future of SaaS Sales Teams: Automate the Busywork, Let Experts Shine

Imagine a typical SaaS sales team targeting SMB and Mid-Market technical buyers, selling deals ranging from $5K to $50K. You might have 3 inbound SDRs qualifying leads, 15 account executives each managing around 100 active accounts, 2 AE managers, 4 solutions engineers (SEs) helping with technical demos, plus training, enablement, and a VP or CRO at the helm—26 people costing roughly $6 million a year to generate around $12 million in new ARR.

But here's the critical question: In this setup, who actually adds value to the buyer?

SDRs primarily guard the Account Executive’s time. They're gatekeepers, not value creators. AEs often follow rigid pricing structures and opaque "playbooks," making responsiveness limited and technical depth questionable. Management, enablement, and product marketing, valuable as they are internally, remain detached from the direct customer experience.

The real heroes—the ones genuinely adding value—are the Solutions Engineers. They're trusted technical experts who understand and directly solve the customer's problems.

At Artemis, we’ve felt this shift as buyers. When evaluating SOC2 vendors, the leading provider made us wait days, with our AE playing pricing games. Frustrated, our enthusiasm waned. The smaller competitor, however, sent a Solutions Engineer who straightforwardly stated their purpose: "I'm here to help you make the best decision for you." Naturally, we chose them.

This points to an interesting possibility: What if the future sales team automates all the mundane, repetitive sales tasks—follow-ups, scheduling, quoting—and leaves the direct interactions entirely to technical experts who genuinely enjoy engaging with customers and solving their problems?

Salespeople of the future won't be traditional salespeople at all. They'll be knowledgeable problem-solvers, freed by automation to do what they love: genuinely helping buyers. Most of the current busywork done by non-technical team members should simply vanish, handled seamlessly by intelligent agents.

The future isn't fewer people—it's fewer gatekeepers. Automating the sales bureaucracy allows experts to shine, making sales teams leaner, more effective, and genuinely aligned with customer success.