When choosing and evaluating an Agent, there are a number of factors you need to consider. You need to understand if it can integrate with your business, handle complexity, operate at scale, perform well, and deliver value.

Entry Criteria

1. Capabilities

Start with whether the Agent can do what your specific inbound motion needs. Here are some questions to ask:

• Can it handle complex, multi-step sales conversations, and not just FAQ-style queries?

• Can it apply structured qualification logic while adapting its questions, tone, and approach based on your buyer's responses?

• Does it support lead enrichment from your CRM and real-time data sources?

• Is it available on the channels your buyers use (e.g., chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS)?

• Can you control its rules, guardrails, and behavior without going through the vendor?

• Does it have the reporting you need to measure what matters, like qualification rate, contact capture rate, and funnel drop-off?

• Can it seamlessly hand over to human sales reps, when needed?

• Does it give you transparency and control over the end-to-end experience?

• Can it automatically detect and respond in your prospect's language?

2. Platform fit

Determine if the Agent can integrate with your existing systems, meet your compliance standards, and scale with your team.

Areas to focus on here are:

Integrations and customization

Can it connect with your existing systems? How easily can it be customized to fit your workflows?

Check that:

• It connects with your CRM, calendar and scheduling tools, and existing sales systems.

• It's extensible via APIs, webhooks, or SDKs.

• It can reflect your business logic, data sources, and routing rules.

Security and compliance

Does the vendor meet your data privacy obligations?

Confirm that:

• The vendor meets privacy and data protection obligations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA).

• Certifications like SOC 2, or ISO 27001, ISO/IEC 42001 in place.

• It can isolate or redact PII.

• It can support SSO, RBAC, and audit logs.

Evaluation criteria

1. Business performance

As you're evaluating Sales Agents, the business performance metrics you'll want to measure across the total conversation volume handled are:

• Meetings booked The number of qualified conversations that result in a meeting being successfully scheduled with sales.

• Pipeline generated The value and volume of pipeline created from Agent-qualified conversations.

• Completion rate Sales conversations where the Agent reaches a clear routing decision (e.g. qualify, disqualify, self-serve).

• Contact capture rate Conversations where the Agent successfully captures key details like name, email, or phone so your team can follow up.

• Qualification rate The percentage of conversations the Agent routes to sales or self-serve as qualified, based on your Playbook criteria.

• Customer satisfaction How satisfied prospects are with conversations handled by the Agent, helping assess whether it's delivering a high-quality experience.

Completion rate is your baseline check. If prospects are abandoning conversations before the Agent reaches a decision, it's a signal to refine your qualification logic, particularly the data you collect and the outcomes you define. These are the areas you'll return to as you continue to optimize over time.

If you're evaluating Fin, it provides a visual Qualification funnel alongside a dedicated Leads report that groups prospects by their final outcome (e.g., book sales call, start a trial, disqualified or disengaged).

Revenue leaders use these insights to continuously optimize the buyer journey. By reviewing disengaged conversations, your team can actively identify drop-off patterns, understand why buyers are abandoning the chat, and adjust your Playbook criteria to improve Fin's behaviour and capture more high-quality leads.

2. Conversation quality

Business performance metrics tell you what the Agent is doing, while conversation quality tells you whether it's doing it in a way that holds up with real buyers. You need to look at:

• Accuracy Does it understand intent (including ambiguous or multi-part questions), handle objections, and deliver the right answer from the correct source, every time?

• Behavior Does it know when to clarify or when to route buyers to the right outcome? Can it represent your brand's tone of voice and adhere to your company's policies? Does it guide discovery and run qualification the way a good SDR would?

• Experience Does it create a smooth, fast, and satisfying experience for both buyers and sales teams? Would a prospect come away from this conversation with a positive impression of your company? Would your sales team stand behind how the Agent represented them?

Important note: you should also evaluate the vendor, not just the Agent

The vendor behind the Agent matters just as much as the solution itself. You're choosing a partner for transformation. One that will help you evolve your inbound sales motion.

This isn't traditional vendor management; you're betting on a vision of the future. Ask:

Are they pushing boundaries?

• Are they shaping the future of AI-powered sales, or reacting to it?

• Do they have a clear point of view on where AI is headed?

• Are they building capabilities that stretch beyond today's benchmarks, and not just keeping pace?

Are they a true partner, not just a provider?

• What does their product roadmap look like? How does customer feedback shape it?

• What kind of support will you get post-launch, e.g., ongoing support, or does the relationship shift to basic technical support?

• Are they transparent about current limitations? Vendors who acknowledge gaps and commit to fixing them are more likely to be honest partners than those who oversell capabilities.

Are they built for long-term success?

• How long do companies like yours typically stay with this vendor? Look at their existing customer base, retention, and growth rates.

• How do they respond to hard questions during evaluation? Those who get defensive about limitations or rush you toward a decision may not be committed to long-term success. The best vendors welcome hard questions and help you spot risks before they become problems.

• Ask yourself: does this vendor feel like someone who will help us reinvent the sales experience, or just someone selling software? Great Agents are backed by great partners. Look for vendors that are obsessed with sales, transparent about how the technology works, and committed to co-building the future with you.