EXPOSED
The top-of-funnel half of this job — building prospect lists, writing cold outreach sequences, qualifying inbound leads, assembling proposals and quotes, logging CRM activity, following up — is already being done by AI and automated sequencing tools at acceptable quality, and headcount for junior/SDR-style service selling is the first to compress. What survives is the part where a buyer commits budget to an intangible service and wants a named human accountable for delivery: discovery conversations that surface unstated constraints, multi-stakeholder negotiation, pricing and scope tradeoffs, and rescuing accounts when delivery slips. Score reflects the modal worker (mid-market B2B services closer), not the enterprise strategic-accounts tier, which is materially safer.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. Prospect research, sequenced cold email, inbound lead qualification, quote assembly and CRM hygiene are already machine work, which caps this at 8; what holds it above the automatable band is the live discovery call where a buyer's real constraint (a budget cycle, an internal rival, a burned prior vendor) only surfaces under conversational pressure, plus closing negotiations where scope and price move together.
Some physical or field component. A 6 reflects that most of the week is phone, video and CRM, but service selling still puts you on-site for walkthroughs — surveying a facility before quoting janitorial or security coverage, sitting in a client's office to scope a staffing or logistics contract, working a trade show booth — which is more physical presence than an inside-sales desk job and far less than a field technician.
No licence, no signature requirement. There is no licence to sell janitorial, staffing, telecom, or logistics services; contracts are signed by the company and misrepresentation exposure runs to the employer, so nothing in law prevents your accounts from being reassigned to a smaller team with better tooling — hence a 1 rather than a 0 only because commission agreements and non-competes create minor personal contractual attachment.
The human relationship is the product. At 13 the relationship is genuinely the product for renewals and referrals — buyers of intangible services purchase your credibility that delivery will happen, and they call you personally when it slips — but it sits at the floor of that band rather than 17 because most mid-market service accounts survive rep turnover, and procurement teams, RFPs and multi-stakeholder buying committees deliberately dilute any single rep's hold.
Meaningful discretion. An 11 fits a rep who decides which deals to walk away from, where to concede scope versus price, and how to sequence a five-stakeholder buying committee — real discretion with revenue consequences — but discount authority, contract terms and approval thresholds are set above you, so the genuinely ambiguous high-stakes calls escalate to sales management or legal.
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