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Outbound sales agents vs. inbound-only bots

Compare the two SAMI Bot types so you pick the right direction and configure the sections each one needs.

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Every SAMI Bot is one of two types, and that choice is the first thing you pick when you create one. It decides whether the bot dials new leads or waits for the phone to ring, and it changes which sections you fill out in the editor.

The two bot types

When you add a bot in SAMI Bots, SAMI asks for the type before anything else.

  • Outbound sales agent — cadences new leads through a workflow, calling and texting them, and also answers when those leads call back.
  • Inbound-only — answers calls that come in to a line you point at it, figures out why each caller is reaching you, and routes them.

Both types share an Identity section, a "What SAMI says" section, Outcomes, Voice & transfer, and Review & publish. The difference is the one direction-specific section in the middle.

What changes for an outbound sales agent

A sales agent is built to start conversations, so it needs a few extra details to sound like it belongs to your business.

  1. Pick the sales agent type

    Create a bot from SAMI Bots and choose the outbound sales agent type when prompted.

  2. Fill in the sales agent settings

    In Identity and "What SAMI says," set the spoken company name (how SAMI says your brand out loud), the company city, and the lead-source context that explains how the lead found you.

  3. Write the transition and transfer scripts

    Add the transition line SAMI uses to move from the opener into qualification, plus the transfer-request script it reads when offering to connect the lead to an agent.

  4. Choose the outbound workflow

    Open the Outbound workflow section and pick the workflow that enrolls new leads so SAMI knows when to reach out.

Sales agent settings are required to publish — a sales agent won't go live until the spoken company name, city, lead-source context, transition script, and transfer-request script are all filled in.

What changes for an inbound-only bot

An inbound-only bot skips the workflow step entirely. Instead, it shows an Inbound routing section where you tell SAMI where calls should go and when.

There you set your business hours — timezone, start and end times, and any excluded days — and choose what happens outside those hours: take a message or transfer to your after-hours line. Below that, you add the routing rules that send each caller to the right destination based on who they're asking for or what they need.

Why enrollment locks differ

Because a sales agent owns the outreach cadence, it cares about enrollment: a lead is enrolled in the outbound workflow, worked through the sequence, and its enrollment can be paused or canceled by a call outcome. An inbound-only bot never enrolls anyone — it only reacts to calls that arrive — so it has no cadence to lock and no enrollment to manage. That's why the Outbound workflow section appears for sales agents only, and the Inbound routing section appears for inbound-only bots only. You can review either type's full setup any time from SAMI Bots.

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Last updated 2026-06-21

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