Glossary
The terms behind outbound run by an AI agent, in plain English.
- AI SDR
- Software that does the work of a sales development rep with AI: finding leads, researching them, writing outreach and handling replies. Most AI SDR platforms run their own agent; see Harp vs AI SDRs.
- Bring your own AI plan
- A pricing model where the software runs no model of its own and your own AI agent, on your own subscription, does the reasoning. You pay for the tool, not for AI credits. Harp works this way.
- Copy review
- Holding each rendered email until it has been read and approved before it sends. In Harp, a campaign can require copy review, and your agent reviews the drafts in send order.
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- An open standard, introduced by Anthropic in November 2024, that lets an AI agent connect to tools: read data, search and take actions. See MCP for sales teams.
- MCP harness
- The set of tools, stored state and guardrails an AI agent works through, over MCP, to do a job that outlasts one conversation. See What is an MCP harness?.
- MCP server
- A program that exposes tools to an AI agent over MCP. A local server runs on your machine and is started by the agent’s app; a remote server is hosted and added by URL.
- Pipeline generation
- The work of creating qualified sales opportunities: finding the right accounts, reaching the right people and turning replies into meetings. Harp is the MCP harness for pipeline generation.
- Playbook
- A reusable sequence with the qualification questions it depends on. Starting a campaign from a playbook gives every enrolled contact the same steps and rules.
- Qualification questions
- The questions that decide whether an account is worth contacting, written so an agent can answer each one with a verdict and evidence, for example "Are they hiring salespeople?". The answers also supply the specifics an email refers to.
- Recipient working hours
- Sending an email so it lands during the recipient’s own working day in their timezone, rather than the sender’s.
- Research gap
- A qualification question that has no answer yet for an account, or whose answer is too old to trust. Filling gaps instead of re-researching everything keeps an agent’s work small.
- Right-person check
- Confirming the open LinkedIn page belongs to the intended person, for example by name and profile address, before sending a message or invite. If it cannot be confirmed, nothing is sent.
- Send pacing
- Spacing outbound emails apart instead of sending them in a burst. Harp waits a random 2 to 6 minutes between sends from each mailbox.
- Sequence (cadence)
- A series of outreach steps across channels, such as email, LinkedIn and waits, that runs on a schedule until the prospect replies or the steps run out.
- Suppression list
- Email addresses and domains that must never be contacted, such as people who unsubscribed or existing customers. A good outbound system checks it before every send.
- Warm-up
- Raising activity gradually on a new or quiet account so it does not jump to full volume overnight. It applies to new email mailboxes and to LinkedIn accounts; Harp starts new LinkedIn accounts on a four-week warm-up.