A sales development rep (SDR) is a type of inside sales rep that focuses on inbound qualification and/or outbound prospecting. Many companies have experienced incremental revenue growth by separating sales functions within the organizations into specific roles. Unlike quota-carrying salespeople, SDRs do not focus on moving identified opportunities to close. Rather, SDRs work on the top of the pipeline. They may field inbound leads from marketing programs or call out to targeted prospect lists.
This is a difficult and repetitive job, usually staffed by young, less experienced people who aspire to more senior positions in sales or marketing. Establishing an SDR capability enables senior sales executive to focus more of their time selling to qualified leads and removes some of the burden of prospecting.
Here is the rub. The most efficient and effective qualifiers have been shown to be the most experienced sales reps. So the best skill set for an SDR is most likely embodied by a retired quota-carrying killer. But the economic realities don’t really support this model. So SDRs are usually near entry-level employees and who go through a training regimen.
Think of it – an SDR making 100 dials and having 20 conversations a day with a mission to separate the wheat from the chaff. Day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. Not so fast.
It may take up to 6 months to effectively train an SDR, and their lifespan gets shorter every year. As of this writing, one might expect an SDR to move on to something else after only 2 years in the job. Hopefully, their training makes them great candidates for a Sales Rep job – but that has everything to do with your commitment to grooming them.
I am a fan of the SDR model and look to employ it wherever I work. I call it “building the machine”. It also allows a manager to run finite exploratory drills to run market tests. “Will a person with X Title, in Y industry be interested in our value proposition? Let’s make 100 calls and find out.” Need to test a message? Run and SDR drill. It makes the entire go-to-market approach more nimble.
Another benefit… How many times have you heard that Marketing is producing record leads, while sales is saying they aren’t getting any leads worth the follow-up time? It happens all the time, and the solution is simple if not easy.
First, you need to establish a clearer “service level agreement (SLA) between marketing and sales”. Both sides must agree on the differences between a Marketing Response, a Marketing Qualified Lead, and a Sales Qualified Lead (actionable by a salesperson). But how do MQLs become SQLs and then become Sales Opportunities? Usually phone qualification – enter the SDRs.
Who should manage the SDR team? It truly does not matter if the SLAs are properly defined and managed. Marketing and Sales must meet frequently to discuss and tune the model on an ongoing basis. This is an essential practice.
Pay close attention to the hand-off between marketing and sales. This is an area that foments contentious discussion is often neglected area that gives rise to ongoing culture clashes. Sales is from Mars, Marketing is from Venus, which is why they should report to the same manager :). But I digress.
Separating the qualification and business development efforts by employing an SDR team seems to be an increasingly accepted sales organization model. Just be ready to train, nurture, appreciate and pay your SDRs properly. It is an invaluable capability to have in your toolbox.
If you want some great counsel on how to get this right, I highly recommend Trish Bertuzzi and her company The Bridge Group. They are my go-to for advice and the latest data in this area.
