What is a SDR ? And, How Can They Help You?
A sales development representative (SDR) can help you increase revenue & boost sales. They play a vital role in an organization: identifying quality leads, nurturing them, and building a successful sales strategy.
Understanding the SDR role is important because it creates the foundations of successful sales process for any business. What does a sales development rep actually do? Do they handle inbound or outbound prospecting? Are they responsible for making sales?
I'll tell you everything you need to know and show you how to integrate an SDR into your sales process to generate leads, improve customer experience, and close more deals.
SDRs are knowledgeable reps that understand your industry, sales process and your product or service.
Reps use this information to find quality leads and start the initial conversation.
They’ll take leads through the early stages of the sales pipeline before passing them on to an account executive to make the sale.
Their measure of success is based on the number of sales qualified leads (SQL) they collect each month.
Simply put, SDRs do the initial work so other salespeople can approach qualified leads. The role is usually an entry-level position that doesn’t require years of experience, making it a good way to start in sales.
Here are the key skills an SDR needs to excel in a sales development role:
A “gritty” mindset. If a lead says, “I don’t think it’s right for us”, the SDR should be willing to convince them otherwise.
Excellent communication skills. They need to be able to communicate well to effectively nurture all these leads through the pipeline.
Active listening skills. Listening is a crucial part of good communication.
The ability to multitask. They juggle research, outreach and follow-ups, so they need to be able to switch between tasks.
Empathy and self-awareness. An SDR builds relationships with people to feel heard and understood - so they know that the company values their point of view.
The ability to perform thorough research. SDRs need to uncover all the relevant information about prospects to a) determine if they’re qualified leads and b) personalize communications.
A flair for creativity. Decision-makers are usually exceptionally busy people with plenty of demands on their time.
SDRs need to be creative with their communication. For example, Jon Buchan, director at Charm Offensive, is well-known for using humor in cold emails to secure meetings with senior decision-makers at companies including RedBull, Symantec, Hewlett-Packard and more.