Picture this: Your sales team is crushing quotas, your pipeline is bursting with qualified leads, and your revenue is climbing month over month. Behind this success story? A well-oiled Sales Development Representative (SDR) team working tirelessly to turn prospects into opportunities.
But this doesn’t happen overnight or on its own: Building and maintaining such a high-performing SDR team isn't just about hiring people to make calls and send emails. It's an art and science that, when mastered, can become your company's secret weapon for sustainable growth.
Whether you're a startup founder looking to build your first SDR team, a sales leader aiming to optimize your existing one, or an aspiring sales professional curious about the SDR role, this comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know. From understanding the core functions of an SDR to setting up a team for success, we're diving deep into the world of modern sales development.
What is an SDR?
SDR stands for Sales Development Representative. These salespeople hunt for opportunities, qualify prospects, and move them forward in the pipeline, eventually delivering these leads to the salespeople responsible for closing these deals (usually Account Executives).
As such, SDRs are the first line of outreach and finding customers for any business. They set up email outreach campaigns, calling, and engaging with prospects on social media, all in a bid to warm them up to the company’s product and lead to meetings or demos. SDRs typically focus on and engage the contacts generated by marketing campaigns, lead magnets, etc. leading them to initiate conversations about the product in detail. This is called inbound sales prospecting. Depending upon the definition of an SDR from the company's POV, they may also do cold outreach efforts. This is known as outbound prospecting.
This responsibility means SDRs need an intimate understanding of the product, and also need to be equipped with the right sales collaterals that help them in moving conversations forward smoothly.
Functions of an SDR
The primary responsibility of SDRs is to focus on sales prospecting and lead generation. They are to fill the pipeline with promising prospects and nurture them until they set up demos (particularly in the software or SaaS industry). Hence, the SDRs also use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform to manage, track, and update lead data.
These are the main responsibilities and functions of SDRs when broken down:
Connect with prospects: SDRs are responsible for making the first touch with potential customers. Whether it is the pursuit of warm leads or cold leads, the SDRs reach out via calls, emails, or social media, warm up the prospects, inform them of the product offering, and initiate conversations about a potential sale.
Create the first impression of your brand: It is the SDRs that first inform prospective customers of the work you are doing as a company, the values you believe in, and what difference your product or services can make to the client’s problems.
Qualify the prospects: Not all prospects that are reached out to are suitable customers. Some may not have the budget, need, or relevance, or the timing might simply not be right. It is essential to filter out these unsuitable customers before moving on to the next stages of sales, hence, SDRs perform these qualification checks and move leads forward in the sales pipeline.
Transfer communication to AEs: SDRs are not responsible for closing the deals. Their job is to warm the prospects up enough to get them to set meetings or demos, both of which are handled by the Account Executives, whose responsibility is to create and maintain new customer accounts. SDRs have to ensure the complete transfer of all data surrounding the specific lead.
Manage lead generation: SDRs have target metrics that revolve around the number of leads generated (meetings set-up). Hence, they have to quantify and manage their activity metrics (emails sent, calls made, etc.) in a way that ensures that the specified number of leads is achieved.
What is SDR Lead Generation?
SDR lead generation is the strategic process of identifying, qualifying, and nurturing potential customers. Only a small minority of all prospects qualify for the attempt to make a sale, and an even smaller portion of the qualified prospects turn into customers.
This means that SDRs have to prospect, qualify, and nurture a lot more potential customers than what ends up in the customer base.
Inbound SDR vs Outbound SDR
Inbound SDRs chase the prospects that have shown some sort of interest in the company and its product by engaging with marketing campaigns, downloading assets, website visits, or direct inquiries. This is known as inbound lead generation. As such, they usually have a higher conversion rate than outbound SDRs, and leads generated by them usually have short sales cycles due to the already existing interest.
Outbound SDRs, on the other hand, have to chase prospects on a cold lead basis, meaning the prospects might not have ever heard about your company, and these prospects have not shown any recent interest. Such prospect lists are usually based on the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) a company wants. Chasing cold leads means that the conversion rates for outbound SDRs are typically low, with longer sales cycles.
SDR vs BDR
The terms SDR and BDR are often used interchangeably by businesses, depending upon their own way of looking at these roles.
However, the main differences are on priorities- SDRs primarily focus on increasing the number of leads generated and work on warm leads, whereas BDRs look for partnership opportunities for increasing market presence and focus on the quality of leads. They primarily work on cold leads via cold calling, cold emailing, etc.
What is an SDR’s Salary?
As the SDR role is primarily activity-based, they are also paid incentives and commissions on the meetings they set up. As such, their total compensation is divided into two parts- base pay and variable pay.
The base pay amount is the money received as a monthly salary irrespective of the performance and goal completion. On the other hand, the variable pay comprised of commissions on sales, and bonuses, is dependent on the amount of meetings set up, the number of sales realized from those meetings, etc. depending on the compensation policies of different companies.
The average salary of an SDR in the USA is $57,754 with an average additional (variable) pay of $25,054 resulting in a total compensation average of $82,808, according to BuiltIn.
To excel as an SDR, you need a diverse skillset that combines interpersonal abilities, technical knowledge, and core business competencies. Here are the fundamental skills that separate successful SDRs from the rest:
Communication Skills:
Mastery in crafting engaging emails and messages that cut through the noise and generate responses.
Natural phone presence with the ability to build rapport and handle objections confidently.
Active listening capabilities to understand prospect pain points and tailor solutions accordingly.
Technical Abilities:
Proficiency in CRM management and data entry to maintain accurate prospect records..
Comfort with sales engagement platforms for executing multi-channel outreach campaigns
Ability to leverage social selling tools and LinkedIn for effective prospecting.
Research & Intelligence:
Sharp research skills to identify decision-makers and understand company structures quickly.
Capability to find and interpret relevant company information and trigger events.
Understanding of industry trends and business fundamentals to engage in meaningful conversations.
Personal Qualities:
High resilience and positive attitude in the face of regular rejection.
Self-motivation to consistently hit targets without constant supervision.
Natural curiosity to learn about different businesses and industries.
Strong adaptability to adjust approaches based on feedback and results.
Organizational Excellence:
Superior time management to juggle multiple prospects and tasks effectively.
Disciplined approach to daily prospecting activities and follow-ups.
Ability to maintain detailed and accurate records of all prospect interactions.
Each of these skills plays a crucial role in an SDR's success and develops further with experience in the role.
How to Set Up an SDR Team For Success
Hiring and setting up an SDR team that actively maximizes your revenue goes beyond just hiring the best and most motivated communicators, which obviously, is a given. It is an effort to keep such hires passionate and growing. Here are the main things to do when setting up an SDR team:
Team Structure & Compensation:
Maintain a competitive base salary (typically 60-70% of total compensation) to provide stability
Design commission structures that SDRs can directly influence through their work
Keep SDR compensation independent of AE performance to maintain motivation
Implement achievable ramp-up periods (usually 3 months) with graduated quotas
Metrics & Goals:
Establish clear, measurable KPIs (e.g., number of qualified meetings, conversion rates)
Set realistic activity metrics (daily calls, emails, social touches)
Track both leading indicators (activity metrics) and lagging indicators (results)
Implement a transparent scoring system for lead qualification
Processes & Standards:
Create standardized playbooks for prospecting and outreach
Define clear qualification criteria (like BANT) that everyone follows
Establish smooth hand-off processes between SDRs and AEs
Document best practices and successful approaches for team reference
Set up automated reporting dashboards for performance tracking
Provide call recording software for training and quality control
Implement proper data hygiene processes
Training & Development:
Create a structured onboarding program (first 30-60-90 days)
Schedule regular coaching sessions with managers
Organize weekly team training on product, skills, and industry knowledge
Facilitate peer learning through call reviews and best practice sharing
Support & Resources:
Provide updated marketing collateral and battle cards
Maintain a library of email templates and call scripts
Create ideal customer profiles and buyer personas
Supply competitive intelligence and market insights
Career Growth:
Define clear career progression paths
Offer opportunities for skill development
Create mentorship programs with successful AEs
Recognize and reward top performers regularly
Wrapping Up
Building and operating an SDR team that intricately understands your brand image and your product’s value is tough. It is the SDRs that act as the bridge between the sales team and the marketing team, using the marketing team’s understanding of the brand, and giving them feedback on the customers’ thought process.
SDRs need to be motivated and pushed just the right amount- any harder and they may try to close deals any way possible- which leads to poor customer quality and low retention, and they may not achieve sales goals if inadequate motivation or incentives are provided.
This is where compensation for SDRs, and its structure matters. Our ebook, Complete Guide to SDR Compensation for SaaS, comprehensively covers how SDR incentives and compensation need to be structured, what behaviors are to be rewarded, and how growth can be modeled through promoting the right behaviors.
FAQs
What does SDR sales mean?
An ‘SDR’ in sales refers to a sales development representative. This is the job role responsible for contacting potential customers, prospecting for leads, and qualifying these prospects to push to further stages of the sales funnel.
How much should an SDR make?
The average total compensation for Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) in the US is $82,808. This includes an average base pay of $57,754 and an average incentive payout totaling $25,054.
What is SDR and AE in sales?
An SDR is a salesperson responsible for searching for prospects, warming them up, and setting these prospects up for meetings with the AEs (Account Executives) who are responsible for closing the deals and then building relationships and maintaining them with the clients.
Is SDR or BDR better?
Neither is "better" - they serve different purposes. SDRs typically focus on qualifying leads and setting meetings, while BDRs concentrate on developing new business opportunities. The better role depends on your career goals and strengths.
What is the job description of an SDR?
An SDR identifies, qualifies, and nurtures potential customers before passing them to Account Executives. They conduct research, reach out to prospects through multiple channels, qualify leads based on specific criteria, and schedule meetings with qualified prospects.
What does an SDR do daily?
SDRs spend their day researching prospects, making calls, sending personalized emails, engaging on LinkedIn, qualifying leads, and scheduling meetings. They also update CRM software data, participate in team meetings, and plan their outreach strategies.
What skills would be required for an SDR?
Essential SDR skills include excellent communication (written and verbal), strong research abilities, proficiency with CRM and sales tools, time management, resilience to handle rejection, and the ability to qualify prospects effectively.
What is the function of the SDR?
The primary function of an SDR is to generate and qualify leads for the sales team. They act as the first point of contact, identify good-fit prospects, and create opportunities for Account Executives to close deals.
How many calls does an SDR make?
A typical SDR makes between 50-100 calls daily, though this varies by company and industry. Quality often matters more than quantity, as the response rates vary and calls are usually part of a multi-channel approach including emails and social touches.
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