The SDR is a Specialized Role in the Sales Funnel, NOT a Junior Sales Executive

Are you old enough to remember when sales executives generated and nurtured their own leads? I am.

But, I am also young enough to have experienced the economies of scale that come to bear when the job of identifying the most likely leads to qualify for a sale should be a specialized role.

In this third installation of articles on the sales process for enterprise sales, and with a focus on startups in Israel (previous articles were on sales operations here, and presales "engineers" here), let's take a look at a role that may sometimes get confused as an entry level account executive role.

There has never been a better time in sales funnel management than today. The reach of digital marketing into social media and buyer persona targeting have been able to generate demand from inbound leads in a way that would have made marketing and sales professionals blush just a decade ago. When marketing is doing it right, the real challenge is to identify the most relevant leads for direct contact, and to continue to digitally nurture the rest.

The process of picking out the most qualified from these inbound requests for demos and pricing is one that is an agreed upon service level agreement (SLA) between marketing and sales. The people that will be tasked with reaching out to those leads that appear to be the most relevant for your sales organisation to pursue are the sales development representatives, or SDRs.

Skill sets differ between SDR and AE

Let’s firstly agree that many skills overlap between the account executive (AE) and SDR. Yet, I would caution the SDR hiring manager to look for someone that is focused on this area of the sales funnel as an area of specific interest. Are they the type that are looking for the thrill of closing a big deal? Or are they enthralled when they are able to get through all the hurdles and screens put up by lower level people when trying to get a meeting booked with a real decision maker?

To engage with additional stakeholders than they have been introduced to by SDR, AEs should also feel the thrill of having cleared the hurdles. Today’s enterprise sales often involve a consensus of decision makers, which means that the AE can and should use the active evaluation process as a lever to get ever deeper into the fabric of stakeholders.

SDRs on the other hand need to get to the relevant and senior enough stakeholder to begin the sales process. This means that they are navigating through the organisation before there is any real engagement with the prospective client. Being on the receiving end of their hard work, I am amazed and grateful at those that thrive in this role. Here are some attributes that I would attach to some of the best SDRs I have had the pleasure to work with:

• Tireless and ready to pick up the phone, over and over.

• Hunter, par excellence! They just want to keep finding new prospects to bring to a meeting.

• Thick-skinned, in that they don’t take rejection personally. They focus on how they can help the customer given the chance.

• Empathetic, and sensitive to the needs of the various levels of people that will help them get to the right person.

• Genuinely curious about the business needs of the prospect.

• Quick witted and easily express themselves verbally (since they typically do not have the visual aids of a slide to convey their thoughts).

• They are proficient at asking pertinent questions, and proudly document their findings. This information becomes the starting point for the AE.

Exceptions to the Rule

I personally know some great SDRs that have excelled in enterprise sales later on, but in my experience they are the exception, not the rule. In the comments below, we can share some great examples of these, but my experience is that the best SDRs I have worked with have gone on to more senior roles in SDR, into demand generation marketing, and even into product marketing. Typically, they become highly specialized and well rewarded as such, or go on to manage the function for their next employers, and often with great success.

It is a specialized skill that is vital to an effective sales process.

Team Affiliation - Marketing or Sales?

Since the SDR function is related to both the lead generation (which is related to marketing) and the furtherance of the sales function (which is naturally related to sales), there is often a question about which team they should belong to.

My sense is that they should belong to Marketing. Some reasons for this include:

• They are being fed by the generation inbound demand, which is a function of marketing. Ensuring that they have enough to work with is then logically an internal marketing KPI.

• The messaging they use should be kept high level, like the marketing message

• It creates a healthy tension between the teams, which adds focus to meeting the agreed upon SLA between the departments as to what qualifies as a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) and what should be nurtured by marketing and SDR for later introduction into the sales funnel.

Does your SDR report to sales, or marketing? Which is more logical in your organisation, and why?

Who are some of the star SDRs you have worked with? Call them out in the comments below as a sign of appreciation!