There\u2019s been a lot of discussion around the role of sales development reps in modern sales, and what\u2019s changed about the role over the past decade.<\/p>\n
Buyers now have more information than ever before, inbound and outbound SDRs have to change their approach to capture buyer interest and add value, and the skill set needed to be successful has changed. However, one thing that hasn\u2019t changed is the following: almost every SDR\u2019s goal is to be promoted into a closing sales role, usually as fast as possible.<\/p>\n
There are a few reasons behind this. In most sales organizations, SDR is a foundational early sales role, the day-to-day work of an SDR can feel repetitive, and closing roles usually offer higher compensation than SDR roles. On top of that, SDRs tend to be driven, ambitious, competitive, and impatient individuals.<\/p>\n
This combination invites conflict \u2013 when you place a competitive, driven, and highly ambitious person in a junior role which can feel monotonous, it\u2019s a recipe for tension. The good news? It\u2019s the exact same tension everyone who\u2019s worked as an SDR has felt, and it\u2019s possible to reframe the problem and overcome this obstacle. Here\u2019s a playbook for impatient SDRs on how to fully grasp the value of the SDR experience, and prepare themselves to advance toward a closing role.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no shortage of advice for SDRs online<\/a>, so it\u2019s easy to find nuggets of wisdom to help in your sales career, but unfortunately there\u2019s also a lot of bad advice. Why, you might wonder, am I remotely qualified to talk on this?<\/p>\n “I expected to be promoted into a closing role in three to six months … Then, I was an SDR for 15 months”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For starters, I was the most impatient SDR. I was in your same shoes when I began my sales career in an SDR role at a fast-growing tech \u201cunicorn.\u201d When I joined, I expected to be promoted into a closing role in three to six months. I was wildly impatient (still am), really ambitious, and hyper-competitive.<\/p>\n Then, I was an SDR for 15 months.<\/p>\n As you might imagine, this was a period of tension that involved a good deal of soul-searching. At the time I didn\u2019t fully value the SDR experience or the skill set I was developing. On top of this, I didn\u2019t grasp the true purpose of SDRs in a healthy sales organization, nor the factors that played into my career advancement. I was laser-focused on getting a promotion to a closing role, and achieving this as fast as possible. Looking back now, with the benefit of eight years of sales and management experience, I can say it was 100% the wrong way to approach career advancement in sales. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n The ultimate job of an SDR is to generate more qualified leads for a sales organization. This is accomplished through inbound qualification, or from outbound outreach to prospective customers. If an SDR team generates more qualified leads for a sales organization, it means closing reps will better prioritize their efforts to close more revenue in a shorter amount of time. It\u2019s that simple: more and better-qualified leads = more revenue and shorter deal cycles.<\/p>\n Why do SDRs (including me) fail to grasp this concept? As an SDR, it\u2019s easy to feel disconnected from the business results of your work and thus forget the impact of your role on the business. Think about it \u2013 the primary measure for most SDR roles is the number of qualified opportunities that an SDR sources. In order to source more qualified opportunities, SDRs will usually track activity metrics: how many calls, emails, messages, or texts are they sending to qualify these opportunities? This creates a system where the goal of every SDR is to record more activities than teammates to ultimately generate more qualified opportunities.<\/p>\n The benefit of this approach is it establishes rigor for SDRs (X calls = Y opportunities) and increases the volume of SDR-qualified opportunities. The downside? It\u2019s easy to forget the ultimate goal of any SDR: more and better-qualified leads = more revenue and shorter deal cycles.<\/p>\n “What I was missing was the ultimate measure of an SDR team: did my approach lead to more and better-qualified leads?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Other sales leaders have identified this gap and attempted to address it. Sarah Affleck, Director of Sales Development at Rigor<\/a>, said that, \u201cWhat we\u2019ve learned is that when a new SDR starts at Rigor, it\u2019s important to tell them not just the responsibilities of the job, but why they were hired in the first place. I want them to understand what gap they are filling, so they instantly have a sense of purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n SDRs need more than the \u201cwhat\u201d their job entails, but the \u201cwhy\u201d behind it. For me, this manifested by adjusting the criteria of the opportunities I qualified. Early on, I got the feedback that I was too discerning with the opportunities I was disqualifying which negatively impacted my opportunity volume. Later on, I was told that I was passing underqualified opportunities that weren\u2019t converting at the rate we needed. I was confused at the time because I was leading my team in terms of activities logged, and in total qualified opportunities. What I was missing was the ultimate measure of an SDR team: did my approach lead to more and better-qualified leads, which ultimately helped the sales team close more revenue and shorten deal cycles?<\/p>\n My initial approach was helping the reps shorten their deal cycles by passing better-qualified leads, but came at the expense of closing more revenue. Later on, my approach helped reps close more revenue by passing less-qualified leads but lengthened their deal cycles. By understanding this ultimate goal I could have better calibrated my approach, and been a more effective SDR.<\/p>\n The takeaway:<\/strong> SDRs should ask themselves if their approach generates more and better qualified leads, driving more revenue and shortening deal cycles.<\/p>\n Around seven months into my tenure as an SDR, I remember asking my manager about my promotion timeline. I was confident going into this conversation because I\u2019d hit or exceeded my opportunity quota in each of my first seven months. When my manager told me that they didn\u2019t know but a promotion wasn\u2019t coming in the next quarter, I was surprised. I\u2019d hit my quota in each month, in my mind I\u2019d clearly proven my ability to qualify leads and shown that I was ready for the next step?<\/p>\n “When I look to promote SDRs into closing roles I start by looking at who is first or second place in the SDR stack ranking”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What I didn\u2019t factor in was my performance relative to my SDR teammates. The fact that I\u2019d hit or exceeded quota in each of my first seven months was less impressive when I considered that five of my SDR teammates had accomplished this same feat, and that the relative performance of my colleagues placed me in the middle of the pack on my team.<\/p>\n Now, when I look to promote SDRs into closing roles I start by looking at who is first or second place in the SDR stack ranking, rather than who has hit or exceeded their SDR quota. Why? This is shows me that an SDR has distinguished herself beyond her teammates, and is demonstrating the drive needed to be successful in a closing role. Intercom\u2019s Global Director of SDR Mike Weber<\/a> likes to say, \u201cHitting your quota is a start and not the endpoint.\u201d Once I grasped this concept I became a better SDR and sales professional.<\/p>\n The takeaway:<\/strong> Hitting your quota isn\u2019t the end goal, becoming the consistent top-performing SDR on your team is.<\/p>\n Like many SDRs, I believed I was ready for a promotion a few months into my role. Not only did I erroneously think that I\u2019d mastered the job, but I worried that being an SDR for longer would negatively impact my career arc. Both assumptions were incredibly wrong, more on that shortly. Because of this thinking, I became overly focused on my \u201cpromotion timeline\u201d \u2013 a concept I now reject.<\/p>\n Why is the idea of a \u201cpromotion timeline\u201d so dangerous for SDRs to focus on? It\u2019s true that every SDR\u2019s end goal isn\u2019t to be an SDR forever, and planning for one\u2019s career progression is an important and necessary topic for SDRs to consider. However, the concept of a \u201cpromotion timeline\u201d is flawed because there are a series of factors outside of someone\u2019s control that can affect this timing.<\/p>\n “My assumption that spending more time in the SDR role would negatively impact my career trajectory couldn\u2019t have been more wrong”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cPromotion timelines\u201d assume that a promotion is the sole measure of someone\u2019s effectiveness, and diminishes the importance of developing skills or driving business impact. For anyone early in their career, skill development and business impact are far more important than your job title. Additionally, the timing of a promotion timeline can be delayed or derailed by a number of factors outside an SDR\u2019s control. Business needs and team headcounts will change as a company matures. This means that if an SDR shows she is ready for a promotion but headcount doesn\u2019t exist for the next role, she will not be promoted until that headcount opens up.<\/p>\n Lastly, my assumption that spending more time in the SDR role would negatively impact my career trajectory couldn\u2019t have been more wrong. The Bridge Group conducted research<\/a> that suggests that 55% of SDRs with less than 11 months of experience failed in their post-promotion closing role. That failure rate dropped to 6% for SDRs with greater than 16 months of SDR experience. I saw this play out firsthand as an SDR, where people who were promoted too early were overwhelmed by their post-promotion role and wound up leaving the company or transitioning careers as a result.<\/p>\n The takeaway:<\/strong> The majority of SDRs aren\u2019t prepared to be successful in closing roles with less than fifteen months of experience. SDRs are better served by focusing on skill development, and maximizing their business impact than their \u201cpromotion timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n A common misconception from SDRs looking to move into closing roles is the following, \u201cI\u2019ve beaten my quota for X months, therefore I\u2019m ready for a closing role.\u201d The reality is that there\u2019s more to being achieving success in a closing role than someone\u2019s ability to qualify new opportunities, and it\u2019s critical that an SDRs looking to make this jump demonstrates an understanding and aptitude for what will be required at the next level. To be successful in a closing role, sales reps must:<\/p>\n Most SDR roles don\u2019t require these four qualities to be successful, but they are critical components to every closing role. So the question becomes: How do I showcase these skills as an SDR when they\u2019re not a part of my job?<\/p>\n “Candidates who know what skills they need to develop and have started taking action are more compelling to hiring managers than those who haven\u2019t”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n1: Focus on impact instead of activity<\/h2>\n
2: Hitting your SDR quota isn\u2019t the goal<\/h2>\n
3: Promotion Timeline < Promotion Readiness<\/h2>\n
4: There\u2019s more to closing than beating your SDR number<\/h2>\n
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