What is the role of an SDR?

The SDR (Sales Development Representative) is part of the sales roles and focuses on outreach, prospecting, and qualifying leads. SDRs do the groundwork so more experienced salespeople can approach already qualified prospects.

What is an SDR?

Originally a niche role in a few tech companies, the SDR is now a key position in countless organizations across many industries.

An SDR is primarily an inside sales role focused solely on prospecting, with the goal of generating a sales pipeline for the rest of the sales team. This role is typically considered entry-level and does not require years of experience. It's often seen as a great way to start a career in sales.

To achieve their goals, SDRs usually research potential clients before reaching out. Their objective is to pass on leads that meet certain criteria—so-called qualified leads—to a salesperson who will close the deal.

This process is also known as "outbound sales," where relationship managers identify potential customers, contact them, and then hand them off to another sales team member. Conversely, "inbound sales" occur when a prospect or potential client contacts you first after seeing a marketing campaign or hearing about you by word of mouth, for example.

In most cases, the SDR follows the lead until a meeting is scheduled, after which the account manager takes over. In other words, the SDR's sales role centers on approaching and qualifying prospects, while the account manager focuses mainly on closing deals.

Sales development remains popular with businesses because it allows them to have specialized teams within the sales organization focusing on specific parts of the process. This targeted, segmented effort enables sales teams to adopt a divide-and-conquer strategy, streamlining processes and maximizing value.

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What does an SDR do?

Depending on the company, the definition and role of the SDR may be limited to inbound leads (also known as Marketing-Qualified Leads) who have already shown interest, or to outbound prospects. Some sales organizations do both.

Lead generation and qualification

Generally, a sales opportunity moves from lead to qualified lead to customer. As an SDR in a sales team, your job is to contact prospects, whether through inbound or outbound channels. But before that, you need to do some research. Prospects who share similarities with your best existing clients—such as industry, company size, role, etc.—are more likely to be a good fit.

For example, you should ask yourself:

• Does the prospect fit the company’s buyer persona?
• What are the prospect’s priorities?
• What are they trying to achieve?
• What are their most urgent challenges?
• Who is the decision-maker in their company?
• What tools (if any) are they currently using to solve a problem?

While account managers ultimately decide who is a qualified lead, much of the qualification work can be done before you even reach out, using BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) or similar criteria to determine who is most likely to buy.

Prospect outreach

Once you’ve found a promising prospect, you can use your research to determine the best way to reach them. Depending on where your prospects are active or spend most of their time, you can contact them by email, phone, or social media.

In most cases, rather than choosing just one channel, you’ll find it’s best to have multiple touchpoints across several channels. Whatever channels you use, your research will help you personalize your message. This means going beyond general industry information and conducting targeted research on the prospect and their company.

Nurturing the prospect

Even the most enthusiastic prospects probably won’t be ready for a meeting after just one call. Sometimes, the timing isn’t right, but the prospect is still a good fit. At this stage, you’ll need to nurture these new leads and educate them further about your product or service.

This isn’t the same as cold selling. If everything you say sounds like a sales pitch, the prospect is unlikely to be impressed. However, if you can offer real value and help solve their most urgent problems, the prospect will be more likely to trust you and believe you genuinely want a positive outcome for both sides. In other words, they’ll be convinced you’re reaching out because your product or service could truly help them.