What Does a Sales Development Rep (SDR) Do?
The exact roles and responsibilities of an SDR vary from company to company. SDRs at some SaaS companies spend most of their time on outbound prospecting, while others are much more focused on qualifying inbound leads generated by the company’s marketing team.
Here’s a quick look at the three most important job duties for sales development reps:
Outbound Prospecting
Outbound prospecting, also known as “cold prospecting”, involves reaching out to potential customers who have no engagement history with your company, generating leads, and qualifying them for a sales presentation from an account executive.
SDRs engage in market research to find prospects that match the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), then work to engage and develop those leads into sales-ready SQLs. SDRs leverage a variety of channels for outbound prospecting, including email, telephone calls, text messaging, social media, and personalized videos.
Lead Qualification
SDRs are responsible for making contact with marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) generated by your company’s marketing team, asking questions to assess their readiness for sales, and scheduling them for a product demo or sales presentation with an AE at the right time.
Lead Nurturing
In the ideal case, an SDR makes contact with a lead for the first time, qualifies them as an SQL, and schedules them a product with an AE who will convert them into a customer.
But sometimes it takes more than one conversation for that lead to be sales-ready. When this is the case, SDRs play a role in nurturing the lead, providing additional education and support, and following up when appropriate to re-attempt scheduling a demo or sales presentation.