Behind every successful salesperson is an SDR. The person who does all the important work from generating leads to passing the qualified lead to the salesperson. Learn what the job description is and the importance of the SDR to the team.
SDR = Sales Development Representative
Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a salesperson who focuses on starting the sales process instead of closing deals.
They are therefore a key component of the sales team. Their goal is to determine if the lead is a good fit for the product being offered and is interested. If so, they pass it on to the sales team. This increases their productivity and efficiency.
What SDR does
SDR sales help get suitable leads into the sales funnel, through which they pass it on to salespeople. They then close the deal with them.
The SDR's role on the team is to:
- Contacting and initiating communication with leads (via email, phone, social media or at events),
- introducing the product or service,
- classifying leads and selecting those that match the customer persona and the product is a good fit for them,
- building a relationship with leads without pushing them into the deal,
- facilitating the passage through the sales funnel to the salespeople.
When do you need an SDR on the sales team
If you're a medium or larger company with many clients, it's a good idea to have SDRs in addition to salespeople. That's because taking the extra steps from lead generation through lead classification in addition to closing a number of deals can be beyond the capabilities of regular salespeople. Overwhelming them for a long time then leads to them leaving the firm.
To prevent this from happening, indulge them with the support of SDR salespeople, Thanks to them, salespeople will fully focus on the last stage of the sales process and their efficiency will grow.
What characteristics should an SRD have
SDR sales tends to be the first person from your company that your potential customer interacts with. He or she needs to know the company, the product, the market and the clients well and also needs to have a good demeanor.
Some of the qualities that an SDR needs to do their job include:
- Communication skills, as he/she represents the company and products, maintains communication with clients and the sales and marketing team,
- active listening skills to get to know clients and respond quickly to their needs,
- proactivity and self-motivation, as he himself must find the best methods of reaching and acquiring leads.
To do their job in the best possible way, SDR sales also need to work with different tools. The key for them is a CRM in which they have all the information about the leads.
