Sales Development Representative: A Guide to the Sales Role

A sales development representative (SDR) is a member of a sales team who focuses on one important aspect of the sales process: finding and qualifying leads. Sales development reps usually perform inbound and outbound prospecting to generate leads, talking to a wide range of potential customers on the phone or over email before passing the promising leads on to a salesperson who closes the deal. The SDR position evaluates leads from marketing channels, reaches out to new leads, and works with the sales manager to monitor their metrics and performances. Sales development reps should have exceptional communication skills as their position focuses mainly on cold calling and customer engagement.

While sales development positions will vary from company to company, here are some of the most common responsibilities in the job description:

• Evaluate leads from marketing channels. A company doesn’t always have to reach out to a potential lead. Sometimes, prospective customers make the first contact by inputting their information into the company’s website. This type of lead generation is known as inbound sales prospecting. The marketing channel forwards inbound leads to a sales development representative, who will reach out to decide if they meet the company’s customer profile.
• Reach out to find new leads. In addition to inbound sales prospecting, sales development representatives will often engage in outbound prospecting for new business. This type of outreach includes researching prospects online, then reaching out via cold call or cold email to qualify the lead. Many businesses split up their inbound and outbound responsibilities, tasking sales development representatives with inbound marketing leads and business development representatives, or BDRs, with outbound lead generation.
• Pass qualified leads onto the sales reps. Once a sales development representative has completed their lead qualification, they pass the lead to another sales professional on the salesforce who will guide the prospect through the sales cycle and close the deal.
• Report to a sales manager. Sales development representatives don’t work in isolation—in addition to a team of sales representatives, they also work with sales managers to monitor their metrics and track their performance. The key performance indicator (KPI) used for most sales development representatives is how many qualified leads they can produce in a specified timeframe.

While you don’t need a sales degree to land a sales development representative job, you will need the following skills to be successful at the position:

• Communication skills: Sales development representatives spend a lot of time talking to other people—whether through phone calls, voicemails, or email. Sales development reps need to be comfortable talking to a wide range of people, confident when making cold calls, and charismatic enough to encourage your leads to learn more about your product or service and refer them to an account executive for a follow-up consultation.
• Sales experience: Sales development representatives should have experience selling a good or product. To be a competitive candidate during the hiring process, you’ll need experience with inbound and outbound sales calls, a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, and the rapid, high-pressure environment of sales quotas.
• Time management: Like in other sales positions, the SDR role is usually measured by key performance indicators based on how many qualified sales leads they can produce weekly or monthly. An aspiring sales development rep should be comfortable managing their time wisely and working quickly and efficiently to meet the team’s performance goals.
• Determination: Prospecting can be one of the most difficult sales roles because many leads end in rejection. The key to being a good sales development rep is determination and the ability to handle rejection. Stay upbeat and put forth your best effort every time—even if the last 10 people you talk to express disinterest, there’s always a chance that your next call will result in a qualified lead.

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