There a carrot that we never seem to get called “Account Executive” that keeps our hope alive
That and everyone tells us we have the hardest job at the company but get paid like we have the easiest.
Im gonna be honest the whole us telling SDRs they have the hardest jobs is just something to hype egos, as an AE you are still prospecting in the majority of roles
yep. got promoted to Account Executive in Jan '24 and don't have an SDR, an SE, or a manager with closing experience. to say it's harder than being an SDR would be an understatement..
For real. I just interviewed for an AE position at a tech company. I'd be responsible for sourcing all of my own leads; very few inbound and they have no SDRs. Their expectation is for the AE to be responsible for the full sales cycle, while still averaging 70 outbound calls a day. Oh, and I wouldn't have an SE either to assist me on demos. They're offering a whopping $75k base salary. I told them to pound sand.
yuuuup, sounds exactly like the role I'm currently in now. great experience, but really hard to hone your craft when you're doing EVERYTHING in the sales cycle outside of marketing and product development lol. seems like a good stepping stone for my next mid-market/enterprise AE role. hoping for 180-200k OTE from my next promotion :)
That's what the I interviewed for lol. Mid Market and Enterprise. Good luck finding an AE that can juggle that many calls a day, not burn through their ICPs within a few months of starting , and juggle demos of a highly technical product without an SE, for $75k.
I don’t think SDR is harder it’s more tedious because it’s the worst part of being an AE with out any of the reward of closing.
But 90% of AEs that have a BDR are still prospecting. I would say being an AE is hard because there’s more expectations.
You only need like 1-2 years experience max unless you love it. It’s an apprenticeship. Generally it’s low impact work but it can really free up a higher paid AE’s time. Honestly not that difficult to be an SMB AE quickly if you know what you’re doing.
From what I’ve seen, that was the story 10 years ago.
Since Covid, not so much. Especially now with so many AEs on the market.
Why promote from lower levels when a rep with 10 years of experience can be hired?
Hardest Job. Lowest Paid. Because it’s a role that’s easily replaceable. Learn from AMs, make connections and move up to an AM/AE Role. The SDR/BDR Function won’t last very long
If it’s just the calling then I think it’s fine. It’s the research into a workable list and from there you need to deliver the unpredictable result of booking high quality meetings.
If the entire job is just to go through 100 calls a week, then it is the easiest job in the company.
You want to do deep research for certain accounts and industries, while others are more transactional. I do 3x3 research on my accounts, but others wouldn’t depending on what they sell.
For example, I only do maybe 20 cold calls a day and 50ish emails. Between meetings the rest is research.
120k OTE SDR jobs are usually early stage and entails building out a lot of that initial sales playbook. I’ve been offered two 100k+ sdr jobs so theyre out there but not common at all.
I’ve been an SDR for over 4 years with opportunities to move into other roles, but I don’t want to. The SDR role is a rollercoaster, and you have to learn to roll with the punches. Overall, I enjoy the challenge of creating pipeline and collaborating with AEs.
There are few roles where you can clear six figures and take over four weeks of PTO. Find a good product and a good company that sells into the enterprise space, and you’ll have a great SDR gig.
4 years as an sdr - do you want to become an ae at some point? To me. sdr was great to learn the basics and get a ton of reps. But that many years, I feel like the money isn't worth the work you are putting in.
Not sure if you are happy with it or what, but imo, after a couple years, it makes sense to go for an ae role where the comp potential is much higher.
I recognize that many SDR roles prioritize quantity metrics like meetings booked and calls, which is understandable in wanting to advance quickly. My focus has been on enterprise roles, emphasizing strategic outreach for fewer but higher-quality opportunities.
I appreciate my current work-life balance, which allows me to maintain a high income comfortably.
Personally, I'm not in a hurry to transition to a new role. While I have no interest in becoming an AE, I do foresee eventually moving into a manager role.
Any pointers for folks with a similar mindset? Been a sdr for 3 out of 4 years (took a year off hiatus to be a BD Analyst at a federal IT contractor, which wasn't for me). I'm at a series C fintech startup now as an 80k base SDR, hopefully 95k OTE.
Goal is to get promoted into a SDR ops/team lead position.
Volunteer to test new software, lead meetings with other SDRs to discuss the challenges they are facing, and find ways to improve processes. Bring up new ideas and any improvements you think will help your team.
I believe in learning the entire sales process beyond my SDR role. I've found great value in understanding revenue operations and marketing. Try to learn what metrics each team is targeting and how the SDR team can help contribute to the overall success.
Usually software sales are split into segments. SMB, Mid-Market, Commercial and Enterprise. These are the size of companies you sell into. The bigger the segment the less meetings and opportunities it will take to reach pipeline goals because the deal sizes are much larger.
It really depends. Not every company has different segments. The easiest first SDR role to get will be with a company that has smaller deal sizes. This typically involves high metrics such as calls and meetings.
Companies that do have segments usually have a more mature sales process and team structure. There are often multiple levels of SDRs and more opportunities to advance into other roles.
Your initial role will likely focus on traditional high-volume tasks. After a year or so of experience, you can transition into a more strategic role (Commercial and Enterprise). The key difference is that in a traditional role, you typically earn commission from meetings, whereas in a strategic role focused on larger accounts, commission is based on pipeline and closed-won revenue.
The money keeps me going. On those days when I've made 150 dials and had no bites, I just think of the money.
Whether or not that's healthy is up for debate.
Think of a football (american) field.
You need to get the ball to the end zone (close the deal)
As an SDR, you scout for opportunities, qualify, and then pass the ball to your AE.
At a healthy company, you should gradually follow along with the rest of the deal and perhaps carry the ball a bit further before passing it.
Eventually, you should be able to navigate the entire sales process and transition to AE, with new SDR's passing you the ball.
I loved my 18 months as an SDR. Take it for what it is, an apprenticeship. Master prospecting, learn tech and enterprise and how it all works (if applicable). The more you understand all 3 of those things the more meetings and money you'll make short and long term.
Prospecting has changed massively in the past 10 years. Many AEs nowadays don't know the prospecting tech and still 100% cold call. Not that cold calling isn't a good thing, but it is just 1 tool in the modern prospectors utility belt. Learn to use them all and have an edge when you move into your next, hopefully AE role. There are new tools coming to into this space all the time outreach, Demand base, but also more cutting edge tools like Regie AI. Learn how to master them and differentiate yourself.
That said, it is not a job I wanted to do forever. Was fantastic learning experience for me for me now as an AE. Take those skills you learn from it, it if there's no light in the end of the tunnel try and get yourself a junior AE role at another company - if that's where you want to go.
Like the other guy, when I started as a BDR I was joking that I should be paying them for the learning opportunity. I learned a ton in terms of how enterprise sales works. It's worth it as even the worst SDR/BDR jobs are decent pay.
BUT that only lasts a few months. There's like an inverse correlation between time spent as a SDR/BDR and faith in humanity.
Once you've learned the tools, systems and processes then it becomes as miserable as people say it is. Daily grind with vague hopes it's going to lead somewhere, quota treadmill resetting every month, passing on laydowns to AEs just to see the entitled pricks squander them, etc
Agree with most of what you said. I’ve been a BDR for 18 months, and make more than some AEs. It’s really not that bad when it comes to losing faith in humanity, etc.
Yeah I did 10 years of inside sales before moving into tech. The battery farms of call centres provides a solid foundation for entering into this kind of role. Moving quickly and being able to pump calls when needed.
I want to share a success story and answer. I was an SDR/BDR in 2015. From 2015 - 2016 I slammed calls relentlessly and was able to convert the most opps to closed won dollar ratio (more important than pure total opp creation imo) I continuously asked to shadow AE’s on the calls after I passed oops or did an occasional in person meeting. Made friends with all the AE’s even offered to cover for their OOO emails.
By 2016 I had approached the regional director of sales showed metrics on what I have done compared to others and asked for an AE role. I got it! I was given the crappiest territory in the us and got 50% of goal. I kept my head down and got into the right habits, used what prospecting tools and knowledge I had learned in BD, and actually got 100% year two and went to sales club! Year 3 sales club again and I was top 5 out of a 100 person sales team! Year 4 I carried one of if not the highest sales quota company wide. I hit 99% and was pretty devastated. At this point the start up I was at got acquired and I made a bit of money off the small equity grants I had earned. At the new company I had another great 95% + year (only 1 person hit 100 and most were 75% or less). I got promoted to manage a team woohoo! Covid hit soon there after and we had a tough few years as I was training and working remote with new AE’s most promoted recently from BDR/SDR roles. 3 years in that role and another company poached me for a ton more money. Here I’m a Regional Director and have been just told I’m being promoted to Director of NA Strategic Accounts.
BDR/SDR experience early in my career allowed me to out prospect and out perform all other AE’s with few exceptions. The most talented AE’s I know almost all cut their teeth in SDR/BDR roles. Keep at it boys and girls!
Learned the products. Slightly customized demo to customer profile. Used data to find leads by mastering Looker, Power Bi, and data aggregation tools.
Figuring out pricing and packaging and influencing go to market strategy though has helped me keep moving up. Showing a willingness to make selfless decisions that benefit the company and/or customer over my personal interests have also helped show maturity and earn respect.
Lastly learning to sell internally by being able to justify my strategy and have everyone else agree had been extremely helpful. The first person you sell is yourself that the customer will agree, internally that your logic and packaging is the best way, and lastly to a customer that knows you fought hard to bring a deal that works for everyone. Best of luck and Happy Father’s Day to all the sales dads!
I did. Just took it as the Navy Seals Training of Sales. Tough, ungrateful, unfair and totally indifferent about your feelings. But that's the training that'll save your ass and shape your style and character going forward on your sales career.
Need to be a bit masochist and find pleasure and motivation on rejection. Enjoy it. It'll make you grow, and those skills are transferible to almost everything you do in life
For me what I used to do to feel satisfied was to pull an opp report with the meetings and notes, but again that just resets after a month/quarter so you are constantly on the hamster wheel. It's important to record your wins so you keep your sanity.
The position is designed so you aren't really meant to feel satisfied, secure, or comfortable.
Basically you are either
-providing enough meetings and pipeline for your reps to hit their targets, in which case everything is hopefully up and to the right and boss man gets investors to pump more cash into the business and they hire more SDRs and more AEs to fuel that growth and things go up.
-Or you hit your meeting target and opp target, but they don't convert to closed won revenue for whatever reason (your meeting generating skills and excitement are better than the product itself, for instance). And then the reps get stressed and the company stagnates.
-You don't hit target, the reps do or don't hit target from other sources, and the company keep you around anyway. They either don't know how to manage you out, or it's just a matter of time until they hire someone who does. Either way, you are wasting your own time as most companies will never promote someone who is just sitting on the salary and not booking opps. It's just a matter of time until you are fired.
-You don't hit target/reps hit target - PIP'd/fired
-You don't hit target/reps don't hit target - PIP'd/fired/layoffs
In most instances, I have found chronic stress unless you just outright don't care at all. But the way the position is designed its very rare to just get a salary and not be measured or pressured to achieve it.
If you could just send some emails/whatever and call it a day whether you book or don't book, that would effectively just be a marketing position. IMHO that is the way this role is going with more people reporting into marketing. It doesn't really make sense to give SDRs a quota over something they can't control anymore than giving marketers a quota on generating pipeline.
I think the whole argument that you can control it/do more dials/do more activities is really problematic and just meant to push the stress onto the SDR where they should not be any. Plus there are so many orgs that just straight up don't keep up with basic best practices and have their domains get burned on cold email and then punish their SDRs that no one responds to their emails. No shit if the email vendor you use is giving you incomplete and inaccurate info and you have burned your domain and have no subdomains you are going to have no engagement. In most instances the ops setup is not on the SDR at all. Same thing with calls. You give SDRs a mandate to call a persona with no direct dial, limited access to cell phone numbers, and just a basic office line, what do you think is going to happen?
SDR teams need to get creative with tactics and not focus on measuring old school KPIs (especially without adapting to current climate). That means using LinkedIn, voice messages, video messages, contact based marketing (direct mail, gifting, etc) to get creative inroads into accounts.
I'm sure there is still some blood left to squeeze from "cold calling" but that is going to require equipping your reps with multiple data sources that have been waterfalled, having them focus on accounts that have the highest propensity, and giving them power dialers so they can cycle through 1000s of contacts instead of 100s. Regardless, that is an arms race that will just lead to people needing to do 10,000s soon after.
The age of just exporting a list of 100 names with numbers and thinking that will lead to 10 connects, 3 meetings, and 1 opp without doing some significant research beforehand is just not realistic anymore.
I don't look for praise or validation from my AEs or Managers and I have been labeled as anti-authority for this but I am simply a professional that respects themselves. I provide a service, you pay me. Way too many instances I have seen SDRs get "assigned" (anchored, more like) to an AE and now if the AE doesn't perform the SDR gets blamed. This is a misuse of the SDR resource for several reasons I don't really want to get into. SDR should serve a meeting, move on. Anything else is not an efficient use of their time. AEs blaming SDRs for not hitting their number do not deserve SDRs, periodt.
The only time I truly enjoyed doing sales was for my own little startup project. It is usually tough for me to get excited about “selling” other company’s stuff.
I think to like it you need to have a certain level of self awareness on what motivates you.
Some days for me it's about money, some days competition, some days discipline.
Some days it's knowing I'm working towards a better future.
Some days it's trying my hardest despite the world's uncertainty.
Sometimes it's just zen, working my plan unattached from the results.
Figure out what works for you.
Do I *like* making cold calls and sending countless emails into the void? No.
Do I like working remote and making $80k/year in a low-pressure job that gives me a lot of flexibility? Of course.
SDR is a grind. But to be good at sales, you need to master the components of an SDR as a craft. Being an SDR never stops, even when you become a top seller. To be a top seller, you need to continue being an SDR indefinitely. That’s a huge separator of a great sales rep who is in demand and making top coin, vs a seller who will be bounced around w no respect before being shunned.
If you are reliably making good money as a SDR/BDR, you are missing much more as an AE. BDR/SDR is just a training field for AEs or other closing positions.
Anyone in sales enjoys their job when they are making good money. I know SDRs/BDRs making slightly over 100K and have their process figured out. The AE role isn't there yet for them but its also less pressure while making good money remotely. I've asked them and they told me they are happy where they are, but know that eventually they will have to take more risks.
I think it can be fun, just depends on where you work. I worked at a good fractional SDR shop that now pays a very high base for the COL (after I left they raised it lmao). It was in office all but like two or three remote days per month (used as a treat, basically, if the office was hitting good numbers), and I enjoyed the in office days because they fostered a good environment in office, and it helped to have people to commiserate with on the grindy aspects of the role. I could’ve stayed there for a while, but the vertical I went to school for wasn’t offered.
Everyone who says it only exists as a path to promotion and it should be treated as a stepping stone might want to chill a little bit. I work full cycle now, and I can say confidently that being an SDR was much lower stress because you really didn’t care too much after the meeting was set. Having to draft my own proposals now is a whole different type of work that requires a lot more thinking to avoid losing myself and the company money.
I like my manager and AEs so yes. I fell in love with my role again and can't wait to move up!
If I saw this while working at my previous company with a rude manager with 0 AEs to work with because 1 was let go and kept changing my territory every 4 weeks... I'd say I HATE it haha
i’m a BDR and i honestly love it. i’ve had two prior BDR jobs that were awful but i’ve found my stride with this one. i’ve seen a lot of success in this role, earning BDR of the quarter last quarter and more recently BDR of the week. i’ve exceeded quota the last four months (about to be five).
i have a great work-life balance. love my company, coworkers, office, the product i sell is great, etc. i couldn’t be happier or in a better spot, all things considered. especially taking into account i don’t have a degree and i’m out-performing people on my team who went to school.
Unfortunately in sales your always a SDR so learn to hate it less or just join us and live a half depressed life until you close a few big deals as an AE to mask the pain.
I’m a BDS business development specialist basically a cold calling recruiting for financial advisors who have trailing production from the products they sell. It’s okay, but want to do something else eventually. 120 calls a day not super strict and the pays decent. Worked at oracle before and scared me off tech industry.
Constant layoffs there was 26 on my team and I was 11 to 10 left. Offered me two entry level consulting positions remote with travel and rescinded both offers. Laid off my friend who moved rolls after 2-months. It seems like a lot of people move companies constantly.
Try providing them with some enablement and show them what good looks like? Almost everyone in an S/BDR role is new and follows what works for the most part, including stealing email templates from other more successful people.
Also they probably aren’t happy working for someone like you, you seem like the type to complain and not offer any solutions and as a result your reps are either checked out or stressed constantly.
There a carrot that we never seem to get called “Account Executive” that keeps our hope alive That and everyone tells us we have the hardest job at the company but get paid like we have the easiest.
Im gonna be honest the whole us telling SDRs they have the hardest jobs is just something to hype egos, as an AE you are still prospecting in the majority of roles
yep. got promoted to Account Executive in Jan '24 and don't have an SDR, an SE, or a manager with closing experience. to say it's harder than being an SDR would be an understatement..
For real. I just interviewed for an AE position at a tech company. I'd be responsible for sourcing all of my own leads; very few inbound and they have no SDRs. Their expectation is for the AE to be responsible for the full sales cycle, while still averaging 70 outbound calls a day. Oh, and I wouldn't have an SE either to assist me on demos. They're offering a whopping $75k base salary. I told them to pound sand.
yuuuup, sounds exactly like the role I'm currently in now. great experience, but really hard to hone your craft when you're doing EVERYTHING in the sales cycle outside of marketing and product development lol. seems like a good stepping stone for my next mid-market/enterprise AE role. hoping for 180-200k OTE from my next promotion :)
That's what the I interviewed for lol. Mid Market and Enterprise. Good luck finding an AE that can juggle that many calls a day, not burn through their ICPs within a few months of starting , and juggle demos of a highly technical product without an SE, for $75k.
yikes yeah for $75k OTE?? that's a joke then lmao. no thank you, you dodged a bullet hahah
I should clarify, it was $75k base. But still a joke. They're a small company, not well-known in their space.
oh sorry, still though — assuming 150k OTE, that’s far below market rate.. unreal!
What’s the asp for your product?
$500 to $10,000 per the director of sales.
Same here. I'd rather be a bdr if the pay was the same... easiest job ever
I don’t think SDR is harder it’s more tedious because it’s the worst part of being an AE with out any of the reward of closing. But 90% of AEs that have a BDR are still prospecting. I would say being an AE is hard because there’s more expectations.
You only need like 1-2 years experience max unless you love it. It’s an apprenticeship. Generally it’s low impact work but it can really free up a higher paid AE’s time. Honestly not that difficult to be an SMB AE quickly if you know what you’re doing.
From what I’ve seen, that was the story 10 years ago. Since Covid, not so much. Especially now with so many AEs on the market. Why promote from lower levels when a rep with 10 years of experience can be hired?
I saw this when I started as a SDR at the tail end of Covid. The place I started never promoted from within
Hardest Job. Lowest Paid. Because it’s a role that’s easily replaceable. Learn from AMs, make connections and move up to an AM/AE Role. The SDR/BDR Function won’t last very long
At the end of the day nobody LIKES slamming hundreds of cold calls a week. It’s a means to an end.
100000%
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If it’s just the calling then I think it’s fine. It’s the research into a workable list and from there you need to deliver the unpredictable result of booking high quality meetings. If the entire job is just to go through 100 calls a week, then it is the easiest job in the company.
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You want to do deep research for certain accounts and industries, while others are more transactional. I do 3x3 research on my accounts, but others wouldn’t depending on what they sell. For example, I only do maybe 20 cold calls a day and 50ish emails. Between meetings the rest is research.
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What industry are you in now?
The new job sounds made up
120k OTE SDR jobs are usually early stage and entails building out a lot of that initial sales playbook. I’ve been offered two 100k+ sdr jobs so theyre out there but not common at all.
My SDR base is $120 OTE is roughly 40-60k additional
Not common.
Look at my comment history, I make 80k base as a BDR and have for a while. People don’t think that’s common either. Depends on industry and experience
Great point
What industry
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That’s very high earning for an SDR. What do you sell?
Awesome. Finding a job that works for you was key. Sometimes one finds that job by luck or looks for it, getting that job is key.
What are you selling now?
I’ve been an SDR for over 4 years with opportunities to move into other roles, but I don’t want to. The SDR role is a rollercoaster, and you have to learn to roll with the punches. Overall, I enjoy the challenge of creating pipeline and collaborating with AEs. There are few roles where you can clear six figures and take over four weeks of PTO. Find a good product and a good company that sells into the enterprise space, and you’ll have a great SDR gig.
4 years as an sdr - do you want to become an ae at some point? To me. sdr was great to learn the basics and get a ton of reps. But that many years, I feel like the money isn't worth the work you are putting in. Not sure if you are happy with it or what, but imo, after a couple years, it makes sense to go for an ae role where the comp potential is much higher.
I recognize that many SDR roles prioritize quantity metrics like meetings booked and calls, which is understandable in wanting to advance quickly. My focus has been on enterprise roles, emphasizing strategic outreach for fewer but higher-quality opportunities. I appreciate my current work-life balance, which allows me to maintain a high income comfortably. Personally, I'm not in a hurry to transition to a new role. While I have no interest in becoming an AE, I do foresee eventually moving into a manager role.
Any pointers for folks with a similar mindset? Been a sdr for 3 out of 4 years (took a year off hiatus to be a BD Analyst at a federal IT contractor, which wasn't for me). I'm at a series C fintech startup now as an 80k base SDR, hopefully 95k OTE. Goal is to get promoted into a SDR ops/team lead position.
Volunteer to test new software, lead meetings with other SDRs to discuss the challenges they are facing, and find ways to improve processes. Bring up new ideas and any improvements you think will help your team. I believe in learning the entire sales process beyond my SDR role. I've found great value in understanding revenue operations and marketing. Try to learn what metrics each team is targeting and how the SDR team can help contribute to the overall success.
Sorry for dumb question—-what is “enterprise space”
Usually software sales are split into segments. SMB, Mid-Market, Commercial and Enterprise. These are the size of companies you sell into. The bigger the segment the less meetings and opportunities it will take to reach pipeline goals because the deal sizes are much larger.
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It really depends. Not every company has different segments. The easiest first SDR role to get will be with a company that has smaller deal sizes. This typically involves high metrics such as calls and meetings. Companies that do have segments usually have a more mature sales process and team structure. There are often multiple levels of SDRs and more opportunities to advance into other roles. Your initial role will likely focus on traditional high-volume tasks. After a year or so of experience, you can transition into a more strategic role (Commercial and Enterprise). The key difference is that in a traditional role, you typically earn commission from meetings, whereas in a strategic role focused on larger accounts, commission is based on pipeline and closed-won revenue.
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Depends on what you want to do. For me it was an Enterprise SDR role. You can definitely go into an AE role if you wanted to.
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Fuck outta here, nerd
The money keeps me going. On those days when I've made 150 dials and had no bites, I just think of the money. Whether or not that's healthy is up for debate.
Nah, money is a great motivator. Keep it up! You’re dialing for tomorrow
Why would that be unhealthy? Money = resources to the modern human brain. You wouldn’t call a caveman hunting for deer unhealthy.
Think of a football (american) field. You need to get the ball to the end zone (close the deal) As an SDR, you scout for opportunities, qualify, and then pass the ball to your AE. At a healthy company, you should gradually follow along with the rest of the deal and perhaps carry the ball a bit further before passing it. Eventually, you should be able to navigate the entire sales process and transition to AE, with new SDR's passing you the ball.
I loved my 18 months as an SDR. Take it for what it is, an apprenticeship. Master prospecting, learn tech and enterprise and how it all works (if applicable). The more you understand all 3 of those things the more meetings and money you'll make short and long term. Prospecting has changed massively in the past 10 years. Many AEs nowadays don't know the prospecting tech and still 100% cold call. Not that cold calling isn't a good thing, but it is just 1 tool in the modern prospectors utility belt. Learn to use them all and have an edge when you move into your next, hopefully AE role. There are new tools coming to into this space all the time outreach, Demand base, but also more cutting edge tools like Regie AI. Learn how to master them and differentiate yourself. That said, it is not a job I wanted to do forever. Was fantastic learning experience for me for me now as an AE. Take those skills you learn from it, it if there's no light in the end of the tunnel try and get yourself a junior AE role at another company - if that's where you want to go.
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Like the other guy, when I started as a BDR I was joking that I should be paying them for the learning opportunity. I learned a ton in terms of how enterprise sales works. It's worth it as even the worst SDR/BDR jobs are decent pay. BUT that only lasts a few months. There's like an inverse correlation between time spent as a SDR/BDR and faith in humanity. Once you've learned the tools, systems and processes then it becomes as miserable as people say it is. Daily grind with vague hopes it's going to lead somewhere, quota treadmill resetting every month, passing on laydowns to AEs just to see the entitled pricks squander them, etc
Agree with most of what you said. I’ve been a BDR for 18 months, and make more than some AEs. It’s really not that bad when it comes to losing faith in humanity, etc.
Obviously where you land and management quality has a big impact. Our BDRs are at like 5% quota attainment. It doesn't make for high morale.
lmao this is sooooooooo accurate. it's a blessing for a few months, and then a curse until you're promoted to AE
Most SDR or BDR jobs you’re not facing much aggression. More of a peaceful call compared to a call center so it’s going to feel like a step up.
Yeah I did 10 years of inside sales before moving into tech. The battery farms of call centres provides a solid foundation for entering into this kind of role. Moving quickly and being able to pump calls when needed.
Regie AI writes the worst emails.
I want to share a success story and answer. I was an SDR/BDR in 2015. From 2015 - 2016 I slammed calls relentlessly and was able to convert the most opps to closed won dollar ratio (more important than pure total opp creation imo) I continuously asked to shadow AE’s on the calls after I passed oops or did an occasional in person meeting. Made friends with all the AE’s even offered to cover for their OOO emails. By 2016 I had approached the regional director of sales showed metrics on what I have done compared to others and asked for an AE role. I got it! I was given the crappiest territory in the us and got 50% of goal. I kept my head down and got into the right habits, used what prospecting tools and knowledge I had learned in BD, and actually got 100% year two and went to sales club! Year 3 sales club again and I was top 5 out of a 100 person sales team! Year 4 I carried one of if not the highest sales quota company wide. I hit 99% and was pretty devastated. At this point the start up I was at got acquired and I made a bit of money off the small equity grants I had earned. At the new company I had another great 95% + year (only 1 person hit 100 and most were 75% or less). I got promoted to manage a team woohoo! Covid hit soon there after and we had a tough few years as I was training and working remote with new AE’s most promoted recently from BDR/SDR roles. 3 years in that role and another company poached me for a ton more money. Here I’m a Regional Director and have been just told I’m being promoted to Director of NA Strategic Accounts. BDR/SDR experience early in my career allowed me to out prospect and out perform all other AE’s with few exceptions. The most talented AE’s I know almost all cut their teeth in SDR/BDR roles. Keep at it boys and girls!
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Learned the products. Slightly customized demo to customer profile. Used data to find leads by mastering Looker, Power Bi, and data aggregation tools. Figuring out pricing and packaging and influencing go to market strategy though has helped me keep moving up. Showing a willingness to make selfless decisions that benefit the company and/or customer over my personal interests have also helped show maturity and earn respect. Lastly learning to sell internally by being able to justify my strategy and have everyone else agree had been extremely helpful. The first person you sell is yourself that the customer will agree, internally that your logic and packaging is the best way, and lastly to a customer that knows you fought hard to bring a deal that works for everyone. Best of luck and Happy Father’s Day to all the sales dads!
I did. Just took it as the Navy Seals Training of Sales. Tough, ungrateful, unfair and totally indifferent about your feelings. But that's the training that'll save your ass and shape your style and character going forward on your sales career. Need to be a bit masochist and find pleasure and motivation on rejection. Enjoy it. It'll make you grow, and those skills are transferible to almost everything you do in life
For me what I used to do to feel satisfied was to pull an opp report with the meetings and notes, but again that just resets after a month/quarter so you are constantly on the hamster wheel. It's important to record your wins so you keep your sanity. The position is designed so you aren't really meant to feel satisfied, secure, or comfortable. Basically you are either -providing enough meetings and pipeline for your reps to hit their targets, in which case everything is hopefully up and to the right and boss man gets investors to pump more cash into the business and they hire more SDRs and more AEs to fuel that growth and things go up. -Or you hit your meeting target and opp target, but they don't convert to closed won revenue for whatever reason (your meeting generating skills and excitement are better than the product itself, for instance). And then the reps get stressed and the company stagnates. -You don't hit target, the reps do or don't hit target from other sources, and the company keep you around anyway. They either don't know how to manage you out, or it's just a matter of time until they hire someone who does. Either way, you are wasting your own time as most companies will never promote someone who is just sitting on the salary and not booking opps. It's just a matter of time until you are fired. -You don't hit target/reps hit target - PIP'd/fired -You don't hit target/reps don't hit target - PIP'd/fired/layoffs In most instances, I have found chronic stress unless you just outright don't care at all. But the way the position is designed its very rare to just get a salary and not be measured or pressured to achieve it. If you could just send some emails/whatever and call it a day whether you book or don't book, that would effectively just be a marketing position. IMHO that is the way this role is going with more people reporting into marketing. It doesn't really make sense to give SDRs a quota over something they can't control anymore than giving marketers a quota on generating pipeline. I think the whole argument that you can control it/do more dials/do more activities is really problematic and just meant to push the stress onto the SDR where they should not be any. Plus there are so many orgs that just straight up don't keep up with basic best practices and have their domains get burned on cold email and then punish their SDRs that no one responds to their emails. No shit if the email vendor you use is giving you incomplete and inaccurate info and you have burned your domain and have no subdomains you are going to have no engagement. In most instances the ops setup is not on the SDR at all. Same thing with calls. You give SDRs a mandate to call a persona with no direct dial, limited access to cell phone numbers, and just a basic office line, what do you think is going to happen? SDR teams need to get creative with tactics and not focus on measuring old school KPIs (especially without adapting to current climate). That means using LinkedIn, voice messages, video messages, contact based marketing (direct mail, gifting, etc) to get creative inroads into accounts. I'm sure there is still some blood left to squeeze from "cold calling" but that is going to require equipping your reps with multiple data sources that have been waterfalled, having them focus on accounts that have the highest propensity, and giving them power dialers so they can cycle through 1000s of contacts instead of 100s. Regardless, that is an arms race that will just lead to people needing to do 10,000s soon after. The age of just exporting a list of 100 names with numbers and thinking that will lead to 10 connects, 3 meetings, and 1 opp without doing some significant research beforehand is just not realistic anymore. I don't look for praise or validation from my AEs or Managers and I have been labeled as anti-authority for this but I am simply a professional that respects themselves. I provide a service, you pay me. Way too many instances I have seen SDRs get "assigned" (anchored, more like) to an AE and now if the AE doesn't perform the SDR gets blamed. This is a misuse of the SDR resource for several reasons I don't really want to get into. SDR should serve a meeting, move on. Anything else is not an efficient use of their time. AEs blaming SDRs for not hitting their number do not deserve SDRs, periodt.
The only time I truly enjoyed doing sales was for my own little startup project. It is usually tough for me to get excited about “selling” other company’s stuff.
I think to like it you need to have a certain level of self awareness on what motivates you. Some days for me it's about money, some days competition, some days discipline. Some days it's knowing I'm working towards a better future. Some days it's trying my hardest despite the world's uncertainty. Sometimes it's just zen, working my plan unattached from the results. Figure out what works for you.
I enjoyed it. But the goal was to become AE
Do I *like* making cold calls and sending countless emails into the void? No. Do I like working remote and making $80k/year in a low-pressure job that gives me a lot of flexibility? Of course.
SDR is a grind. But to be good at sales, you need to master the components of an SDR as a craft. Being an SDR never stops, even when you become a top seller. To be a top seller, you need to continue being an SDR indefinitely. That’s a huge separator of a great sales rep who is in demand and making top coin, vs a seller who will be bounced around w no respect before being shunned.
Absolutely, satisfaction comes with the right team and goals!
If you are reliably making good money as a SDR/BDR, you are missing much more as an AE. BDR/SDR is just a training field for AEs or other closing positions.
Anyone in sales enjoys their job when they are making good money. I know SDRs/BDRs making slightly over 100K and have their process figured out. The AE role isn't there yet for them but its also less pressure while making good money remotely. I've asked them and they told me they are happy where they are, but know that eventually they will have to take more risks.
I think it can be fun, just depends on where you work. I worked at a good fractional SDR shop that now pays a very high base for the COL (after I left they raised it lmao). It was in office all but like two or three remote days per month (used as a treat, basically, if the office was hitting good numbers), and I enjoyed the in office days because they fostered a good environment in office, and it helped to have people to commiserate with on the grindy aspects of the role. I could’ve stayed there for a while, but the vertical I went to school for wasn’t offered. Everyone who says it only exists as a path to promotion and it should be treated as a stepping stone might want to chill a little bit. I work full cycle now, and I can say confidently that being an SDR was much lower stress because you really didn’t care too much after the meeting was set. Having to draft my own proposals now is a whole different type of work that requires a lot more thinking to avoid losing myself and the company money.
I like my manager and AEs so yes. I fell in love with my role again and can't wait to move up! If I saw this while working at my previous company with a rude manager with 0 AEs to work with because 1 was let go and kept changing my territory every 4 weeks... I'd say I HATE it haha
Now? No. I feel bad for SDRs now
I was an SDR for 5 years. Hated every day of it.
Depends on the company. First job? No. Second SDR job that didn’t require cold calling? Yes.
There are great SDR gigs and there are shitty ones
Does any software sales rep like their job? Especially if you’re a SMB rep
i do enjoy the thrill of finally booking a meeting after grinding cold calls/emails for weeks
i’m a BDR and i honestly love it. i’ve had two prior BDR jobs that were awful but i’ve found my stride with this one. i’ve seen a lot of success in this role, earning BDR of the quarter last quarter and more recently BDR of the week. i’ve exceeded quota the last four months (about to be five). i have a great work-life balance. love my company, coworkers, office, the product i sell is great, etc. i couldn’t be happier or in a better spot, all things considered. especially taking into account i don’t have a degree and i’m out-performing people on my team who went to school.
Honestly I liked it. if your team, structure, and org are good it should be good. So much is org dependent
tbh, no. when I was an SDR I hated it
Unfortunately in sales your always a SDR so learn to hate it less or just join us and live a half depressed life until you close a few big deals as an AE to mask the pain.
I’m a BDS business development specialist basically a cold calling recruiting for financial advisors who have trailing production from the products they sell. It’s okay, but want to do something else eventually. 120 calls a day not super strict and the pays decent. Worked at oracle before and scared me off tech industry.
What was bad about the tech industry?
Constant layoffs there was 26 on my team and I was 11 to 10 left. Offered me two entry level consulting positions remote with travel and rescinded both offers. Laid off my friend who moved rolls after 2-months. It seems like a lot of people move companies constantly.
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Try providing them with some enablement and show them what good looks like? Almost everyone in an S/BDR role is new and follows what works for the most part, including stealing email templates from other more successful people. Also they probably aren’t happy working for someone like you, you seem like the type to complain and not offer any solutions and as a result your reps are either checked out or stressed constantly.