Slobonmyknob

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

Are SDRs under appreciated?

Saw a poll on LinkedIn today that asked who had the hardest role in sales- SDRs, AEs, or Sales Management. SDRs were winning by far but they're typically paid the lowest. I think this poll may have been biased as it was on LinkedIn and potentially circulating around SDRs but wanted to get your thoughts on this: Are SDRs under appreciated at your organization? Do you think they really have the hardest role in the sales process?

🗝 Sales Enablement

😎 Sales Skills

👑 Sales Strategy

31 comment

Sort by:

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

Absolutely fucking not lol the hard part is constant rejection. The job itself is easy. The best ones get promoted so they have the tenacity to deal with the lows - which the majority of SDRs do not hence why they have such high turnover. Is it a hard job? 100%. Is it harder than being an AE? Not even close. The higher you climb the ladder the more difficult the role, you just get “better” at rolling with the punches.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

I definitely agree that as an early on SDR/BDR learning to be able to handle rejection is a huge deal breaker and you are able to really figure out who is going to make it vs who wont in the role. With all of that being said- do you think SDRs/BDRs are under-appreciated by those higher up the ladder?

NoSuperhero

Politicker

BDR LEAD

I'd say it depends who is higher up the ladder, all my bosses highly praise us as SDRs. However, when browsing through social media more often than not an AE is complaining about the meeting that was booked wasn't relevant enough or qualified, and that to me smells like a leadership problem not and SDR problem.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

@tacobell I forgot to address that part. At my organization, we appreciate the SDRs tremendously - what we don’t appreciate are unqualified junk meetings.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

@NoSuperhero yes you are right, a lot of times the issue with unqualified meetings tends to be an unreasonable quota. However, that doesn’t excuse all of it. I think the motivation behind the rep drives a lot of their decision making. You can’t change someone that’s innately lazy, and they are the ones who will constantly cut corners and book unqualified meetings.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

I think that is where a lot of animosity in the SDR/AE relationship comes from... when SDRs don't know how to pre-qualify and end up wasting a lot of their AEs' time. Completely agree with that. And also, in some cases, that boils down to having management/trainers who don't know how to train SDRs to qualify properly.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

@tacobell you are 100% right, especially when it comes to leadership being responsible. Proper training and attainable quotas would eliminate a significant amount of animosity.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

Yeah absolutely- and I think sometimes when that proper training isn't available using your resources and setting aside time to ask your AEs what they need is the way to go- what questions do you want me to ask? What roles should I be going after? What types of companies? Etc.

NoSuperhero

Politicker

BDR LEAD

@Opal You're right, it's all part of taking ownership of what you're supposed to do. Much of my success has been set deliberately from making sure I'm doing my job and doing it right. Asking the right questions, follow my manager's advice and try to follow what's working with my peers and share what's working for me. IDK, here all of it seems like a team effort.

BlueJays2591

Politicker

Federal Business Dev Director

Sounds like you need a better qualification process. Shouldn't be passing junk meetings. This is usually mitigated by working with the BDRs hand in hand. We create about $20M in qualified pipeline every year just on the outbound BDR side. No junk meetings can go through.

NoSuperhero

Politicker

BDR LEAD

*Cries in Spanish*

Thank you for your recognition, we hear the opposite quite often. (Thankfully none of my AEs, or I don't think) :(

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

No, they’re not. It’s a grunt job but a lot of us started in it. Also, a lot of that is people equating hard to “holy fuck do I not want to do that again.”

Stratifyz

Big Shot

Account Executive

It’s like being a Private in the Army. No different. Except you get paid $60K to chill behind a laptop and make calls vs making $20K and cleaning shitters or dodging bullets.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

I mean that's definitely one way to look at it!

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

Yeah, I agree with you- I know most managers, directors, etc I've worked with would never want to go back lol

friendlyginge

Politicker

Account Executive

It’s not the hardest sales role but it may be the most thankless

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

Why do you think that is? What keeps organizations from showing their SDRs/BDRs more appreciation? Curious about this as I seem to hear it from a lot of people at different companies lately..

Stratifyz

Big Shot

Account Executive

Because at the end of the day, all you did was start the conversation. Granted, it’s very important but you got lucky enough to find the 3% who are willing to connect / buy.

friendlyginge

Politicker

Account Executive

I was lucky and worked for a good SDR org but seems that a lot follow the “churn and burn” model where they don’t invest in training for their SDRs or map out any career progression

JC10X

Politicker

Senior Sales Manager

Yes yes yes!

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

You think that SDRs have it the hardest? If so, you're the first person to say so on this thread so I'd love to hear more of your thoughts.

lazysdr

Contributor

Senior SDR

Stratifyz

Big Shot

Account Executive

SDR here and I’d say I have the easiest job. There’s nothing difficult about sending emails and calling people. If you can deal with the nuances (rejection / high volume) then you’re good to go.

BasstheBear

Opinionated

Business Development Representative

I think it comes down to what you determine is “hard”. XDRs have by far the most tedious, unfulfilling job in the sales process. Even when one of your meetings closes there is always the feeling that you only did a small portion of the work to contribute to that win because… well you did only do a small portion of the work lol AEs and other members of the sales organization have much more complex and demanding roles but I think the satisfaction is magnitudes greater for those roles, so much so that it’s not a linear correlation to responsibility.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

I completely agree with you on this. You worded it perfectly.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

I don't think so. As a BDR, if the org is crap, it makes things worse, but the hardest part is just rejection and rolling with the punches as opal said. You definitely need to be ok with being told you piss off and just flat out rude people, that's a non-negotiable imo. I obviously don't plan on staying as a BDR, but it's a good stepping stone into something less spammy.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

Have you felt that throughout this WFH environment your job as a BDR has gotten more difficult?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Nope, I was onboarded to two remote sales positions. My managers don't micromanage me and I know my job well enough that If I do need help, they're there. I'd never go back to the office. The freedom and flexibility to make a smoothie, stretch and just take a walk without someone breathing down my neck isn't something I'd trade for anything.

Whyte

Founder

It's a tough job, no doubt.

But, in my experience, the best SDRs receive a TON of appreciation.

It's the ones that prioritize their time whining about their woes (on LinkedIn polls 😂) that aren't usually doing that great 😁.

Slobonmyknob

Catalyst

Head of Sales Development Strategy & Enablement

Hahaha great point! I was just so interested in these results they didn't seem super accurate to me. I think @BasstheBear above explained it pretty well. BDR/SDR roles should definitely be a stepping stone to a more fulfilling role.

Whyte

Founder

I have only ever met one SDR who told me they weren't interested in moving to a field role... At the time I remember thinking how remarkable it was and that he must be the only one in the world.

Three months later he was constantly moody because the company wouldn't promote him 😂.

He left to take a field role at a company with a lower complexity/higher velocity sales cycle and has never really made it back to work at a company with the same level of enterprise.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

Slobonmyknob

Are SDRs under appreciated?

31 comment

Related posts

Need advice from the SDRs

BDRs: what are your DAILY input KPIs/metrics?

Giving feedback to SDRs