famas

BDR

Opinionated

Executive

Good Citizen

BDR Team Lead or Inside Sales?

hello community

I was passing by because lately I have been having this great doubt and I need to make a decision soon.

In my particular case, I am about to take a step in my career to be or

1. BDR Team Lead: In this position I would continue getting opportunities as an individual contributor but with a team below (3-4 people) and reporting to the BDR Cheif

2. Inside sales: in this position I will start talking to accounts of 10-100 employees and I would direct my future more towards AE

In terms of money, in IS I will receive a little more but what worries me is that I don't know if I see myself developing team leader or sales skills more in the mud

BDR Team Lead or Inside Sales

Attached poll

BDR Team Lead Inside Sales

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🎈 Mentorship

🧢 Sales Management

📳 SaaS

20 comments

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braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Inside sales 100%. BDR lead is a scam.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

I was one. I agree.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

if you want to develop more sales skills then getting to be an AE is the best thing to do. so if going to IS route is the best way to do it, then do that.

if as a BDR team lead, you ACTUALLY are managing a team, and are not just a glorified cheerleader, then you can gain some solid management experience. but know that once you start managing SDRs, its hard to do anything else.

famas

Opinionated

BDR

Right now the truth is that I am more attracted to adopting sales skills than manager.
I have laughed a lot with the "glorified cheerleader", very true and I think that this case is exactly that so thank you very much Tennis&Sales!

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

there you go! and honestly if you become an AE, and then decide you want to manage BDRs that should still be an option.

champchamp

Arsonist

Certified Savage

Great point, and SDR Manager at my org was an AE for about 5 years before moving to SDR Manager.

I'd imagine it would be much harder to become an AE after 5 years of SDR Management experience and no AE experience.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Yes! 100% agree

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

If you want money and more options in life without babysitting people, go IS. If you want to have headaches everyday and the blame put on you when things go wrong with an opportunity to scratch the surface of management, then go BDR TL. BDR TL so me isn't worth it.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Depends on what you want to do. Do you want to be responsible for others?

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Really depends upon what you want to achieve and based on your post it looks like you are leaning more towards mgmt role

BlueJays2591

Politicker

Federal Business Dev Director

It depends on what path you want to take. If you want to climb the BD management ladder, BDR team lead. If you want to go to full cycle sales and make stupid money very quickly, go inside sales. If you've never done full cycle, then I suggest you do that. I went BD management because I wanted that management track and I've already been full cycle sales. Also make sure you're ready to lead a team. Too many "team leads" have no idea what they're doing and cause retention issues and ultimately fail because of this. Be honest with yourself. If you're not ready to lead, don't.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

The BDR ladder has 3 rungs:
BDR -> "glorified cheerleader" (thanks @TennisandSales) -> BDR manager

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I lean towards IS, especially since pay is more. You get to build skills on the sales side which is a big plus

coletrain

Politicker

Account Executive

Shift towards AE, that's where you make bang for your buck.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

Depends on your career goals. But there is a clear better choice IMO.

Do you want to get into managing business development teams? Or do you want to add closing experience to your resume?

An argument can be made that you can go and add either at any point in the future depending on your decision here, however I think Inside Sales is the clear better choice.

If you were looking at BDR team Manager / Director VS Inside Sales the decision would be more difficult, if management is what you want to do.

Take the closing role, try it for a year... if you hate it, then go lead a team of lead generators or do something else with the closing experience.

alonzoharris

Politicker

Partner Manager

The one that pays more

GreenSide

Politicker

Sales manager

If you go BDR TL is the next step IS anyway?

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

AE's often make the jump to BDR manager later in their career - closing is a great skillset and very transferable. Also, if there are headcount reductions, AE would likely have more security than BDR lead.

But, it depends on what direction you want to go.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Almost always go for the closing role

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

Lead Sales

A player/coach role can lead to a nasty team dynamic. It is tough to be seen as on your team's side when you are actively taking leads away from them. I say go with the inside sales role

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famas

BDR Team Lead or Inside Sales?

BDR Team Lead or Inside Sales

20 comments

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