Enterprise BDR/AE Relationship

Hi all - I have a recently promoted BDR. It's his first time prospecting into Enterprise accounts. I typically create a spreadsheet where I enter target accounts, triggering events, why they may have a need, previous opps, and links to the research I do.

There's an expectation from BDR management to only use standard sequences and emails, so customization is limited (right now), though the enterprise AEs have been vocal that it's about customization over volume in enterprise space.

What do you do as an Enterprise AE (or BDR) to help set your Enterprise BDR up for success while they are still learning?
🧠 Advice
💼 Productivity
17
Gasty
Notable Contributor
5
War Room Community Manager
This is a great post, firstly. The tricky part about BDRs with Enterprise accounts is that a meeting or an opportunity is only counted as 1. Which is the same for a MM or SMB account. This always pushes the BDR to go for the low hanging fruit rather than nurturing an Enterprise account for months to get a meeting out of it.

I'd strongly suggest you have a word with the upper management and propose a different incentive / MBO structure for Enterprise BDRs.
salezkween
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Any recommendations I can give to them on how to structure it?
braintank
Politicker
2
Enterprise Account Executive
If you get results, no one will punish you for customization.
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
First off, I don’t depend on a BDR/SDR to get me leads. Especially in Enterprise.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
🦊
I don't have BDRs. If on the rare occasion I may hear from one I set a meeting to walk them through my process so we are all on the same page.
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
1
Bravado's Resident Asshole
Like people, accounts are all different... mainly because you are dealing with different people. But every account has different needs as well. Always base your approach and consideration on the conversation, not the script 100%
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Love the record of shared opps and reasons why they are good targets. It sounds to me like you're helping your BDR learn the process from a "why" perspective rather than just a task-oriented process to follow that doesn't help build context and understanding.
GDO
Politicker
1
BDM
Spend time with them. Coach them and tell them what you hear from the clients. They can use this to their advantage when prospecting. Feedback from the market is sooo valuable
jefe
Arsonist
1
🍁
I think some degree of customization is always required. From what I've seen, emails without it haven't moved the needle enough.
BitcoinAddict
Opinionated
1
AE
Having been the BDR in such situations, I want to give you a different perspective. For one, put them at ease. Your BDRs are afraid of screwing up in most cases and are just trying to make a paycheck and eventually be a closer. I had one AE that did this and I went above and beyond for her, even getting her into her top accounts.

My other AE did the opposite, was a Karen, and she threw me under the bus at every turn (rarely pushing promising opps through). Even though she had a better territory, I ignored her accounts for the most part and then months later she comes begging the manager to get me more active in her territory.

Be supportive, be positive, and let them know that you are there to help them succeed.

THEN, give them guidance on WHERE to prospect in your territory. Perhaps they can take a certain vertical, work on messaging with them for their templates. Perhaps they take certain ARR or location count accounts, working on messaging with them on your 1 on 1s.

Finally, give them some leeway. These are grinders trying to make a buck and some fun money. If it is a nonsense opp, DQ it obviously. However, try to make sure that you get them paid as much as you can without screwing up your pipe. A lot of them will pay you back months down the road by prospecting harder for you.
salezkween
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
I love this! Thank you.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
I think what you are doing is exactly the right thing. You are ACTIVE. you are doing all the activities you need to be doing and putting it in a place for the BDR to see and find easily. I think this is great.

I would 100% be customizing the messages based on account though. that for sure needs to happen.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
0
Sales Rep
I would customize to an extent, make sure you are able to get enough volume to meet all the metics.
tightlines
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Try a few things out!
TNsalesguy
Good Citizen
0
VP of Sales
I would say to create a targeted list on LinkedIn and connect with everyone you can. From there, most interactions are "warm" and can perfect the pitch.
BarefootDave
Opinionated
0
EAE
Do what you think is best and if it works, your manager shouldn't care if you're successful
RomyJax2020
Valued Contributor
0
Enterprise Sales Dev
Go through every single acct the BDR will be working and tell them everything you know (like it sounds like you have.) If you know who to go after, tell them to start there. If you don't, show them how to find the best leads in your ICP and what you think the tone and content of the messaging could be. You can also share 3-4 emails you've sent to prospects to the BDR so they can edit and work from a starting point.

Anyone who makes BDRs follow specific cadence and messaging is whack- you gotta be human and say what you want to say when you feel it needs to be said. Send them my way, I'll train them in 3 days.
ASP23
Good Citizen
0
Founder
It's a big loss to be limited to only standard sequences, especially in Enterprise accounts. So many SDR/BDR teams are literally wasting good accounts with a 1% reply rate. The thing that worked best for me is setting up dedicated time to write and message accounts together, and then set a strategy for the week.

We then check in at the end of the week to check progress. I always tell my BDR to focus on one account at a time.

Also, it's not uncommon for BDRs to tell you that they need to do mass sequencing because of management, but it is really because they don't want to send out quality messages. This happened to me once. I talked to management only to figure out it was a completely different story.
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