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GameOfPhones

Account Manager

Valued Contributor
Catalyst
Opinionated
+3

Good SDR's are hard to find, how are you making sure they know they are appreciated?

Had something happen last week and today that had me wondering how others are making sure GOOD SDR's know they are appreciated. 


A 20ish year old large Cybersecurity company that will not be named had an SDR reach out to me to speak about a partnership. 


I have a pretty good understanding of a lot of different cybersecurity technical solutions, but I am by no means an engineer or complete expert.


The SDR calls me and starts their pitch (could tell they were reading off of a script immediately), I asked them to speak to the core capabilities of the solutions they offered, and I wanted to know things like if the solution is FedRAMP authorized, where they have a footprint etc... pretty basic questions if you know anything about your company and you are in any sales role....The SDR paused said "um" and hung up on me. I don't know if she was having a bad day or if she was new or what but I was genuinely interested in learning more. I thought maybe she was pulling the Key and Peele phone sales pitch game as a joke or something for a second so I just waited for her to call back and say we got disconnected or something...no call back ever came from her.


Today, the same company, but a different SDR reached out to me and I told them "you guys reached out last week but I think we got disconnected I would like to hear more." (Did not want to throw the first SDR under the bus). This new SDR were able to answer some of my questions but not all of them which is fine, I asked them to send me a capabilities statement and some market intelligence on why we should be partnering with them and how they stack up against competitors. After I gave the SDR my email I had her read it back to me to confirm she had it correct and she did. 


That call was at 8:30 AM ET and lasted about 10 minutes. It is now 3:40 PM ET and I have still not received an email.


I know sometimes I will do all my emails at the end of the day if they are not time sensitive which I am hoping is the case for the SDR, but I am not holding my breath.


I am not saying I was the greatest SDR to ever walk the earth, but I always followed up, and followed through on everything I did. I definitely felt underappreciated at times given how difficult being a good SDR is. I consistently recognize SDR's internally who are doing a good job and make sure leadership knows that they are doing well and I support them however I can (better SDR's = better pipeline). I also make sure whenever another company has an SDR reach out to me and the SDR does a good job that I recognize it with whoever the next steps go to.


When is the last time you did something for your SDR's or recognized them and how important they are? Or, if you are an SDR do you feel appreciated and supported?

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👨‍🌾 SDR
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24 comments

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poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
13
☕️
Easy answer: I always paid my SDRs more than fairly for their base AND made sure their variable comp goals were fair and attainable. The goal of sales comp is to enable overperformance, not make it impossible to hit the numbers you are giving them.
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
1
Account Manager
Love this! Need more leaders thinking this way.
ActuallyGurvin
Valued Contributor
0
SDR
Talk to my head of sales. Pls. He’s making compensation hard to receive
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
1
☕️
Easier solution: go get paid what you're worth. The market is yours right now.
funcoupons
WR Officer
7
👑
SDR is a tough role, and as it's entry level it's often low barrier to entry and high turnover. This results in a lot of people becoming SDRs who have no real interest in or aptitude for the role. You're more likely to run into poor or average SDRs than good ones.

When I was in this role, I appreciated that there was a clearly defined track for advancement (as few motivated people want to remain SDRs forever.) I also appreciated having a manager who had been in the trenches himself and was always willing to jump in. Attainable quotas, a generous compensation structure, and a positive/high energy working environment went far as well.
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
2
Account Manager
Clearly defined growth tracks and having managers who have fought in the trenches are so important!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
Lack of follow up is a giant deal killer regardless of your sales title. 
funcoupons
WR Officer
5
👑
Yup. I can't respect any sales "professional" that can't adhere to a timeline or follow up in a reasonable fashion. I can't stand when I'm literally trying to throw money at someone for a product/service/whatever and they just don't get back to me.
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
1
Account Manager
Exactly, if they can't follow up in sales process that tells me I am not important to them and makes me wonder what happens if something goes wrong if a PO is ever signed.
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
1
Account Manager
Absolutely, following up is not hard in my opinion, but some sales people struggle with it and I do not understand why.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Lack of follow up is a bad practice, regardless of role.   

I miss having good BDRs.
TheNegotiator
Arsonist
2
VP of Sales
Low bases, long hours, emotional blackmail, and unattainable quotas.

We use the Stockholm syndrome management approach.

Jk, obviously.  Tbh, the opposite of all of the above except for the hours. As an AE, and then later as a manager I always went above and beyond to try and match the time/effort the SDR puts in with reciprocal effort and mentorship.  

IMHO best SDRs, the ones who actually really I enjoyed working with weren’t really in it for the money. They knew (as I did) that being an SDR was a great opp, but it was just about opp, and wasn’t where you make the real money.  Being an SDR is about knowledge and learning.  Reward effort with recognition and willingness to teach/hop in the trenches and have their back, and SDRs will be loyal to you forever (and develop themselves suuuper quick)

I still try to practice this where I can, but as teams/numbers of direct reports grow, there can often be a lot of layers of separation between the sales leader and the SDR.  You naturally end up spending more times with AEs and team leads.

if that is the case, reach the AEs to respect and value their SDRs.  Foster the right attitudes from the top down and the org will usually take care of itself.
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
Money is honey. I also feel tech stack is important as sometimes SDRs get overworked and it's difficult to keep things in mind or just calendar.
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
0
Account Manager
Tech stack and enablement tools are a huge must have! Automating cadence reminders saves so much time and helps avoid things falling through the cracks!
DatSaaS
Executive
1
Sales Executive
Your word has to be gold in any role. If you say you’re going to do something. Do it. Plain and simple. It’s too bad you sound like a good lead!
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
1
Account Manager
Exactly! And I try to be very open to meetings because of being on the other end of that phone I know the rush of when you get one when you are in a slump, and I know how hard it is. Plus, if the solution or partnership is a match, I know I’m going to end up better off than I was before!
PleaseAdvise
Executive
1
Account Executive
When an SDR goes above and beyond:
-I tell them that they're doing great
-I tell their manager that they're doing great
-If the interest they generate leads to a closed deal: I buy them a thank you/great job gift
GameOfPhones
Valued Contributor
1
Account Manager
That’s definitely a great way to motivate SDR’s to fill your pipeline with high quality leads! Good on you!
Beans
Big Shot
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Since I don't directly manage mine, EOQ gifts and spiffs. 
thesecretsauce
Politicker
1
Business Development
Honestly acknowledgement was huge for me. Even a slack shoutout was dope
Woolfshark
Contributor
0
CyberSecurity Advisor
Yup
ilovemondays
Executive
0
Senior Account Executive
I believe the bar is pretty low across the US for SDR results, based on what I read in Bravado.

It seems almost as if managers don't expect SDRs to qualify leads before bringing them to meetings.

Here we demand highly qualified leads, we train SDRs well and we pay them big bucks so closers never have to prospect at all.

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