buyhighselllow

sales

Have startups given up on BDR teams?

ugh. in jan we were promised 60/40 for demo generation with a team of 10 bdrs, end of Q2, head of sales at a 50 person startup disbanded entire bdr team (story for another post). with a 12-18 month sales cycle, earning potential for next year is dead, so evaluating new roles.

everything (enterprise AE +, 300kote +) seems to be 100% self sourced full cycle with 0 support from BDRs.

pipe gen will always be a key skill, but between disco/demo/closing/multithreading/proposal & business case creation, and account management for expansion, (etc etc etc) time:return is critical.

prospecting expectations pre-covid were 50/50 with a good bdr/ae ratio.

what's changed or am I looking at the wrong roles?

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Space_Ghost20

Executive

Account Executive

A lot of times the ROI isn't there. At large orgs you sometimes have the budget to have a sizeable BDR/SDR team that doesn't show any ROI until 12-18 months in. Smaller orgs and startups often don't have the cash to float them that long.

Typically, I relied on my own efforts to generate pipeline, and took whatever the BDRs gave me as a bonus.

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Thanks for your comments!

BasstheBear

Valued Contributor

Account Manager

I think this is a common trend now that people that haven’t ever had sales roles, or haven’t had them for long enough, are finding themselves in leadership positions.

The spray and pray method has become more and more prevalent within startups.

I was a BDR manager at a Series A and B start up and had to fight to get an team expansion

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Valuable feedback! Everyone is right; as a seller I am responsible for pipe gen. but I do believe there is a time when my day is filled up with customer work, especially with multiple deals in late stages that require project plans etc, and a bdr team would be 100% necessary!

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

It depends.
Depends on how the business is performing, if the BDRs are giving them enough returns(ROI), future plans of the company. I also know some good startups investing more in tools for BDRs focusing on their needs since they get things done.

So really it depends on multiple factors. Looking forward to the story for another post.

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Thanks for your comments - it will be a whole other post. I thought smart leaders learned from the last 4 years, but nope, they’re still making the same over-inflated aggressive promises to the board.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I have a $2M quota with no BDRs or marketing support. Took me 3 weeks to build $1M in pipe.

If you can’t generate your own business then why bother trying to make it in the profession?

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Never arguing that. That’s not my question. Asking about trending bdr support for ae roles seems to be on the decline, trying to ask the market if they’re seeing the same.

Not a chest beating contest 🫡🫵🤷🏻‍♂️

….But I’m SUPER proud of you (if that’s what you’re hoping to hear)

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

My point is that I have that quota and cannot get a BDR. There is no need for leaders to invest when there are reps who can do it alone.

Leaders are asked to do more with much less. Investment in 3 BDRs for $200k base investment or one full-desk AE for $150k base is a no-brainer at the budget table.

There are lots of enterprise orgs who still need them in the motion, but SMEs and MMs would rather find talent that can do both, and use the rest to invest in solid channel plays and partnerships.

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Thank you for your detailed answer, that’s what im assuming, plus throw-shit-at-wall-n-see-what-sticks isn’t yielding results anymore

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Exactly. A/B testing can be done via tools rather than people.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

This is not how most ICs think, but it's absolutely how the execs think, and is important to keep in mind.

If you're going to make big money, then you're going to have to put in the work.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

SDR/BDRs are a relatively new thing brought in by the SaaS companies. Having someone dedicated to just lead gen is a luxury. If you’re an AE and going for Sales roles, you need to be able to generate your own leads.

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Thanks for the insight!

SalesBeast

Politicker

Sales Leader

Outbound has got more difficult over the last 2-3 years. Many outbound teams were designed to produce meetings for pleasing investors but when it came down to conversion of SDR and BDR meetings. They typically did not pay for themselves to be in a seat.
The economy is tightening up and bullshit vanity metric like demos or meetings booked are things from the past. Leadership is smartening up and looking at what real tangible dollars are coming from the meetings and are converting to deals. Unfortunately again with shit economic times mean companies are not buying and therefore SDR and BDR roles are somewhat dying. They are working less and less these days.

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Thanks for your comments!

Wonder if it bdr team growth will ramp yet again with better economic conditions or if orgs realize that bdr teams aren’t 100% necessary (due to velocity to roi and the immediate saved money)… would suck for the next gen of entry level sellers

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

Account Executive

Most BDR’s would make great call center reps but couldn’t sell a free low five outside a strip joint. The emphasis on training and developing BDRs into something that actually generates revenue isn’t there and because of that I agree that there is less emphasis on the role in general that I’m seeing

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Hah! Fair enough, yeah, tougher times means you need to adjust to find success. Thanks for your perspective

SalesBeast

Politicker

Sales Leader

Sales should be taught in school. It’s a tricky one to learn on your own.
I think SDR are mostly thing of past. Some will keep going but many companies realize they mainly create opportunities and those opportunities typically do not turn into $$$.

buyhighselllow

Good Citizen

sales

Agreed! Sales should be taught in school; granted if you know what you’re doing; school is the best place to refine networking, which is a fundamental sales skill. Thanks for your perspective

QWhiz

Tycoon

Founding AE / ex-SDR

short answer is YES for SMB/MM