C
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comissionimpossible

Enterprise Account Executive

Fire Starter
Contributor
Old School Bravo

If you could start an SDR function from scratch... What would you do differently?

We're starting up an SDR function and I'd love to hear of any key learnings from the Bravado community. Some details below:

  • SDR : AE ratio - 1 : 2
  • $65k Average ACV (land and expand strategy... $65k grows to $120k on ave.)
  • Named accounts - specifically targeting large construction companies


I'd love to hear any advice from you all. Especially if there were mistakes that were hard to recover from!


Cheers

☁️ Software Tech
🧢 Sales Management
👨‍🌾 SDR
7

11 comments

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Gasty
Notable Contributor
4
War Room Community Manager
I set up the Outbound function very recently. And though I can write an essay on it, let me highlight 3 most crucial things here:

1) Strategy: Not the one which states the "What", but the one which describes the "HOW" behind the "what".Everyone sets up Outbound as an additional channel for more revenue. But how do you do it?

How do you differentiate it from Inbound? What if you get an inbound lead from an outbound account? How do your reps work daily? What campaigns? Why those campaigns? Are they volume-oriented or personalised?

These questions need to be thought of, well in advance.

2) Hiring: If you have a check-box strategy which has parameters like "connect" / "persuasive" / "logical" / "structured" : roll it up and smoke it out. It ain't gonna work.

Excellent Outbound SDRs are either those who are passionate about outbounding (rare) or ones who are masters at juggling.

Most crucial ball while juggling is not the one in your hand, but the one which is not; one which is falling down. They have to call, email, linkedin, facetime, clean crm, enter data, attend meetings, attend discoveries, research accounts, what not.

The more someone can handle the overwhelmingness of this role, the better is their success.

3. Operations: We f*cked it up multiple times before learning that this is the most important piece to the puzzle. The most bullshit statement on the planet is: "It's just an operational issue".

Guess what? Almost, everything in a role like Outbounding is an operational issue. The word strategy has been abused to a point, that we've forgotten that any good strategy should have operations built inside it.

For a successful Outbound engine, you need to make the life of the SDRs more simple. And that's one of the toughest, and most rewarding things to do.
Gasty
Notable Contributor
4
War Room Community Manager
Bonus 4: If anyone gives advice on cold calls and cold emails, who haven't made a cold call or sent a cold email in the last 3 to 6 months themselves, YOU SLAP 'EM REAL HARD!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
🦊
Dang dude 🔥
The_Sales_Badger
Notorious Answer
1
Account Executive
Gottem'
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
one thing that i think needs to be thought through is the AE expectation on setting their own meetings.

ive been in companies where the AE has a goal of meetings to set for them selfs and the SDR has their own goal.

this is a problem. any time the AEs activities take away from the SDR that will just lead to resentment and problems down the road.

what you should do is if the AE sets a meeting, it also counts towards the SDRs number.

This will lead to really good collaboration since the SDR now looks at the AE as a resource not competition.

also if you are going to pay an SDR on "qualified" meetings make sure its really clear on what a qualified meeting actually is, and how much control an AE has over it.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Right - how far the SDR takes the call, and what the qualification rules are.

Also what the SDR can and cannot communicate is key. We had an SDR decide he could give out pricing because "he heard an AE do it". So training and clear guidelines/rules are key.

The point about collaborating with the AE is also key. You don't want them in competition, so allow some leeway with meeting booking and get them working together.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
GREAT call out. yes if you dont want an SDR giving price, you need to tell them what they can say.

having an SDR tell a prospect "i cant tell you the price but lets book a call withe AE so they can tell you" is NOT a good approach in my book.
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
1
SaaS Eater
Have really clear outlines on what constitutes on "opp" or whatever you want to comp on and make sure its directly related to what an AE needs to do to close a deal.

I know this sounds obvious but youd be surprised how badly companies fuck this up.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
What, you don't love the fighting back and forth about what is qualified and what is not?
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
Eliminate call metrics and email metrics as they encourage bad behavior. Instead depending on the amount of self gen expected from the AEs make it based on QMs being met and in order to get there yes calls and e-mails need to happen but not some arbitrary number that’s made up. 2% comp on any deal sourced by a BDR that closes as a nice touch. Probably missed some points but those are the main ones
The_Sales_Badger
Notorious Answer
0
Account Executive
Teach the "Combo Prospecting" Method -

3 reach-outs
3 messages (VM, Email, LinkedIn)

Implement Social Selling - read books by Daniel Disney. I know I'll get hell from some of ya'll, but it works for me.

Focus on conversations had vs. dials made or emails sent

Recorded call reviews with AEs.

That's really just the beginning....

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