Narie03

BDR

Made the jump from outside sales to BDR. Feeling lost

I'm an enterprise SDR in B2B software. My company is small with one other BDR and 3 AE's. I worked in outside sales for 5 years which I was successful at and wanted to change to Saas sales because I am genuinely interested in the industry and eager to learn as much as I can. The pay is $60k ($80k OTE). KPI is 2 meetings a week mostly targeting fortune 500 companies in Finance, pharma & insurance.

I'm currently 6 months into the role and it is not what I expected. I am well used to being thrown into the deep end figuring things out but I have got zero training or guidance with this company so far. It is not for the lack of trying I am constantly reaching out asking questions but not getting anywhere. It seems we are not supposed to collaborate with AE's which I found strange. I would have thought it was normal to strategize with the AE's. There is no clear plan I'm just given a list of 75% of which are incorrect numbers/emails. I have no clear indication who I am reporting to. The DOS is never available I've probably spoken to him less than 10 times so the CMO usually answers my questions every now a then. It just seems we are a complete after thought and tossed to the side..

I just don't know the norm in this industry and feel like I have nobody to talk to about it. I do not know how long it will take to get promoted to AE or if it will even happen. I have only booked 1 meeting so far while the other BDR has 2 which truly sickens me as I obviously feel like I am contributing nothing. Literally getting no email responses or LinkedIn. Believe me I do look at what I am doing myself and try to improve daily. Trying to understand what I am doing wrong.

I know that I want to succeed in this industry and I know that I will in the end. I feel this may have been the wrong company to start out. I am just wondering should I try jump ship now Since I have a bad feeling or should I wait it out for a possible promotion? If I do jump I want to make the right decision and work for a company that feels collaborative where I can learn my trade better.

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16 comments

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Diablo

Politicker

7

Sr. AE

First off there are so many red flags based on what you said such as unavailability of DOS and no collaboration with an AE. As an AE, I work with the SDRs to coach them, guide them and strategize some campaigns to see if it’s working. Don’t be dependent on the leads you get, if you have a tool and if you feel MM can get you some opportunities try to get the leads list yourself and run a cadence to see if it’s working or not.

Narie03

Fire Starter

0

BDR

Thanks for the feedback appreciate it!

braintank

Politicker

3

Enterprise Account Executive

Who are you selling to?
How is the messaging?
Is this series A and/or seed company?

How many people are you contacting per week?
Are the AEs closing deals? I'd imagine if you've booked 3 meetings in 6 months the AEs are struggling too.

I'm thinking there's a problem with your messaging and/or the demand for the product isn't there.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

Never a good sign if all of the AEs are struggling.

Narie03

Fire Starter

1

BDR

Selling to insurance, pharma & financial companies.I would say the messaging is pretty bland in general but I have been trying to mix it up.Its actually a company that's been around for 20 years which in hindsight should have been a red flag but they've update the software in the last couple of years to add self service removing a lot of coding.
I'm contacting 400-500 people a week through calls, emails & LinkedIn.One of the AE's has closed a decent amount but thats it really.
I agree I feel the demand may not be there for the product its a niche market. Might be more of want to have than a necessity

Maximas

Tycoon

0

Senior Sales Executive

Yeah, could be the case!!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Any time your solution is not a necessity , it becomes a big issue when the economy is struggling, and makes it hard on the sales team. You're going to find that there's no priority and no demand. Many companies are going to be very conservative with their spending dollar.<br>Has anybody come up with ROI for you?<br><br>
<br>

Narie03

Fire Starter

0

BDR

Thanks for your input there really isn't any demand. They have came up with a ROI but nothing I felt was that accurate.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Do you personally have ROI in mind? Something that makes your product attractive and something you can stand behind? I know often marketing misjudges the market fit, but if you have something in mind, it might be an approach to consider.

Pachacuti

Politicker

3

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

The path to success for SDRs is usually lots of hand holding, aka micro management. Sounds like you are being the freedoms to do whatever you want which is something most don’t enjoy.

That said, you are also not being given the tools you need to succeed. So the company is wasting resources on you and the other SDR and eventually they will correct that - probably in a way you don’t want.

So you can either gut it out and wait for the inevitable course correction or you can be proactive about things - whatever that means to you.

Narie03

Fire Starter

2

BDR

Yes I personally do not really enjoy complete freedom as I mentioned I would prefer collaboration and some guidance especially being new to the industry.
Yes I agree with you on that I know what my gut tells me and will be proactive as I do not want to be at a place in my career where I am standing still.
Also just curious my KPI is 2 meetings while our company target list is 120 sharing that with 1 BDR also. This doesn't seem right at all to me would I be correct saying that?

dflynn

Executive

1

Client Director

Do you believe in the product? Is it a growing market? And do you enjoy helping the customer (or prospects)? If so, you should/could stay and help build the sales organization.

I think this is a primary difference between sales and business development. BD is earlier, it’s more ambiguous, and requires a bit more creativity (imo). Sales is typically later in the company lifecycle when the BD folks have established industry inroads and have a “beachhead” solution that can be reliably sold into the market.

Narie03

Fire Starter

1

BDR

I do believe in the product but I feel we could target a couple of mid-market companies instead of massive companies. If I could actually get through to people it would help just not getting any responses at all.
That explanation makes sense! The lack of clear leadership and collaboration is what worries me the most just seems like a red flag to me.

Nairobi

Politicker

1

AE

Hey there! I was in a similar situation when I first started as a BDR. First, being an enterprise BDR is super hard when nobody knows your company. So the chances of you booking 2 enterprise meetings per week are close to impossible.

From what I'm understanding, you have to leave asap. I made the mistake of staying longer in a similar situation, thinking things would change, and guess what, they didn't, and yours probably won't either.

On the bright side, you now have 6 months of BDR experience, so you will be able to find a better BDR role that will pay you as much or even more if you know how to negotiate.

If you are interested in leaving, let me know. I can give you more advice on how to make that jump. Good luck!

Narie03

Fire Starter

1

BDR

Hey! Thanks very much for your reply. I would love your advice I just sent you a DM.

JMSwiggidy

Politicker

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Sounds like the sales org is fundamentally set up wrong. Collaboration is extremely important and is not optional in most successful sales orgs; it’s mandatory. The fact no one responds and there no one is doing this is odd.

No good data. In my experience a BDR should be focusing on setting meetings, and that requires good data. Your company should be providing you with that, or tools to make your life easier. The company is likely way to small for a rev ops team; do you have access to a standard sales stack (zoom info, navigator, salesforce or other crm, etc etc)

Third, there should be someone training you. Especially if they knowingly hired you from a completely different industry. If you’re putting in the effort and there is no result, that isn’t necessarily your fault. Leadership should be working along side you to evaluate messaging, and your overall approach.

I’ve worked for chop shops like this, where they just hire you and say “go get it!” With little to no resources, strategy or collaboration. There are much better companies with strong training programs. Look into bigger companies if possible, or more established orgs that show growth. They will be investing in training their sales teams for scale.

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