pirate

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Marketing Development Representative

So it appears our BDR team was forcefully adopted by marketing and they are now called MDRs. Marketing Development Representative. It just sounds so wrong.

Google says a Market Development Representative is a special kind of sales representative. Special indeed.

In your orgs, do BDR sit under sales or under marketing

Is this a common title or have I just been lucky enough not to hear of this before?

🔎 Prospecting

📨 Marketing

40 comments

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Well, I will say a prayer for your BDRs souls and sanity.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Need all the hail marys here

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

That's all fucked up... Doesn't make any sense to me.
Marketers have VERY different kinds of metrics/KPIs.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I thought so too. What will they even be measured on? Chatbot hours, emails they got, phone calls saved

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

Our reps are SDRs but sit under the marketing org.
To your points MDR are definitely "special". As is the leader who thought that was the appropriate title.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Yeah I'll just stick with calling it special. It's like having Human Resources development representative. Or facilities development representative. Makes you wonder what they do

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

Clearly someone in marketing thought it was creative not realizing it will cost that person dearly in salary negotiations should they ever try to change roles or companies

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Yeah feel bad for them already

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Yuck 🤮

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yeesh gut punch

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

Account Executive

MDR is another way to say you are in inbound SDR. No outbounding. Let's start there. Is that true?

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Correct... so they also brought out a chat bot. And if you're lucky. You might get a chance to talk to MDR there.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Ooof , sorry man. Enjoy explaining to them how sales works.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

They'll grow up wanting to be marketing people. Ugh.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

I worked at an org where this happened once. Lasted about 6 months before they reversed it. I just kept my head down and grinded through it.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Haha! Really? I'm not surprised at all.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I've seen BDR/SDR sit under both sales and marketing, but they've not had the "MDR" title.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

MDR is the funniest thing I read in my emails today. Which worked better?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

They still were entry-level employees so always needed guidance, regardless of where they ultimately rolled up. I didn't honestly see a difference.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Difference is would you be guided by sales or by marketing and to where I guess.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

There's always the case of answering to different people. As a BDR (or whatever the acronym), you'll be rolling up to a manager, but you'll possibly also be working directly with an AE or a few, all of whom will also have requests and demands. It's an early course in how to negotiate time management and differing business requirements. Couple that with rolling up still farther into both marketing and sales, which are supposed to be complementary but will have differing KRs, and it's fun times for all.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Currently, it sits under sales but my last org had it under marketing.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Yeah I don't get why have it under marketing

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

BD should roll to sales, never marketing, why on Earth did they think this was a good idea?

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I know right! Imagine if AE was under marketing then what would that be. Account marketers... Marketer managers, VPs of account marketing?

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

It depends on the size of the company, who has what Upper Mngt titles, and the company's goals.
If their responsibilities are the same, I wouldn't worry too much about things. And as far as a resume title goes - it doesn't matter. Your resume is what you make of it.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

IF their responsibilities stay the same. Will be interesting to see.

Retired Sales Professional

I think when ever one department take from another it is completely screwed up. Nothing special just a name change and bodies.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

It's special in how disastrous it will be. Special failure.

SportsSalesGuy

Tycoon

Enterprise Account Executive

In my BDR days I was under sales and then moved to half way thru my time to be under marketing. Sales was better. A lot more bullshit meetings and requirements and campaigns I had to run for marketing that didnt rly help my "sales" quota. Those BDR...well now MDRs should GTFO cuz that wont help advance them thats for sure. No way to move up in marketing from a sales position in my opinion unless they have a marketing degree

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

That's interesting! I just feel really bad for them. And based on what you're saying it won't get any better

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Do you think this could cause MDRs to become future marketing employees vs moving to sales? that would be interesting

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I shall report my findings. Or would they just be stuck in MDR for 5 years hmmm

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

Certain organisations that I know of have BDRs report to a CMO. I am not sure how that pans out.
But I have always been of the fact that sales and marketing should work together in all capacities to avoid overlap, different messaging going out.
So this has been a conflicted area for me too, where I have not concluded anything yet.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Theoretically yes. In practice, it's like C Level uses marketing to feel good and marketing licks their butt and sales takes is the fall guy

londoniscoldandwet

Opinionated

SDR

I’ve sat under both, SDRs suffer under marketing way more. It’s harder for managers too since they’re dragged into every dumb-ass campaign meeting like “why haven’t the SDRs got any successes with these leads?” CAUSE THEYRE SHIT!

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Wow! Yeah that's what I am worried about happening. Don't get all the shitty leads

londoniscoldandwet

Opinionated

SDR

As someone else here said, marketing often has totally different metrics to hit, and don’t really know what to do. I was once at an org where you weren’t allowed to cold call…. As an SDR.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Yeah not sure how you're going to get new customers on-board without any cold calling

londoniscoldandwet

Opinionated

SDR

The magic of *inbound* 😂

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pirate

Marketing Development Representative

40 comments

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