TravisKohlmeyer

Enterprise Account Executive

New-hire SDR Check-ins. What works and what doesn't?

Hiring 10 SDR's for 2 AE's and need to manage and promote productivity and meetings booked. Thoughts on whats been successful for you? Daily meetings? Weekly meetings? What kind of stats do you measure? Best ways to promote competition?

🎈 Mentorship

👥 Hiring

🧢 Sales Management

10 comments

Sort by:

desperado

Politicker

Head of Sales

Daily meetings for SDRs are too much. Monday meetings and Friday meetings are probably best.

Your Monday meeting can consist of goals for the week, and how they're going to achieve them.

Your Friday meeting is a recap of the week. Did they hit their goals? What could the SDRs have done differently to reach those goals? Have the team share different tactics that are working.

Stats for SDRs: Depends on what you sell - personally, I would not measure email metrics. Call metrics, sure. But you need to come up with a dial number that is achievable. Usually, the higher the ACV, the less volume, but more targeted strategic outreach should be measured.

Easy ways to promote competition: Call blitz's with prizes, SDR comp spiffs, transparency and upward mobility in terms of career opportunities within the company.

With SDR's it's better to focus on the "how" rather than the "what"

When I was an SDR, I was in a "what" factory... meaning if I went to my manager or leadership and asked "How can I meet quota, or book more meetings" They'd tell me WHAT to do, and not HOW to do it. (example - What: "Smile and dial bro" How: "Try this tactic ..." Sit down with your SDR's and brainstorm out of the box ideas. Foster a culture of collaboration and reward outside-the-box thinking to achieve this.

-----

Also -

Wondering what you envision the system being with 10 SDR's and 2 AEs?

Is it gonna be a pod system (5 SDR to 1 AE) or are you going to deploy a round-robin system for opportunities to AE's?

TravisKohlmeyer

Enterprise Account Executive

Thanks for the advice, I agree with daily meetings being a bit over the top but I think the AE management think daily is better. I see at the start like maybe the first week but not much longer than that.

I also like the how and not what. When I started it was a what and not given the resources needed to understand the how so that needs to change.

It is a pod system 5 SDR to 1 AE. 2 industries with 2 SDR's in each and the 5th SDR in more of a testing/competitive advantage vertical for the time being.

AE's are in charge of the SDR's success or failure which is a new responsibility for them.

desperado

Politicker

Head of Sales

I digress. During the first week, I agree that daily meetings should be scheduled. Just as a check-in to make sure everyone is understanding the training and to host an open forum to ask questions. Whether this is 1:1, or a group setting. (maybe both are best)

It's also important to remember that if you are hiring the SDR team all in one big class with the same start date a micro-culture will most likely form. Try to guide this in line with the overall company culture, or else the team might face some problems in the medium term/long run.

Another thing to note is to make sure your AE's are inviting and accepting of failure during the ramp period as well. I've been at multiple companies where the AE's behave like they're the bosses of the SDRs, rather than viewing it as a strategic working relationship. This leads to a lot of frustration, turnover, and burnout. SDR <> AE relationship is one of the most important things to a successful sales team in my opinion. To do this, I've noticed that the best SDRs and AE's set expectations right off the bat and stick to a plan that the AE makes to set the SDR up for success.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

3 meetings M-W-F is what we do. Monday and wednesday is strategy, what is working, whats not. Hot topics, success/horror stories, AE and Territory plans. Fridays- light day, jokes, personal shit, no business, keep it light and short.

Track it all, but remember there are stories behind the data. Daily dials doesnt mean shit if you dont connect, the guy making 20 calls and having 3 good convos is better than 50+ dial SDR talking to noone

TravisKohlmeyer

Enterprise Account Executive

How do you feel about relistening to SDR calls and critiquing as a group? I know this takes up a bit of time but it's good to push people out of their comfort zone and have others see where things went wrong

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Depends on what you mean by critiquing and in a group setting that could be very alarming to me as a new rep at a company. If you were to listen first and make it positive remarks the first few times then let people know the next session will be things to work on, could be better. I would handle hard, corrective critiques one on one in the beginning, but thats just me

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Separate the SDR and AE's into 2-different groups. 5 SDRs, and 1 AE. During training, give one group Monday training and one group Tuesday training - but make the content different.

When delivering content, leave it open to be subjective. At the end of the training, assign homework. Each group has to present the training at the end of the week. Mondays would present Thursdays, and Tuesdays would present Fridays.

Swap days of the week the following week; i.e., Tuesdays group will be Mondays group. In the first 15 minutes, have each group elaborate, brainstorm, and reiterate what they learned from the other groups' training. Then wash, rinse, and repeat.

The only way I've ever seen salespeople have a true connection to a training material is when they are actively involved. We are hands-on type people. Additionally, each AE should offer additional insight for your SDRs that will be valuable for their growth.

The last week, we put the AEs and SDRs in two separate groups. That last week should be fully hands-on, with feedback for each individual.

I left Wednesdays alone; That day, you should reach out to each one individually to guide them through the exercises. Basically, office hours that they can lean on for assistance with the homework assignment.

Does that make sense?

TravisKohlmeyer

Enterprise Account Executive

This makes sense and I see how it would work at a bigger company. Something similar is done at Oracle with their first-month training. I think in our specific instance we need them to hit the ground running a bit more.

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

1) How quickly do you need their "feet on the street"?
2) Do you have an SDR script/process already mapped out?
3) How does the training differ b/w AE's and SDR?
4) Do you have current employees that are interested in leadership within the company?
5) Is there an established buddy/mentor system in place?

BillyHoyle

Tycoon

Senior Account Executive

We have a daily "Activity Index" (no. of calls plus TT) that our SDRs must hit otherwise they have to attend an EoD meeting. Works pretty well.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

TravisKohlmeyer

New-hire SDR Check-ins. What works and what doesn't?

10 comments

Related posts

What & Which area will the best Sales Tip of yours be for a new SDR/AE in tech space?

Recommendation : Top 10 sales courses (paid + free) to practically apply learnings?