Been away for a long time, new job and all.
I'm growing an SDR team, would love advice on what to ask / look out for when hiring but also tips on how to manage and effectively create a top performing team!
cw95
SDR Team
11
Have you grown an SDR team before?
How are you going to enable them?
-get them a good stack?
-regular training on cold calling, email writing?
-providing training to level up
-clear path to promotion?
-quota being actually attainable?
Are you at a startup or large company?
If it’s a startup and early stage where are you getting your number for quota? Seems most managers get some gut feel and toss a number up, or the vp of sales says we need x number of qualified meetings to meet goal and then divide it amongst headcount on the team.
If that is the case have you enabled them with a good stack, fully trained, and a good data source to ensure they can actually make OTE?
These are the elements of a great team they will be in place and clearly defined or be on a roadmap to align with timing and/or budget since I know seed stage companies can’t buy everything. I’ve been on both sides of the coin on SDR teams- and the best leaders have all of these things defined, coincidentally the same team was the most high performing.
Things I’ve noticed in the best SDR’s curiosity, ask questions, take notes when they ask questions, follow direction and are open to feedback. You can train anyone with these traits to be a good sdr. Actually we have a few that were chefs/hospitality folks and since they were so used to taking shit off people all day cold calling never phased them and they crushed it. Hope this helps good luck with the team.
How are you going to enable them?
-get them a good stack?
-regular training on cold calling, email writing?
-providing training to level up
-clear path to promotion?
-quota being actually attainable?
Are you at a startup or large company?
If it’s a startup and early stage where are you getting your number for quota? Seems most managers get some gut feel and toss a number up, or the vp of sales says we need x number of qualified meetings to meet goal and then divide it amongst headcount on the team.
If that is the case have you enabled them with a good stack, fully trained, and a good data source to ensure they can actually make OTE?
These are the elements of a great team they will be in place and clearly defined or be on a roadmap to align with timing and/or budget since I know seed stage companies can’t buy everything. I’ve been on both sides of the coin on SDR teams- and the best leaders have all of these things defined, coincidentally the same team was the most high performing.
Things I’ve noticed in the best SDR’s curiosity, ask questions, take notes when they ask questions, follow direction and are open to feedback. You can train anyone with these traits to be a good sdr. Actually we have a few that were chefs/hospitality folks and since they were so used to taking shit off people all day cold calling never phased them and they crushed it. Hope this helps good luck with the team.
Ok everybody, let's pack it in. @thadeuce has this covered. We can go home now.
Haha, we’ll when I originally posted this nobody was participating so I dove in pretty hard on my answer.
when it comes to managing effectively, one piece of advice that always stuck with me is " you have to be fair, but you dont have to be equal"
what this really means is you need to make sure you are helping all of your reps, but that does not mean you have to give every rep the same amount of attention, or handle everyone the same.
a key to being a good manager (IMO) is making sure you understand how each person likes to be communicated with, understand what motivates them, and make sure they know you care about their success.
what this really means is you need to make sure you are helping all of your reps, but that does not mean you have to give every rep the same amount of attention, or handle everyone the same.
a key to being a good manager (IMO) is making sure you understand how each person likes to be communicated with, understand what motivates them, and make sure they know you care about their success.
It always comes down to enabling your team to be successful. What's holding them back right now? Tech stack? Training? something else? Find out what that is and start solving those problems
I would focus on only 1 thing - how bad do they want it? IMO, nothing else matters. Education, humility/teachableness, prior experience, who they are friends with - doesn't matter.
The second consideration - will they stick with it long enough to make the first thing count?
The second consideration - will they stick with it long enough to make the first thing count?
There is a lot of good information from the savages here on their opinions of SDRS, training, and managing a team. Just search "SDR" in the above search bar and spend some time going through the top comments. Best of luck.
THIS IS THE WAYYYY
1. How do they approach failure?
2. How do they approach challenges?
3. How do they approach being ignored?
4. How do they approach stress?
5. How do they approach time management?
6. What do they look for in a job?
7. What do they look for in a leader?
8. what 3 words defines them?
- Hire for empathy, grit, coachability. Everything else can be taught. the latter cannot.
1. Great data
2. efficient tech stack
3. efficient sales process/procedures
4. clearly defined expectations & metrics to hit promotions
5. approachability of yourself to feedback.
6. cold-call/email coaching.
7. Investing into their success with training(emotional, copy, cold calling, theory)
2. How do they approach challenges?
3. How do they approach being ignored?
4. How do they approach stress?
5. How do they approach time management?
6. What do they look for in a job?
7. What do they look for in a leader?
8. what 3 words defines them?
- Hire for empathy, grit, coachability. Everything else can be taught. the latter cannot.
1. Great data
2. efficient tech stack
3. efficient sales process/procedures
4. clearly defined expectations & metrics to hit promotions
5. approachability of yourself to feedback.
6. cold-call/email coaching.
7. Investing into their success with training(emotional, copy, cold calling, theory)
Ask what interests them and what they learned interesting lately (not business) this helps see if they are learning and humble.
I typically done hire people on SDR team with 2 or more less than year back to back SDR jobs, this means they are looking to be an AE dont get promoted (maybe cause they are bad at being an SDR) dont get promoted in that year and leave and keep starting over.
I typically done hire people on SDR team with 2 or more less than year back to back SDR jobs, this means they are looking to be an AE dont get promoted (maybe cause they are bad at being an SDR) dont get promoted in that year and leave and keep starting over.
If that is the case have you enabled them with a good stack, fully trained, and a good data source to ensure they can actually make OTE?
when it comes to managing effectively, one piece of advice that always stuck with me is " you have to be fair, but you dont have to be equal"
when it comes to managing effectively, one piece of advice that always stuck with me is " you have to be fair, but you dont have to be equal"
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