No hate as I was an SDR until about a year ago. Count me somewhere in the middle of the pro and anti SDR camps, but I don't love the plan for the new ones coming on board in my division. We are SMB and mid-market and mostly inbound. I would be more than happy to have SDRs filling my calendar with outbound meetings, but I strongly believe it makes the most sense for all inbounds to continue to flow to AEs. They are moving towards having the SDRs "qualify" all inbounds with at least 3/4s of BANT to send them to us live, round robin. What?!
Maybe it's because I deal with small businesses, but I feel like half the deals I close don't have BANT until the very end. I almost always spend the first 30-60 minuts on "N", then work in B A and T at the end. I also feel like the SDRs are going to fuck up and DQ people that are real buyers or scare them off by having another step in the process, not knowing the answers to things, or not having enough finesse to move stubborn people along in the process.
I think I've been an SDR recently enough to know how cluless they are (I certainly was) and that scares me. Am I being unreasonable? They say they're doing this so we can spend less time sifting through unqualified people and wrong number. I just feel like this is a mistake. Seriously, not shitting on SDRs in here, but I feel your services are best used on outbound.
21 comment