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When receiving a job offer for a SaaS SDR role what are the most important things to consider?
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Wish I could shout this from the rooftops - ONBOARDING. So many BDRs are ill-equipped to do their job well in a number of different ways. If the company does not have an established training program for their BDRS, that is a huge problem. On the same topic, career progression. Are people being promoted from within? The lack of training goes hand in hand with this. It'll be abundantly clear if you aren't seeing BDRs internally promoted at all and/or for the ones that do, how are they doing? Has the company set them up for failure?
Onboarding is a huge point. Especially if you're still new to the game.
If the companies has a god awful onboarding then you're playing on hardmode.
If the companies has a god awful onboarding then you're playing on hardmode.
Bad onboarding is a good clue how bad the internal processes will look.
Yep, nothing inspires more regret than when you realise you're fucked from the start 😂
Good points. I’ll definitely be asking the SDR manager about internal promotions and how to get there.
There are a lot of articles on this. Why don't you leverage the search option.
Few things I would consider, once I have decided that this is the right company for me, are: Base + OTE, OTE Criteria, Role itself - what will I be doing, Stock options, Health benefits - insurance etc, Leaves.
Few things I would consider, once I have decided that this is the right company for me, are: Base + OTE, OTE Criteria, Role itself - what will I be doing, Stock options, Health benefits - insurance etc, Leaves.
Tons to consider!
The Product- You want to be calling / outreaching about something exciting and that you truly believe in. I get not everything will change the world, and a sales job is a sales job, but actually liking the product your pushing makes a big difference.
The Culture- By this I don't mean, Video Games in the office, or happy hours every Friday. Are the other SDR's excited to be there, are they performing well. Is there growth potential? Will it be a one stop along the way to another role at a different company or do they promote within.
The Metric- Is your goals attainable. The last thing you want is to be in a role where you aren't set up to succeed or many money.
The Product- You want to be calling / outreaching about something exciting and that you truly believe in. I get not everything will change the world, and a sales job is a sales job, but actually liking the product your pushing makes a big difference.
The Culture- By this I don't mean, Video Games in the office, or happy hours every Friday. Are the other SDR's excited to be there, are they performing well. Is there growth potential? Will it be a one stop along the way to another role at a different company or do they promote within.
The Metric- Is your goals attainable. The last thing you want is to be in a role where you aren't set up to succeed or many money.
To me the biggest things are career upward mobility, path to promotion, being very clear on expectation, and loving the product so I can have conviction selling it over the phone.
1. KPIs
2. Career Path, Timing, Evaluation process
3. Training
4. Team / Leaders
5. How are current SDRs doing (Check career paths on LinkedIn)
2. Career Path, Timing, Evaluation process
3. Training
4. Team / Leaders
5. How are current SDRs doing (Check career paths on LinkedIn)
Great points
The MOST important thing is how you get paid for your variable compensation and how fast you can get out of the role.
An SDR role for more than a year is a really tough thing, you have to get out of that role. You can't predict your future as an SDR.
The number one and most important factor is the variable compensation pay out. Orgs are so bad at this. I've seen orgs blow up Cost of Acquisition and other Orgs make it too hard. You need to understand your risk.
What you need to know is....
1) Do I get paid if the meeting is scheduled and the person shows up? (dig in and ask everyone on the interview)
2) Do I get paid only if the Opportunity is created?
Break it down... figure out the % of it that is based on MORE than a meeting.
That's where your RISK is in this situation. Your risk as an SDR is always in the conversion to an Opportunity.
Interview AEs during the process to see how tight the rules are here.
You want to really work on making sure the criteria is light on what you get paid for on a trigger event.
I'm being stupid honest on this, then you can book meetings as much as you want. It's so much easier to get the meeting than the actually opportunity or close the deal.
Never fight for Equity. Fight for Base and trade your start date.
In terms of the Quota, try to understand if it is paid on # of Opportunities. This will be VERY hard in the Enterprise World. Anything over +$50k is a tough to get opportunities.
The more accounts the better.
Technically the best strategy for +$50k SDR Teams is the ADR role. Which, 99% of the orgs suck at. They never get this right.
The role is a Senior SDR that is very good with accounts and understands how to not play the volume game and does more strategic targeting and high-value engagement. But it needs to be comped different.
Best - Paid on Meeting > 50% of Variable Comp
Mid - Paid on Opportunity - Determine rules.... for opportunity (it's called the SDR Death Zone) it's where you fight your internal teams to get these things counted.
Worst - Paid on Close (unless you get paired with 1 rep only and they're the #1 field sales rep)
Also, need to find out what the promo path is out of SaaS SDR. The role is not a safe role right now. One move and they could wack the whole team or send you over to Marketing.
-SaaSData
lmk if i can help
text me at (908) 676-SaaS if you need help.. always available... 24/7
An SDR role for more than a year is a really tough thing, you have to get out of that role. You can't predict your future as an SDR.
The number one and most important factor is the variable compensation pay out. Orgs are so bad at this. I've seen orgs blow up Cost of Acquisition and other Orgs make it too hard. You need to understand your risk.
What you need to know is....
1) Do I get paid if the meeting is scheduled and the person shows up? (dig in and ask everyone on the interview)
2) Do I get paid only if the Opportunity is created?
Break it down... figure out the % of it that is based on MORE than a meeting.
That's where your RISK is in this situation. Your risk as an SDR is always in the conversion to an Opportunity.
Interview AEs during the process to see how tight the rules are here.
You want to really work on making sure the criteria is light on what you get paid for on a trigger event.
I'm being stupid honest on this, then you can book meetings as much as you want. It's so much easier to get the meeting than the actually opportunity or close the deal.
Never fight for Equity. Fight for Base and trade your start date.
In terms of the Quota, try to understand if it is paid on # of Opportunities. This will be VERY hard in the Enterprise World. Anything over +$50k is a tough to get opportunities.
The more accounts the better.
Technically the best strategy for +$50k SDR Teams is the ADR role. Which, 99% of the orgs suck at. They never get this right.
The role is a Senior SDR that is very good with accounts and understands how to not play the volume game and does more strategic targeting and high-value engagement. But it needs to be comped different.
Best - Paid on Meeting > 50% of Variable Comp
Mid - Paid on Opportunity - Determine rules.... for opportunity (it's called the SDR Death Zone) it's where you fight your internal teams to get these things counted.
Worst - Paid on Close (unless you get paired with 1 rep only and they're the #1 field sales rep)
Also, need to find out what the promo path is out of SaaS SDR. The role is not a safe role right now. One move and they could wack the whole team or send you over to Marketing.
-SaaSData
lmk if i can help
text me at (908) 676-SaaS if you need help.. always available... 24/7
Very helpful and informative. I sent you a text note to discuss the variable calc on this new role I accepted.
I accepted a BDR role with a SaaS company that has an offering for businesses to streamline operations for their D2C ecommerce business. Their product improves efficiency of inventory management, order fulfillment, connecting carriers to orders more quickly, forecasting sales, and streamlines and replicates the ecommerce experience for the vendor and customer across all channels allowing businesses to do multi channel listings much easier.
I will be the 4th BDR on their team focused on the SMB space. The total comp plan is 60/40 base/variable. The variable is calculated off of meetings booked, conversions and an accelerator for over performance.
In the interview process they said meetings historically have converted at their company at a 73% clip, this % is higher in the SMB space and lower in Enterprise.
The quota is 48 demos a quarter, 16 demos per month, or 4 per week. So there is a dollar amount for booking a meeting. If that meeting converts then I get a 3x kicker on the stip for booking a meeting. So at their historical rate is I book 16 meetings in a month, 11 will convert. They pay out commission monthly in arrears. So month 3's commission would be paid on in month 4.
I accepted a BDR role with a SaaS company that has an offering for businesses to streamline operations for their D2C ecommerce business. Their product improves efficiency of inventory management, order fulfillment, connecting carriers to orders more quickly, forecasting sales, and streamlines and replicates the ecommerce experience for the vendor and customer across all channels allowing businesses to do multi channel listings much easier.
I will be the 4th BDR on their team focused on the SMB space. The total comp plan is 60/40 base/variable. The variable is calculated off of meetings booked, conversions and an accelerator for over performance.
In the interview process they said meetings historically have converted at their company at a 73% clip, this % is higher in the SMB space and lower in Enterprise.
The quota is 48 demos a quarter, 16 demos per month, or 4 per week. So there is a dollar amount for booking a meeting. If that meeting converts then I get a 3x kicker on the stip for booking a meeting. So at their historical rate is I book 16 meetings in a month, 11 will convert. They pay out commission monthly in arrears. So month 3's commission would be paid on in month 4.
Agree - what do they need to see from you and by when to promote you to AE?
UPDATE: After several interview processes I walked away with two offers. Both were great but ultimately I was able to land with the company that was at the top of my list.
I am grateful for the tips, tricks, and suggestions for good questions to ask throughout the process. Thank you all!
I am grateful for the tips, tricks, and suggestions for good questions to ask throughout the process. Thank you all!
Onboarding
Their sales stack
Success of other SDRs there, or lack of
Base salary & what exactly is required to hit OTE. Are these requirements in your control?
Their sales stack
Success of other SDRs there, or lack of
Base salary & what exactly is required to hit OTE. Are these requirements in your control?
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