How many more items are we going to put on their plate and expect them to be good at without: paying them well inviting them to President's Club treating them equal to an AE Hey AEs! You're not better than your SDR. In fact...you're equals! ::gasp::

WhereverYouGoThereYouAre

VP, Sales

Fire Starter

Old School Bravo

When will we stop treating SDRs like second-class citizens?

How many more items are we going to put on their plate and expect them to be good at without:

paying them well
inviting them to President's Club
treating them equal to an AE

Hey AEs! You're not better than your SDR. In fact...you're equals! ::gasp::

2 comments

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CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

I don't disagree with you but to play devil's advocate, I will take you seriously as an SDR if you don't treat my pipe like a joke.

I come from a company where if you closed-lost an opp, you better have a damn good reason for it and even then, you're still going to get shit on for it.

As an AE, if I convert your lead into an opp, I then have to take responsibility for its failure if it doesn't close so stop making it seem as though there are zero consequences for me to help you make your number as an SDR and that I'm the bad guy for not wanting to take on a lead that has no real need for our solution.

On the flip side, if you're truly looking to be an asset as part of the sales funnel and you're throwing up quality leads, not only will I sing your praises but I will take you under my wing and I'll do as much as I can to help you advance your career ambitions.

MrMotivation

Politicker

Sales

I think there is a fundamental issue with the SDR role. I have met tremendous SDRs who are on the path to be a stellar AE. But I have also met SDRs who may have better success as being a career SDR, but there are not many ways to make a good living being a career SDR. This all creates very high turnover. Companies are averse to investing in employees they don't feel will be there for the long term.

Another issue is that the SDR role has forever been considered an entry level job that leads into a closing role, and I don't think that should be the only path. Entry level employees are always a mixed bag. I would say that half of the SDRs I have worked with in my career had a drive/ability that deserved respect from the rest of the org. And that is no different than any other section of the business. Entry level engineer who isn't performing? Less respect from peers.

CadenceCombat referenced this before me. Be a legitimate asset to the org as a whole and don't treat the role/company as a stepping stone.

At my two previous companies, we took SDRs to Club. At my first company, there were no specific metrics for SDRs to make it to club. There were members who could join by choice of the CRO. He had three choices and they were almost always reserved for top performing SDRs who he felt it was worth to invest in. Second company, SDR had to be at 125% of annual quota, while working that full calendar year to make it.

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WhereverYouGoThereYouAre

When will we stop treating SDRs like second-class citizens?

2 comments

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