I know, that's quite an unusual career path - to keep working as an SDR for so long, considering that the average SDR tenure is around 14-16 months. I do think the SDR role is broken (and I plan on writing a separate post about that).
At the same time, I truly love prospecting and experimenting with creative outreach tactics. That's why I've decided to dive deeper into sales development instead of switching to the closing role.
Working as an SDR for so long, I learned quite a few lessons and wanted to share some of them with you. So, here you go:
never stop learning
learn to code
follow the best and learn from the best
implement your own ideas
never give up
Now, let's "decode" these skills ⚡️
1. Never stop learning
Sales Development is quite a new role in a sales organization, and it still evolves like... all... the... time: new technologies, new tactics, approaches, new sales tools, and so on.
And most importantly: the way B2B buyers communicate with sales, how they research products or services, etc., changes all the time too!
To stay relevant and up to date with the trends, SDRs need to keep learning all these new fancy approaches.
The best way to do that is to read great sales and SDR-related blogs, listen to podcasts, attend webinars. I have even created a dedicated Airtable base to store all these materials.
2. Learn to code
Back in 2015, I decided to learn coding on a very basic level to feed my curiosity. I had no idea that it could help me in the role of an SDR.
Now I can integrate different tools, automate some routine tasks like list cleaning, enrichment, data validation, data personalization, etc. And there is no need to ask software engineers for help and wait for months until they have the time to do what I need 😉
Being able to automate some parts of your job as an SDR can significantly improve your performance and thus achieve your monthly quota. So I highly recommend coding as an additional skill for all SDRs.
3. Follow the best and learn from the best
As an SDR, you should know how dynamic and wide the sales tech market is. Over the past decade alone, we've witnessed the rise of sales automation, sales engagement, LinkedIn outreach, direct mail outreach, video prospecting, etc.
Yet, trying to fit all these great tools and tactics into a single sales development playbook or sales development workflow could turn out a huge waste of time!
That is why I started following some of the outstanding SDR and Sales leaders on LinkedIn, reading their articles, learning about their experience, and more importantly - implementing their best practices in my outreach. Relying on those proven tactics helped a lot in achieving my quota.
4. Implement your own ideas
As you get familiar with the SDR role in general, learn more about sales development, and consume different tips from other sales and SDR leaders, you will be able to come up with your own tactics and ideas. Go ahead and implement them in your outreach.
Here is the workflow I typically follow:
Collect all your ideas in a backlog
Dedicate 20% of your time to the experiments
Pick one idea from the list
Research the topic once more
Brainstorm it with the team
Implement that idea
Analyze the outcomes
Reiterate and improve
If the idea proves to help you achieve your quota, feel free to add it to your main sales playbook and use it in the future.
5. Never give up
It's true that the role of an SDR is one of the toughest roles in any B2B company. Who else can influence the growth of a company as much as an SDR who has booked 20-30 meetings with the decision-makers?
Yet, few people really understand how much effort it takes to hunt for new meetings month after month and achieve our quotas. We're constantly calling the prospects, multitasking between CRM, SEP, LinkedIn, websites, Google, Twitter, email, Slack, and get dozens of "sorry, we are not interested" messages.
No wonder that I wanted to give up and change my career path dozens of times over the past 5 years. Yet, every time I chose not to give up.
So, to all SDRs, AEs, and salespeople reading this: don't give up 💪
Thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy decoding sales development with me ⚡️
Great content! Thank you for sharing your story here!
Great content! Thank you for sharing your story here!