1. The Rise of Sales Development Representatives

According to salesforce.com, the average outside salesperson only has 9% of their day dedicated to prospecting. (source: salesforce.com research “state of sales”)

Hire SDR’s who are focused on customer engagement and are looking to maximize pipeline through; discovery, engagement and response.

2. Purchase the Right Tools

Update your technology stack to reach prospects successfully.

Prospecting is hard work and using the wrong technology stack makes it even harder.  Invest in your SDR’s success by providing them with the right tools or utilize a firm that provides SDR Outsourcing.

3. Provide Great Onboarding

Since SDR’s are typically entry level positions, they need to be able to quickly communicate your value proposition, handle objections and qualify prospects for your sales team.

Your SDR’s are brand ambassadors, so it’s essential to provide them with adequate product, sales and marketing training for success.

4. Sales and Marketing Alignment

Automation can help but an SDR team can build a bridge.

An SDR team can provide an excellent bridge between Sales and Marketing.  Marketing has the resources it needs for leads, vertical targeting and trade shows and Sales can focus on selling.

5. Mission Creep

Stay on Target

Ensure that you don’t move beyond the role.  If you need an inside salesperson, hire them.  Your SDR is not intended to go beyond sales development.

6. Team Size

Go Big or Outsource

The SDR role requires a larger footprint to have the desired impact.  There are several reasons; prospecting is a high contact sport and your don’t want to lose momentum due to vacations, sick days or turn-over.

7. Commitment

Expectations, Make realistic goals.

Expect six months before you’ve fine tuned your program.  Professional SDR training programs can help ir hire an outside SDR Outsourcing firm to reduce overhead and ramp up time.