How to Build an SDR Team: The Ultimate Guide for Success

Author:

Aoife Daly

How to Build an SDR Team: The Ultimate Guide for Success

Author:

Reading Time: 5 minutes

How to Build an SDR Team: The Ultimate Guide for Success

aoife

Aoife Daly

Content Marketing Manager, Operatix

More and more businesses are delving into the world of sales development in hopes of increasing revenue and predictable growth, as well as tapping into new markets. Yet, with so much to consider, understanding how to build an SDR team from the ground up is easier said than done. 

How to Build an SDR Team Handbook


Building an SDR team requires thorough planning, not to mention both financial and time investment. Each step of the process, from recruitment to management, must be carefully considered in order for the endeavour to be successful.


With this in mind, Operatix has created The SDR Handbook. This free eBook will answer all of your questions regarding not only how to build an SDR team, but how to onboard, manage and empower your employees to ensure productivity.


Regarded as the fastest-growing SDR company in B2B tech, Operatix has hired, onboarded and developed over 1,000 SDRs in its 11 years of trading. This thorough ebook will give you expert insight, practical tactics, and advice on every obstacle you may face while setting up your own sales team.


You’ll gain an understanding of what makes the ideal candidate, how to track the success of your team with SDR metrics, what you need to equip your team with a tech stack that truly empowers them and the core fundamentals of a great SDR. Interested? Download the free eBook now.


Below, we look at exactly what is inside the SDR handbook, as well as the benefits of building your own team and what an SDR does.



How to Build an SDR Team: Free eBook


We’ve made our SDR Handbook as detailed as possible, ensuring nothing is left unexplained. The eBook features interviews and tips from Operatix experts as well as Michael Hanson, Founder and CEO of Growth Genie. Below, we’ve listed all of the chapters from the SDR Handbook to give you an idea of what is inside.






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Chapter One: Finding Talent Summary Points



● Understanding the traits and qualities of a great SDR is an essential part of hiring
candidates that not only sell well to your ICP, but also gel with your current team and
culture.
● Build a document that your recruitment team can refer back to when hiring candidates to
ensure there is a clear and scalable process in place.
● There are multiple steps to take to test core competencies of candidates in a tactical
manner, all of which are important.
● Steps include psychometric testing and role-play, both of which will allow you to see the
qualities of the candidate as well as their potential for success.



Chapter Two: The Fundamentals of a Great SDR Summary Points



• Your ICP and target personas need to be clearly defined to understand your audiences
• Not only should your SDRs understand how to craft a good message, but also how to deliver it in a way that is enticing
• Sales representatives should not just rely on cold calling, ensuring to spend time delivering creative email sequences and social media messaging
• A multi-touch approach, where an SDR initiates contact with a prospective customer multiple times on different platforms is essential in getting the best from your leads



Chapter Three: Tools and Tech Stacks Summary Points



• In this chapter we covered the types of technology available in the market to make SDR teams more productive.
• Deciding what solutions should be part of your tech stack depends on the size of your team and your budget.
• If you are just getting started with your Sales Development team, we suggest the starter combo: CRM + Sales Navigator + Data Provider + Telephony system + Sales Engagement Tool.
• A more advanced tech stack for larger teams and bigger budgets would typically include: CRM + Sales Navigator + Data Provider + Telephony system + Sales Engagement Tool + Scheduling Tool + Conversational Intelligence + Intent Data + Gifting Platform.



Chapter Four: SDR Management Summary Points



• Goal setting is an important part of maintaining a productive, high-performing team
• Personal and career goals should be discussed.
• SDRs must be nurtured and be provided with constructive feedback regularly.
• Regular sales coaching ensures your team stay competitive, as well as helping to hone their skillset and evolve with the market.


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Chapter Five: Compensation Summary Points



• The average base salary for an SDR is around £35,000 in London and $58,000 in San Francisco.
• Incentivising your sales function can increase motivation, performance and job satisfaction, helping to retain your top performers.
• A study has found that 85% of the workers were more motivated to do their best when there was an incentive scheme in place.
• There are multiple types of compensation plans, including base salary and commission, tiered and a straight commission plan.



Chapter Six: KPIs Summary Points



• Inbound SDRs can handle an average of 15 leads a day
• The conversion rate from an inbound lead to a meeting varies depending on the quality of those leads, ranging from 5 -10% for low-intent leads and 75 – 80% for high-intent leads
• Outbound SDRs, on the other hand, should be able to produce 12 meetings sat a month when the 20% drop-out rate is factored in
• The average conversion rate from a sales-accepted lead (SAL) to a sales-qualified lead (SQL) is 52.7%



Chapter Seven: Team Structure Summary Points



• There is a big difference between inbound and outbound sales, so differentiating the approach you want your SDRs to take is important
• SDRs bridge the gap between marketing and sales, which is why there is debate as to which department they report to
• The majority of SDRs report to the sales department
• While building a sales team of your own may seem like the more cost-effective option, this is unlikely to be the case due to the amount of hidden costs
• There are a number of benefits of outsourcing sales, even if you do decide to build an internal team simultaneously.



What Does an SDR team do?


The role of an SDR (sales development representative) is multifunctional, although the primary function is to increase qualified leads to generate revenue. To do so, they must first prospect and qualify leads before connecting with prospects via cold calling, social selling and email cadences. As well as this, it’s their responsibility to follow up on cold leads, nurture those in the pipeline, set appointments and, often, track the progress of the outcome.



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Benefits of Building an SDR Team


There are several tempting benefits to having a dedicated sales development team – more qualified leads, a better sales pipeline, more revenue, and better positioning in the market, just to name a few. They’ll support your marketing efforts, help boost brand awareness and increase reach in new markets, accelerating efforts at the top of the funnel.


To understand not only how to build an SDR team from the ground up but manage and maintain it, download our free SDR Handbook here.

About Operatix

Operatix is a Sales Acceleration company specialized in supporting B2B Software vendors to identify new revenue streams, increase qualified sales pipeline, and accelerate channel development across Europe and North America. Operatix has a wealth of experience in working with the biggest tech players worldwide as well as a multitude of emerging software vendors.

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Channel Transformation

Digital transformation is changing how companies buy and use business solutions, making vendors re-assess the capabilities of their channel ecosystem. With channel dynamics in constant flux, vendors need to be ready to cut ties with partners that don’t share their vision or have connections with the right B2B buyers.

 

Operatix has supported numerous vendors in their path to Channel transformation by assessing current partners and recruiting new partners that are more aligned with their new channel strategy. Once the right partners have been identified, Operatix built scalable outbound sales development programs that accelerated their routes to market.

Inbound Response Management

In a competitive industry like technology every lead counts. Operatix can help you maximize conversion from MQL to SQL and from lead to pipeline, increasing both your revenue and ROI on marketing activities.

Account Identification

Identifying the accounts that are more likely to buy from you is part of our expertise. We will research the market, identify verticals and industries that can benefit from your solution and set up qualified sales engagements for your teams to kick-off the sales process. 

Cold Prospecting

Our team will identify new sales opportunities within the strategic accounts that you haven’t been successful in penetrating through your sales & marketing efforts. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, multitouch approach to connect with prospects, generating qualified sales engagements for your team and ultimately increasing your pipeline.

Outbound Sales Development

Using a proactive outbound sales approach has been proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage with prospective customers. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, human approach to getting in touch with prospects to increase your qualified sales engagements and ultimately generate more pipeline.

Outbound Sales Development

Using a proactive outbound sales approach has been proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage with prospective customers. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, human approach to getting in touch with prospects to increase your qualified sales engagements and ultimately generate more pipeline.

Partner Concierge Service

Our Partner Concierge Service helps vendors accelerate their channel programs, by engaging and nurturing channel partners and supporting them to get to revenue quicker.

Demand Generation

Whether you need to implement a demand generation strategy or get more results out of your existing demand gen engine, Operatix can work alongside your marketing team to yield better results out of your demand generation programs.

Account-based Marketing

An Account-based Marketing strategy is only as successful as the revenue it generates. At Operatix we will support your 1:1, 1:few or 1:many approach to get your team in front of decision makers in the accounts that matter the most to you. 

Lead Qualification

If your marketing leads aren’t converting, it might be a lead qualification issue. Operatix can help sieve through leads that need further qualification, so they are ready for an AE or sales team member to engage with.

Account-based Selling

At Operatix we will support your 1:1, 1:few or 1:many approach to get your team in front of decision makers in the accounts that matter the most to you. 

Pipeline Generation

Generating Pipeline for our clients is our key-objective. And we do that by using a multi-touch, multi-channel approach to generate qualified sales engagements for our customers’ sales teams.   

Account Intelligence / Deep Dive

Understanding buying centres, hierarchies and relevant personas in strategic accounts is a fundamental step to increase conversion rates. By leveraging account intelligence in a sales conversation your team can tailor their message and provide value to their prospective customer. But sales & marketing teams often struggle to dedicate time and resources to do the deep research and this is where Operatix can help.

DMID – Decision Maker Identification

Finding quality data is an on-going challenge for B2B Tech vendors. The accuracy of data platforms is questionable and that is why Operatix developed a manual process to identify & verify contact details for decision makers within strategic target accounts.

Playbook design

Operatix can develop Sales Playbooks that enable teams to sell more effectively. Your Playbook will be fundamental to get your messaging right, accurately position your solution against competitors, and adapt the communication of your value proposition to different buyer personas.

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Sales Playbook Development

Operatix can develop Sales Playbooks that enable teams to sell more effectively. Your Playbook will be fundamental to implementing the correct messaging, accurately position your solution against competitors, and adapting the communication of your value proposition to different buyer personas.

Lead Qualification

If your leads aren’t converting, it might be a lead qualification issue. Operatix can help filter through leads that need further qualification, ensuring that they’re ready for an AE or sales team member to engage with and progress through the funnel. 

Partner Portal / Marketing Concierge Service

Vendors often spend thousands of dollars building multifunctional Partner Portals to help channel partners educate their teams, manage opportunities, and create marketing programs. Still, these portals are often underutilized due to lack of bandwidth and capacity from vendors to offer support in enabling their partner community. Operatix, through their Partner Development team, can support your partners to make the best use out of your partner portal, managing the relationship with your partners and helping them set up co-marketing campaigns to drive more revenue for both businesses. 

Marketing & Sales Alignment

The sales development function is often seen as the “glue” that brings sales & marketing teams together. By working as an extension of your teams, Operatix will be your predictable source of pipeline, sales & revenue.

Optimization of MDF

Market Development Funds are an important component of any channel ecosystem, though vendors believe they are not maximizing the return on investment they should be getting from their MDF programs. At Operatix, we build scalable outbound sales development programs that will give you the visibility of return over the invested spend and will provide clear value for your channel partners.

Increase Partner Productivity

The 80/20 rule is still very applicable to the channel, which means that investing in partner productivity should be a priority for vendors looking to grow their businesses. Operatix can increase partner productivity and shorten sales cycles, by identifying ready to engage sales opportunities for your most valued channel partners.

Virtual Channel Account managers

Our VCAM team is responsible for building, maintaining, and managing sound relationships with current and prospective channel partners. They can get involved in opening up new sales conversations as well as closing small businesses up to $ 10k.

Tier 1 & Tier 2 Activation

Whether your business decided for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 distribution model, Operatix can help your channel partners get to revenue quicker. By providing qualified sales engagements to your channel partners we can accelerate your route to market with tangible and easily measurable results.

Solution Selling Training

Far too often vendors insist on enabling their channel partners to talk about features and technical details of their solutions. Customers don’t buy features; they buy the benefits your solution can bring. Operatix will work with your partner community to train them in articulating your message from a high-level business perspective, enabling them to talk to prospects about the value your solution can bring to their company from a board-level perspective.

Channel Enablement

Enabling your channel partners have measurable wins for your business when done right. Operatix has a proven track record in enabling channel partners from a sales & marketing perspective, providing them the knowledge and tools to successfully pitch your solution and sell the value & benefits of it. 

Partner Recruitment

Recruiting the right Channel Partners is the first step for a successful channel program. Operatix has helped over 350 B2B Software vendors recruit suitable channel partners across EMEA and North America, supporting them to scale and expand their presence in different geographies and verticals. 

Risk/Reward Business Model

To truly work as an extension of our client’s sales & marketing teams, we have also adapted our business models to show how our clients operate, and how their success is measured. With our risk/reward business model your investment is proportional to the results our team delivers.

Sales Qualified Leads

On average, 52.5% of the sales engagements set up by our team progress into a next step in the sale process. That means that 5 out of 10 meetings will progress either into a POC, a Demo or a pipeline opportunity.

Geographical Scale

Trading in different geographical markets not only requires a knowledge of the native language, local rules & policies, but a deeper understanding of the local culture and habits. We have the ability to deliver campaigns in multiple countries with flexible resource allocation. This is through our team of international speakers, who have the ability to sell in 17 different languages across the globe.

Increase Revenue & Decrease Cost

Building an internal sales development team comes with many additional costs and challenges that aren’t always taken into account: recruiting resources, training and enabling them etc. You also need to take into account the need for having the data and tools to make them successful, which in turn requires time, capital and effort. By outsourcing your sales development to Operatix you will see your revenue increasing, while decreasing costs and business risk.

Predictable Pipeline Generation

On average, our clients see a 26X ROI on the programs we deliver. By understanding your revenue targets and sales pipeline gap, we will work on a sales & marketing plan that will deliver tangible results.

Vertical Growth

Entering new industries or launching new product lines? Operatix can accelerate your growth by supporting your go-to-market strategy, and getting your sales teams in front of decision makers in key target accounts.

Reduce Headcount

By outsourcing your sales development and partner programs to Operatix; we reduce headcount and the challenges that come with managing people, technologies, and processes. We take care of your sales development, so you can focus on what matters the most: growing your business.

Revenue Acceleration

Operatix helps your business get to revenue quicker. By providing qualified sales engagements for your direct sales team (to kick-off new sales cycles), or by accelerating the growth of your channel partners, our focus remains on delivering tangible results for your business. 

Persona-based Selling

Operatix team will design specifically tailored messages to influence the different levels of decision makers in the sales process, tailoring the communication according to each job function. Our focus is to sell the value of your solution from a business perspective, not its features.    

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