SDR

Definition

An SDR, or Sales Development Representative, is a member of a sales team responsible for identifying and qualifying potential customers for a business. Typically found in B2B companies, SDRs use research, outreach, and initial conversations to discover prospects who may be suitable for the product or service, before passing them to account executives to move forward in the sales process.

Why Use

• Increase potential sales by identifying qualified leads early.
• Streamline the work of experienced sales representatives.
• Boost revenue pipeline with focused prospecting.
• Enhance targeting through dedicated outreach efforts.

Core Concepts

• Lead qualification based on defined criteria.
• Cold calling and cold emailing prospects.
• Initial discovery calls to assess fit.
• Hand-off process to account executives.
• Outreach metrics and performance tracking.

Examples

Scenario 1: An SDR researches a list of technology firms, calls key contacts, and sets meetings for the sales team if they express interest.

Scenario 2: The SDR qualifies an inbound enquiry by confirming company size and needs, then schedules a product demo with the appropriate sales expert.

Common Pitfalls

• Relying solely on generic outreach tactics.
• Passing unqualified leads to sales teams, wasting time.
• Ignoring useful data from previous prospect interactions.

See Also

Related roles and terms include Account Executive, Lead Scoring, CRM, and Inbound Marketing for further context.