The past few years of my career has been focused on building new sales teams including Sales Development teams. Recently I have had some Sales Leaders at networking events who were looking to build an SDR function at their organizations ask me how to approach this task. Although this post will not go into all the areas needed to build out a successful, it has made me reflect on 3 key items to consider, that in my opinion, are critical to think about.
Organizational Structure
Over the years I have seen Sales Development teams report up through different organizations. Two of the most common are Marketing and Sales. Although each have their merits there is a clear winner in my mind on this topic. Sales Development teams should report up through the sales organization and here are some reasons why:
- In my experience SDR teams that report through sales are far more effective
- Career path – In my experience as an SDR leader I have never had one promoted to a marketing role. Generally my SDRs are promoted to Account Executive, Channel Account Manager, Customer Success Manager, or Sales Engineer. Reporting through the sales organization gives your SDR exposure to the full sales cycle and provides them a path to grow.
- Allows for tighter alignment between the AE and SDR teams. Having field sales and the SDR teams roll up to the CRO allows a consistent approach, methodology and rules of engagement that breaks down many obstacles SDRs face in achieving success.
- Gives SDR experience working under a quota model
Over the years I have seen both models and it is my opinion that having the SDR team report to sales is the more effective model.
Investment in Tools
In my experience, organizations that are looking to build a new SDR organization tend to be very cost conscience. They want to “Try” an SDR function to see if it will make an impact. There is a mis-conception that if a SDR call, email, or connect social media enough they will just stumble on success. They do not allocate enough thought and budget into the Tech Tool infrastructure needed to build an effective team and prospecting process. This is one of the biggest mistakes I have seen. There are key tools should be in place to maximize success of implementing a new team. Some of these include:
- Customer Relationship Manager (Salesforce, hubspot, ect…)
- Prospect engagement platform (Salesloft, Outreach, ect..)
- Prospect contact augmentation (Zoominfo, Apollo, LeadIQ, ect…)
- Intent based data source (6th Sense, Demandbase, Tech Target Priority Engine, ect…)
The days of hiring an inexpensive SDR, giving them a phone and a phone book are gone. If you want an effective SDR function then you need to invest in the program with appropriate tools behind the team.
Team Size
The number one priority for any organization building an SDR team to be aware of, in my opinion, is employee moral. Sales Development is a brutal roll with many opportunities to lose their confidence and moral. Many times within a new organization there is the mistake of hiring a single SDR as the first step into this new world of prospecting. You should plan on starting your SDR organization with at least 3 SDRs on the team. This will allow for team gamification, team building, effective enablement, and excitement over success that can only exist with more than one SDR. Keeping moral up for a team vs an individual rep is much easier as normally one or two may be in a slump, but at least one of the three is not and can lift the others out.
So what if you can’t afford to build the necessary SDR team and the supporting infrastructure? What then? I would suggest that you consider outsourcing for the initial dive into building out a SDR function. These outsourcers provide the team structure, tools, and alignment with your GTM strategy. If you are going to hire 1 SDR, consider hiring an outsourcer instead. “The Pipeline Group” (TPG) is the best outsourcer I have worked with. Their approach to the function is beyond compare, in my opinion. Whomever you chose as the outsource provider, make sure they mix technology, human touch, and AI in their outreach to your customers.
Obviously, this is not an extensive list of things to consider when building a new Sales Development function in your organization but hopes it provides some helpful insights. I am sure there are conflicting view as well, this is jut my opinion from years of experience.
Good luck and good hunting!
