How to hire sdrs?

The current state of the labor market is.. not exactly desirable. Thankfully, business and life as we used to know it is slowly re-stabilizing in the wake of COVID19, which in turn means that the workforce is bouncing back. Unfortunately, sourcing skilled salespeople are currently nothing short of impossible, and what’s more – finding skilled SDRs, well – you’re dreaming. But all is not lost! Megan Killion Consulting is back with some more insider info on how you can find experienced and qualified SDRs that will deliver the results you need.

SDRs have a unique opportunity to help account executives close deals and bring home those sweet sales. Unlike quota-carrying salespeople, sales development reps don’t focus on closing business. Rather, SDRs focus on moving leads through the pipeline. They are often given lead lists by marketing and then email and call prospects to qualify, which leads quota-carrying sales reps should spend their time with. This enables closers to spend more time selling to qualified leads and unburdens sales executives from having to engage in prospecting.

A few hard and soft skills SDRs can apply will yield your inside sales team even more success. I should know – I started my CDN career as a BDR! It was a wild ride. I walked in on my first day, not even fully understanding what CDN is. I was on a team where the quota was 12 meetings a month, and 30% of the team was missing it. Within 2 months I was hitting 40 qualified meetings a month, and within 6 months I’d coached my team to 100% attainment of quota, most reps were 250% of quota and I slowly started increasing quota.

So tell me MKC, what’s the secret sauce?

Engage with talent who wants to know more about your business and company culture. Hiring an SDR with a genuine interest in your long-term plans is tantamount to contracting someone who wants to move forward with you in your future plans. When the fit is right, your communication should be flowing, and if there is one quality a great SDR should have, they should be engaging conversationalists. If you don’t connect with your potential hire, then the synergy will never be quite right.

Successful companies invest in their personnel. What is your total benefits and compensation package like? A lot of companies want to pay the bare minimum for SDRs – and guess what? They’ll only ever get the bare minimum in return, and that same employee is more than likely to become attritious over the short-to-medium term. High-growth companies see more success than their competitors because they invest in talented candidates to get them to where they need to be and recognize the value they bring to your sales team.

As I previously noted, your SDRs also need to be highly coachable and able to achieve your quotas and KPIs! Facts: if you’re not learning, you’re not thriving. And the same applies for your SDRs! Training your team to achieve your quotes and more relies on you setting the pace and creating a culture for them to attain their quotas and beyond.

At MKC, we understand that sales is about the buyer, not the seller. Close the gaps in your sales team to build a front of pipeline system that puts high-quality leads in your salespeople’s hands. With a full-service lead generation package from Megan Killion Consulting, we will connect you with leads that are not only qualified to buy, but who we’ve already interested in your service offering.

Got a gap in your sales team? Book a consultation today.