Employers Hub | Where are all the great SDRs?

The reality about tech sales recruiting is that the more junior roles are often the hardest to fill, but at the same time, it is where the most demand lies.

SDR teams are notorious for high staff turnover, and part of this issue lies in changing employee expectations. Broadly speaking, the SDR function is seen as a stepping stone up into an AE role and timelines in Australia to achieve this goal are increasingly shortening. The common perception with candidates is that they don’t want to be in an SDR for more than 18 months, and the general consensus is that 12 months is plenty of time to “learn the trade” before a promotion to a quota-carrying role. Perhaps this is highly possible in some SME focused sales roles, but one size doesn’t fit all, and there are plenty of instances where more time is needed to refine the science and the art of B2B tech sales.

SDR roles are wrongly perceived as just “stepping stone” roles, with plenty of employers ready to promise rapid progression in the interview in order to secure the candidate. In this demand-driven market, this, in turn, creates inflated expectations and can result in disappointment if those timelines are not met.

So, how do you find good SDRs, and what does it take to keep them?

We could write books on the 2nd part of the question (and there’s plenty out there), but, in my experience, having a rock-solid sales coaching culture is right at the top of keeping SDRs engaged, confident and constantly challenged. If you have this in place, the first part of the question becomes much easier to solve. When I say “coaching”, I mean external as well as internal, as sometimes the best selling point is that external coaches are utilised to increase performance.

If you have a great onboarding process with consistent and high-quality measurable coaching in place, you will be able to open up the SDR role to a range of backgrounds. And not have the thankless task of trying to recruit an existing SDR into your SDR role or someone from B2B sales. Some of the best performing placements that we have made over the past 18 months have been from hospitality, retail and travel, often with zero B2B sales experience but plenty of EQ, hunger and, crucially, high levels of coachability.

Coaching also helps to fast-track their promotion into the AE function while at the same time keeping them engaged and less likely to be looking for the exit doors.

Also, make no mistake; the expectations of a candidate that you hire into an SDR seat from a different SDR role are very different to someone from, say, retail management. There might be less investment upfront, but, in the long run, the rewards should outweigh this investment if you hire for attitude and coachability and not just experience.

As always, if you would like some assistance in recruiting SDRs or any other customer success, pre-sales or sales role, just reply to this email.

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