SDR stands for Sales Development Representative, also called pre-sales in Brazil. The role of an SDR in the sales team is to focus on prospecting and make the first diagnosis of Leads, passing only the most qualified opportunities for salespeople to work and close the deal.
The main function of having an SDR in the sales team is to focus the salesperson’s time on working with more qualified opportunities and, consequently, have an easier time closing their sales, since they talk to people who have an excellent purchasing profile for the company.
This is important for two reasons:
Prospecting and sales are very different activities. Prospecting involves many low-value activities and considering that the seller’s time is very expensive, you will want the professional to be focused on his main function: selling.
Generally, the most qualified salespeople do not like to prospect and do not prioritize this action on their agendas.
What is an SDR not?
To better understand what an SDR does, it is important to define what the SDR is not:
- SDR is not a telemarketer. Its function is not to make cold calls. The SDR should only contact prospects who have already shown an interest, either via Inbound or cold email;
- Sales Development Representative and Business Intelligence Representative (BDR) are distinct functions. BDR’s mission is to define the strategy for acquiring new customers by clearly defining the ICP, as well as for deciding the approach channel with prospects.
