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Author

Tom Grainger
March 19, 2024

So far this year I’ve spoken with dozens of founders of B2B companies.

For those who don’t know…

I run a growth firm (advancedclient.io) that builds outbound systems.

Anyway…

A theme that keeps popping up across all my calls.

Founders are sick of hiring underperforming SDR’s.

Especially remote SDRs.

It seems with everyone looking for remote work, the lack of tracking and how easy it is to seem ‘busy’.

Performance is dropping off a cliff.

This has led to a number of founders admitting to me that they want to shield their business from human error and build systems that run with or without them.

That’s not to say that humans aren’t important.

They are essential to the sales process.

But the grind and busy work is tedious and many people experience burnout which affects all aspects of their role.

To me it seems obvious that the SDR role has to change.

And I see it changing like this.

Instead of focussing on

  • Cold calling

  • Cold emailing

  • Manually qualifying leads

  • Running discovery calls

  • Hitting arbitrary quotas

Businesses need to bring on an acquisition parter who can centralise and manage outbound.

  • Building/qualifying lists.

  • Automating busy/admin work

  • Crafting outbound architecture

  • Booking calls directly onto the calendar.

  • Supporting SDR’s and AE’s to make data driven decisions.

SDR’s would then focus on:

  • Warm calling interested replies.

  • Creating content tailored for ICP.

  • Running in-depth discovery calls and being rewarded for correctly qualifying OR disqualifying prospects (equally important).

To me this systems solves for a number of issues:

  1. Burn out: SDR’s remain fresh for prospect facing work and honing their discovery craft. AE’s remain fresh for product demos and closing without wasting time on unqualified leads. Both roles take home better commission and churn less.

  2. Data centralisation: Instead of territories, mismanaged leads and confusing CRM’s. Acquisition partners centralise all data and then route discovery calls to SDR’s.

  3. Lead’s falling through the cracks: By centralising and standardising how leads are managed, AP’s can create a full picture of the state of the market and decide on how best to acquire it.

These are my initial thoughts based on the convos I’ve had.

Curious what you think?

Reply and lmk!

-Tom