“My B2B SaaS startup needs just more warm leads. But we have struggled when we hire junior salespeople to call on and email cold prospects to generate qualified leads that the CEO or salespeople can close.”
This is a common frustration for startup and early-stage SaaS founders when they hire sales development reps (SDRs) or business development reps (BDRs) to generate qualified leads. There are many misconceptions and pitfalls that make this even more challenging.
Christine Rogers shares her expertise on what is working and not working when hiring SDRs to generate or warm-up leaders in the software business. Christine is an experienced SaaS sales leader who has helped develop thousands of SaaS sales and SDR reps to succeed at growing software companies through her company Aspireship.
In this episode, Christine explains:
- What are the different tasks and roles of sales development reps (SDRs) and business development reps (BDRs) at growing SaaS companies
- What tools, processes, and ideal customer definitions are required before you hire your first SDR
- Which SaaS business models make the most sense to use SDRs in the sales process
- Which outbound lead development approaches are productive in generating qualified discussions
- What compensation ranges are typical for SDRs this year
- How to think about SDR business goals and targets
- If you should hire one SDR or a sales manager-doer as your first sale hire
- When should founders hire “full-cycle” salespeople instead of a leadgen-only SDR
Check out this useful SDR New Hire Checklist for Practical Founders that Christine and the Aspireship team created for us.
Best quote from Christine:
“To succeed with SDRs, it’s really important to have a framework for selling with an Ideal Customer Profile and make it as tight and focused as you can. You need to have a process before you scale up. You need to have a process that you can rinse and repeat and have already done over and over.
“If you don’t have a sales process worked out, you’re going to give your SDR moderate instruction at the beginning because you the founder are busy doing a million other things. And then the SDR will get frustrated and not be successful.
“Salespeople are very needy. They’re trying to learn how to do this. They need monitoring. You will have to manage them, even if you have someone that is extremely experienced.”
Aspireship Company Facts
- Founded: 2019
- Description: Aspireship is a career development and hiring platform for the SaaS industry with training for high-paying careers in sales, account management, sales development, and other go-to-market specialties. Top-performing candidates are connected with growing software companies nationwide.
- Number of Employees: 15
- HQ: Phoenix, Arizona
