Why every company needs to develop their SDRs

Spoiler alert… your brand will flourish and sales increase.

A Gallup survey found that 59% of millennials cite opportunities to learn and grow as ‘extremely important’ when applying for a job, which is substantially 17% higher than the previous generation. If we could isolate the SDRs within that sample the difference would undoubtedly be larger. Anybody that regularly interviews prospective SDRs, knows progression is #1 on the list of what they want from an employer.
When candidates ask hiring managers what the progression is like at the company, they often receive vaguely promising answers ‘People that do well and hit their targets, are always eligible to apply for new roles.’ Which may be true, but it doesn’t mean SDR applicants will get those roles unless a structured learning plan is in place to help them reduce the skill gap.

Many companies don’t offer ready-made learning plans because they’re time consuming to create and detract from the day job. 

Usually it’s the already busy Managers that are expected to find additional time for training sessions and mentoring. They only get around to it when a need becomes apparent due to bad results, or because the team are desperately asking for it.

Also, there’s a belief that leaving people to work it out for themselves encourages an entrepreneurialism. The ones that really want to succeed will make it happen, and the ones that can’t be bothered, aren’t worth bothering about. There is truth in this when it comes to identifying talent, but when it comes to the prospect experience it’s a damaging approach.

Your brand suffers when SDRs are not properly trained

People aren’t scared to publicly shame these days, and for every person that makes a complaint, there’s 100s more agreeing with them. It is critical to develop your SDRs with industry knowledge and empathy. They need to learn to open naturally and hold organic conversations. Very few companies leave their product in the marketplace without continuously improving it for the requirements of their users. The same should be applied to SDRs, they need regular development to match the needs of the audience, so their activity converts into Sales.

Amazing things happen when SDRs are developed

A positive atmosphere breeds success

People work their hardest when there is genuine investment in their development, and a real chance of progression. People come to work with a ‘can-do’ attitude and the sales floor is lively.

If SDRs don’t feel supported, they quickly become demotivated and look around for other jobs. The team gossips. A seed of doubt germinates. Nobody gives 110%. Somebody leaves and then others do too. It’s a domino effect. New starters question why so many are leaving, and the cycle starts again.

Employee churn is incredibly expensive.

You save money on recruitment fees by promoting internal candidates. You also save on churn later down the line by removing the risk of the unknown and promoting somebody known to be trustworthy. (The cost or replacing an employee is estimated by SHRM to be 50% of their salary).

A good reputation goes a long way

Recruitment firms give you their best candidates when you create success stories for them.  And the best applicants will apply when they ready positive stories on Glassdoor. Plus, customers like working with tenured reps, it shows a healthy company.

Time is too precious to spend on continuous recruitment 

There is so much to be done in the day. The additional tasks of sifting through CVs and dragging out interviews you know won’t get anywhere, just to be polite, is not a great way to spend time. When the SDR manager is stuck in interviews, they are not present for their team. And when they’re not present for their team the conditions are right for the domino effect of negativity.

Give your company a commercial team to believe in

When the rest of the company see constant changing faces in the commercial team, they disengage. They stop introducing themselves or offering to help with training sessions they’ve run a million times before. What’s the point if people are liable to leave soon? When high churn is combined with bad sales results an air of negativity surrounds the commercial team people don’t believe in them. Bad results become a self-fulfilling cycle.

In conclusion

Agreeing that career progression for SDRs is important, is one thing. Committing time and taking the next step to creating it, is another. Read ‘How to Create Career Progression’ for a useful guide on what to do.