5 Steps to Help Your SDRs Succeed

SDR Role Easy or Hard?

Now if you've ever done the role... you would never say "Easy". It's freaking hard for a number of reasons.

Let's break down WHY it's hard and ways as a Sales Leader or CEO you can make it easier (not easy... just not so hard).

1) Mentally Tough

One of the things with the role of SDR is the constant ups and downs of the emotional roller coaster.

You are getting no responses and feel like your email is broken. Or maybe it's a holiday because NO ONE IS ANSWERING their phone.

Then you throw in the rejection that hits you in the face... that you have to just disregard and keep moving forward.

The other is the fact that it is never ending... it is a grind day in and day out. You get a win (meeting set) and you just get back on the phones and keep dialing.

Make it easier:

First off... set the expectations. You paint the picture of sunny days and smelling the roses all day, there is going to be a rude awakening.

Next... What are the numbers? How many do they need to reach out to, to get 1 set? How many dials do they make to get 1 set? Helping them understand what they need to do to get there so they don't feel like a failure.

ALSO... what are ways to keep them focusing on winning. One of my favorite things I did when I was a rep was have reminders of my wins. Example: I sold the Boston Red Sox so I kept a Red Sox mini flag on my desk to remind me what I was capable of doing.

Another trick... remind myself of the value I'm bringing to others. If my focus is on adding value to others, it makes it a lot easier to keep going. Also helps with your tone... you aren't just trying to make money off of them, you are calling to help.

2) Training the Foundation

This one should go without saying BUT I see a lot of companies who miss this step. Or training is so basic that they aren't set up to succeed.

The most important part of this training... understanding Target Market and ICP.

This is beyond just telling them how to find leads in specific industries and titles.

Understanding Target Market and ICP needs to have a huge focus on

• Who they are
• What matters to them
• What are their pain points
• How do they talk about their problems
• Impact of those problems
• Ways they are dealing with these problems

What this allows them to do is talk more with the prospect... whether it's an email, phone call and even LinkedIn. You arm them with being able to be ready for real talk instead of just a script that they don't understand what's behind it.

👍 Pros of Focusing on Target Market: Better targeting, more leads, higher conversion rates

👎 Cons of Not: Wasted time and resources, missed opportunities

3) Engagement beyond Templates

One of the biggest challenges SDRs have right now is that they are doing the same thing everyone else is doing. They have the same lists of leads that everyone else has. They have the same tools... automation, that everyone else has.

Are they being helped to differentiate themselves? Being able to personalize an email is one way to go about it.

Are you utilizing AI to help you? AND do you read these emails to realize that they are really bad? No you shouldn't start the email with "Hope this finds you well" nor should it say "Hi, my name is Kim and I work for..."

AI is fantastic but it's hurting your SDRs chances of being noticed (at least in a positive way)

👍 Pros: Increased efficiency, more time for personalization

👎 Cons: Generic outreach, missed opportunities

4) To Script or Not to Script

Yes to script, no to reading your script like a robot.

I love a good script. Every time a rep shoots from the hip they start rambling and everyone loses interest.

Script should help you stay focused on where you are going to you can stay on point.

No it should not be read. It should be practiced so much that it's YOU. It's your personality. It's your tone. You actually understand what you are saying.

With that script... it needs to drop all the big words and be specific.

I answer cold calls all the time and 95% of the time they start off and I have no idea what they are talking about. I keep listening because I'm researching to see how people do it. Most will not give you that luxury.

This again goes back to the Target Market and ICP... use language from your customers... how do they talk about their problems and pains. USE THEIR LANGUAGE to pique the interest of others.

The more you talk in circles about revolutionizing their world to make it efficient and provide an ROI, the more ineffective it is.

In simple words... "Our customers were sick of getting crappy leads that were a waste of time and money... do you have that same problem"

5) Tools

Still on the topic of making it "easier" for our SDRs in a hard job.

Having the tools to do their job. Starting with the basics... they have a CRM that is user-friendly and can see their leads. They know if they have been hit up before, what happened when they did, and can see exactly who they are working with.

Next up is having a tool to be able to stay organized with my engagement. My personal preference is Apollo.io. Gives me the ability to find leads AND set them up in Sequences. With the ability to do custom messages at any step. ALSO, big fan that I can send an email minutes after I hang up a call. Also the auto tasks for multiple opens (I usually set at 3).

They aren't the only tool that does these things... HubSpot, not so much. BUT with Apollo, you can have a bidirectional sync with HubSpot to push data back and forth. Also, you can choose not to push data from Apollo so that you don't have to pay for all your leads in HubSpot.

The other reason I love it... I can do month-to-month for $100 per user or even have that reduced when I get up to 5 users.

Giving your reps the ability to prospect effectively and not let any lead slip through the cracks... game changer.

OVERVIEW

The SDR role is never going to be easy BUT you definitely can make it easier for them. Give them a way to succeed.

• It has to be more than... here are the emails and here are the leads... GO.
• Teach them about who they are engaging with and why.
• Get them mentally prepared for the job and ways to stay tough when it gets rough out there.
• Show them how to differentiate themselves from the masses.
• Give them the Tools to succeed.

Lastly... if you don't know how to do all of this (or have the bandwidth to do it), let me help you. I've done this over and over again and can get your pipeline where you want it in 3 months or less. Best time to start.... NOW.

Good luck!