Amplify Success: 4 Strategies for Succeeding as a Sales Development Rep

Welcome to another article in our Amplify Success series, offering practical advice from Allego salespeople about what works for them.

When you’re a sales development representative (SDR), you spend your days prospecting and qualifying leads. You dedicate hours toward researching prospects, reaching out to them, and identifying whether the person is likely to make a purchase.

Your ultimate goal: Set up the first meeting.

Most buyers, though, don’t want to be bothered. According to McKinsey, buyers want to navigate the sales journey on their own, gathering product information and data and reaching out to a vendor when they’re ready to proceed further.

That makes your job even harder. And it means you hear the word “No” a lot—or just silence as your email and messages go unanswered.

To succeed, SDRs must have:

• Resilience
• Organizational skills
• Strong research skills
• Knowledge of the industry and the company
• Adaptability
• Willingness to learn
• Strong outreach and communication skills (for cold calls, email, and social media messages)

For Chase Huisman, Sales Development Representative II at Allego, a lot of his success depends on how well he performs while on the phone talking with prospects.

“The longer [SDRs] are in the seat, the better we get, and the more meetings we get scheduled,” he said in a recent Amplify Success video.

Huisman also identified four SDR strategies that help him have better sales conversations and get more meetings with buyers.

4 Strategies for Succeeding as an SDR

1. Work with Your Account Executive (AE)

It’s important to strategize with your AE and get their input to help warm up the call, Huisman said. For example, when trying to sell into other divisions at a customer, your AE can give you context, such as business needs, challenges, and goals, and offer advice so that your call isn’t so cold.

“Anything is better than nothing when you’re cold calling a prospect,” he said.

Your AE can also give you valuable feedback on the quality of the leads and your work, and you can offer feedback to them so that the two of you are continually improving how you work together. This partnership can improve efficiency, reduce lost deals, and increase close rates.

2. Look at Previous Opportunities

When prospecting to any new account, Huisman said he always looks at the previous interactions with them. Who was involved? What was talked about? What happened? Including that context in your conversations helps you warm up the conversation.

3. Reconnect with Prospects and Follow Up

If a prospect asks you to follow up with them later, make sure you do, Huisman said. This is where your organizational skills are important. Keep track of all follow-up opportunities, including any notes from the initial conversation, and create follow-up tasks. For example, set a reminder to call back on the date and time you and the prospect agreed on.

4. Personalize Your Outreach to Prospects

According to Salesforce Research, 84% of buyers say being treated like a person, not a number or a sales target, is critical to winning them over. In addition, McKinsey research shows personalization increases revenue 10% to 15%.

That being the case, SDRs must personalize their outreach as much as possible. For example, look on LinkedIn to see if you share something in common with the person you are calling, Huisman said. If you do, bring that up during your conversation. You can also send a video to reference that thing you have in common with the person.

“Really try to stand out among all the noise and sales calls” coming from SDRs at other companies, Huisman said.

Sales Skills + Strategy = Success

Being a successful SDR requires not only specific sales skills and qualities but also strategic approaches to prospecting and engaging with potential buyers. By leveraging the four strategies recommended by Huisman, you can improve your sales conversations, warm up the call, and increase their chances of setting up the first meeting.

Learn More

Read more articles in the Amplify Success series, including Using LinkedIn for Prospecting and Advice for Cold Calling.