SDR / BDR

An SDR / BDR, short for Sales Development Representative / Business Development Representative, is a salesperson who prepares the early stages of a sale. Within the scope of this profile, they carry out outbound prospecting: researching companies and contacts, reaching out, qualifying their needs and arranging meetings for Account Executives. Their work feeds the Account Executives’ pipeline of opportunities.

The role starts with a practical question: who should you contact, and why? The SDR / BDR compares an account’s characteristics with the target customer profile, then prepares an approach suited to the person they are contacting. The conversation aims to understand a challenge, an objective or an interest in the offering. Securing agreement to a meeting therefore does not fully describe their contribution: they also prepare the information the salesperson will need to pick up the conversation.

This profile covers an organisation that separates prospecting from managing the sale. It does not assign the SDR / BDR responsibility for negotiating through to signature or designing sales operations.

SDR / BDR, Account Executive and Business Developer: who does what?

• The SDR / BDR identifies and qualifies prospects, then prepares the first sales meeting.
• The Account Executive takes over to manage the sales opportunity through to signature.
• The Business Developer may have broader responsibilities, including identifying new markets or opportunities for growth.

These boundaries need to be reflected in the responsibilities assigned. The acronyms SDR and BDR do not, on their own, establish a division of work that is identical across all companies.

The purpose of the role is to give the salesperson a useful starting point. A prospect may agree to a conversation even though their needs do not match the offering. Qualification helps assess that fit, using the information available, before involving an Account Executive. It does not guarantee a sale or replace the sales work that follows.

For a business leader or HR professional, the first decision is to clarify what warrants a meeting. Needs, stated challenges, objectives, interest and budget can inform this assessment. Their importance depends on the offering and the target customers. It is better to agree on the information required with the salesperson receiving the handover than to ask the SDR / BDR to follow a list of questions without understanding how the answers will be used.

Monitoring deserves the same attention. The number of calls or emails indicates activity, while qualified prospects and qualified meetings indicate other stages of the work. Examine these measures together when discussing difficulties. A low number of meetings calls for an analysis of targeting, initial contact and conversations, without immediately attributing the problem to a lack of effort.

Hypothetical example: a prospect agrees to a meeting, but their expectations remain unclear. The SDR records what they have understood and what still needs confirmation. The Account Executive can then prepare useful questions, rather than assume that all the criteria have already been established.

Finally, a mismatch between the responsibilities assigned and the support available creates a risk of blaming an employee for a task they have not learned to perform. The same risk exists when the expected responsibilities have never been clearly defined.

• Research companies and contacts that match the defined prospecting target.
• Prepare an initial outreach message tailored to the account and the contact.
• Prospect by phone and email and through professional networks, using the selected channels.
• Qualify the prospect’s needs, challenges and interest to assess their fit with the offering.
• Arrange sales meetings based on the information gathered during qualification.
• Pass on the information the Account Executive needs to pick up the conversation with the prospect.
• Record contacts, conversations and next steps in the CRM.
• Monitor their activity and qualified meetings to discuss adjustments to prospecting.

Training in sales fundamentals can prepare someone for prospecting, but what they have learned matters more than the name of a course alone. The candidate should be able to understand an offering, identify its intended customers and structure an initial conversation. Reviewing their background helps identify what they have already learned and what they will need to learn within the company.

Experience in customer relations can provide transferable skills. Someone who has worked in retail sales may have learned to uncover a need or respond to objections. That experience alone does not demonstrate their ability to work independently in outbound prospecting. It provides a starting point for assessing how they listen, explain and sustain a sales conversation.

The French “Business developer en hautes technologies” qualification framework provides an example of training that covers qualification using CRM data and needs, multichannel prospecting and appointment setting. It lists SDR among the roles it can lead to. However, its content extends beyond the scope of this profile: it is neither a mandatory qualification for the role nor a guarantee of employment.

To assess experience, look at the responsibilities the candidate has already held: account research, contact preparation, conversations with prospects or handovers to a salesperson. Distinguish tasks performed independently from those carried out under close supervision. When they start the role, plan for them to learn about the offering, target customers and division of responsibilities. Previous sales experience does not remove the need for this company-specific learning.

GetPro structures its assessment around a framework that distinguishes criteria that can be verified from a candidate’s background from those that need further exploration at interview. Each criterion is linked to an assessment method. Open questions are accompanied by requests for concrete examples. During reference checks, skills that still need clarification are examined through the context of the working relationship and specific situations.

Building on this shared GetPro assessment framework, the following advice on assessing an SDR or BDR should be adapted to your offering, target customers and expected level of autonomy.

1. Define the criteria with the sales manager

Agree on the abilities to observe: selecting an account, preparing an initial approach, understanding a need and passing on useful information. Specify what the candidate must be able to do independently from the outset.

Involve the sales manager and an Account Executive in this preparation. If you do not have this experience internally, ask a professional who has supervised prospecting to help design and assess the exercise.

For each criterion, distinguish an ability already acquired from something that will need to be learned. Avoid confusing proficiency in a particular software tool with an understanding of sales work.

2. Discuss a situation the candidate has experienced

Ask the candidate to describe an initial contact or customer conversation they remember in detail. Ask them to clarify their objective, actions and the help they received.

Ask what information they were missing and what happened after the conversation. For a beginner, accept a customer relations situation that allows you to observe transferable skills.

Treat an explanation that clearly distinguishes known facts from assumptions as a positive sign. Explore further if an answer attributes a collective result solely to the candidate or remains vague about their involvement.

3. Set an outreach exercise followed by qualification

Hypothetical example: give the candidate a short description of an offering and several company descriptions. Ask them to select an account and explain their choice.

Then ask them to write a message and conduct a simulated conversation. Play a prospect who provides information about their needs but leaves some points uncertain.

Observe the relevance of the questions, how they listen to the answers and the clarity of the message. Do not expect prior knowledge of information you have not provided.

An accurate restatement of the need is a useful sign. Conversely, probe conclusions asserted without sufficient information, or a sales pitch that continues without taking the prospect’s answers into account.

4. Assess the handover and response to feedback

Ask for a note intended for the Account Executive: the need as understood, information to verify and the proposed next step. Check whether someone else could pick up the conversation using this note.

Then discuss a specific point to improve in the message or questions. Ask the candidate to propose a revised version and explain their adjustment.

Assess their ability to use feedback without expecting them to agree with everything. A reasoned objection can contribute to the discussion. A change unrelated to the advice given warrants clarification.

5. Cross-check observations and plan support

Compare the assessments of those who took part in the evaluation. Link each conclusion to observed behaviour, rather than a general impression of confidence.

If you take references with the candidate’s consent, ask about the responsibilities they held and the supervision they needed. Seek specific examples, rather than simply asking for confirmation of your impression.

Conclude by identifying demonstrated abilities, areas of uncertainty and the support to provide. This distinction helps you decide whether your organisation can support the learning needs identified.