3 Things Your BDRs and SDRs Are Afraid to Tell You

As discussed in a prior post, business development reps (BDRs) and sales development reps (SDRs) get a bad rap. They are expected to do more with less. Besides being tasked with the important job of filling a company’s sales pipeline, that can be stressful. 

Since business leaders have a lot to oversee, it makes sense why BDRs and SDRs may be left to their own devices and expected to produce results. However, there is a lot expected from BDRs and SDRs with little — or sometimes no — wiggle room for error. There are several realities that many business leaders must realize, but their BDR and SDR teams may be too afraid to highlight them. 

Here are a few things that your BDRs and SDRs may be afraid to tell you: 

1) “It takes a LONG time to get prospects engaged.”

Often, business leaders have unrealistic expectations for how quickly prospects take to engage with the brand after becoming a lead. Research shows that it takes approximately eight attempts to reach a prospect. But even after those eight attempts, it isn’t guaranteed that the engagement was valuable enough to the prospect (and your company) for them to consider buying from you. 

Several conversations must happen before prospects feel comfortable moving forward with a purchase decision with your company. Therefore, BDR and SDR teams must have the time, patience, and proper resources to communicate with leads consistently. 

2) “I can’t call every lead right away!”

When it comes to smaller (or even one-person) BDR and SDR teams, the number of leads generated can be physically impossible to call in the timeframe considered the industry standard. Research shows that reps should follow up with inbound leads within the first five minutes, while the odds of calling a lead decrease by over 10X in the first hour. 

Whether it be with a bigger headcount or new tech to help expand and automate your team’s capabilities, you need to hear them when they say they are drinking from the lead fire hose! For example, tools like Outreach and SalesLoft can help automate the follow-up process and ensure no leads slip through the cracks. 

3) “I can’t qualify every single lead that’s generated.”

Most business leaders know that it is impossible to qualify 100% of the leads that are generated. However, many BDRs and SDRs can say that their goals are ambitious at the very least. The average conversion from a lead to an opportunity is 13%. But that percentage DRASTICALLY changes depending on the lead source, according to research from Salesforce. For example, webinar leads convert to opportunities at a rate of 32.7%, on average. In comparison, leads purchased from a lead list provider convert to opportunities at a rate of 15.5%.  

It’s never a bad thing to have multiple lead sources, but there needs to be a mutual understanding of the lead quality and expectations regarding how those leads convert.  

Take time to listen to your BDR and SDR reps to ensure they have everything they need to succeed. Whether it’s a new workflow process or tools like Outreach and SalesLoft to automate more tedious administrative tasks, setting them up for success leads to better results and fuels pipeline growth. Reach out and chat with the experts at BrainSell to see how you can better position your development reps — and your company — for better business growth!