What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR?
In most modern B2B orgs the titles are used interchangeably, but when a team splits them, SDR usually means Sales Development Representative working inbound replies, demo requests, and marketing-sourced leads, while BDR means Business Development Representative working outbound into named accounts. Both roles book qualified meetings for Account Executives and both report into sales or a dedicated sales development leader. The split matters most when inbound volume is heavy enough to justify dedicated coverage, because the muscle memory for responding to intent is very different from the muscle memory for creating it.
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What is an inbound SDR versus an outbound SDR?
An inbound SDR works leads that raised a hand first, such as demo requests, trial signups, pricing-page submissions, and content downloads, with speed-to-lead and qualification as the core job. An outbound SDR builds pipeline from scratch by prospecting into target accounts using cold email, phone, and social touches. Inbound reps tend to carry higher conversion rates and lower activity targets, while outbound reps carry higher activity targets and lower conversion rates on raw contacts. Blended SDR models exist, but reps generally specialize because the daily workflow and skill set diverge quickly once volume grows.
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What is the typical SDR compensation band?
Industry benchmarks from The Bridge Group and Pavilion put SDR on-target earnings between seventy thousand and one hundred ten thousand dollars in major US markets, with base salary generally running sixty to seventy percent of OTE and variable tied to meetings held, qualified opportunities, or sourced pipeline. Senior SDRs and team leads sit toward the top of that band, while first-year reps and non-metro roles land near the bottom. European and remote-anywhere comp runs lower on absolute dollars but tracks the same base-to-variable ratio. These are industry figures, not Strkr figures, and vary meaningfully by stage, segment, and location.
How long does SDR ramp actually take?
Full productivity for a new SDR typically takes sixty to one hundred twenty days, depending on product complexity, ICP clarity, and the depth of onboarding content. The first thirty days cover product, ICP, pitch, and tooling. Days thirty to sixty are live reps with heavy coaching and partial activity targets. Days sixty to ninety move to full activity targets with meeting goals ramping to around seventy percent of quota. Full quota attainment is reasonable from day ninety to one hundred twenty. Teams that rush ramp inside sixty days usually pay for it in turnover and bad meetings that burn AE cycles.
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What KPIs should an SDR team actually track?
The headline metrics are meetings set, meetings held, Sales Qualified Leads accepted by AEs, and pipeline dollars sourced. Leading indicators that predict those outcomes include dials and talk time, email reply rate per cadence step, LinkedIn connection and response rate, and conversation-to-meeting conversion. Closing metrics worth watching are opportunity-to-closed-won rate from SDR-sourced pipeline and cost per meeting including fully loaded SDR time. Teams that only track activity volume end up with busy reps and empty pipeline, while teams that only track meetings held miss the diagnostic signal that tells coaches where to intervene.
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What is a healthy coaching cadence for sales development?
A durable rhythm is one weekly one-on-one of thirty to forty-five minutes, two call reviews per rep per week on recorded conversations, and a weekly team pipeline review of fifteen to thirty minutes. Managers who coach fewer than two hours per rep per week usually see activity drift and quota attainment slip inside a quarter. The most effective coaching focuses on one skill per rep per week, uses actual call recordings or sent emails as the artifact, and ends with a written commitment the rep can execute by the next session. Strkr AI surfaces call moments and email patterns that are worth coaching on so managers walk into reviews with evidence, not opinion.
When should an SDR hand a meeting off to an AE?
The cleanest handoff rule is that an SDR passes an opportunity to an AE once the prospect has agreed to a specific calendar time, the account meets written ICP criteria, and at least one qualifying signal is captured such as budget range, timeline, or an identified pain. Weaker handoff rules such as 'took a call' or 'opened an email three times' produce bad fit opportunities that AEs disqualify and that distort SDR comp. Teams that write their qualification criteria down, agree on them jointly between SDR and AE leadership, and audit the first thirty opportunities per quarter avoid the usual handoff fights.
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What are typical SDR to AE promotion criteria?
Most teams promote SDRs who hit quota in at least two of their last three quarters, have been in role for twelve to eighteen months, and can demonstrate discovery and objection-handling skills in recorded calls. Softer criteria include coachability, ICP judgment, and the ability to run a short discovery conversation without reading a script. Some orgs add an interview panel or a mock call stage to validate skill rather than relying only on numbers. The promotion ladder is a retention tool as much as a staffing tool, which is why strong SDR teams publish the criteria openly and review candidates on a predictable cadence.
What tools does an SDR team actually need?
The minimum useful stack is a CRM of record, a sequencer or engagement platform for multichannel cadences, a dialer with local presence and call recording, a sales intelligence source for firmographic and contact data, and a reporting layer that ties replies back to sourced pipeline. Beyond that, intent data, conversation intelligence, and gifting platforms are additive and should earn their line item against meetings booked. Strkr folds the CRM, cadence engine, dialer integration, consent tracking, and sourced-pipeline reporting into one surface so SDRs stop paying tool-switching tax and managers stop reconciling five dashboards.
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Should SDRs report into sales or marketing?
Both models work, and the right call depends on where accountability lives for sourced pipeline. SDR reporting into sales keeps the handoff tight, lets AE leaders influence qualification criteria, and ties SDR comp directly to closed-won revenue. SDR reporting into marketing works when the function is heavily inbound, when marketing owns the pipeline number, and when the organization wants a cleaner feedback loop on which campaigns actually produce qualified meetings. A split model where inbound SDRs report into marketing and outbound BDRs report into sales is common at scale once pipeline mix justifies the overhead.
