An SDR (sales development representative) works at the start of the sales process: researching prospects, contacting them by cold email, phone and LinkedIn, and booking meetings for the people who close deals, usually account executives.
What an SDR does in a day
- Builds and checks lead lists against the ideal customer profile.
- Writes and runs outreach sequences.
- Answers replies and handles first objections.
- Qualifies interest and books meetings.
How they're measured
Meetings booked and meetings that turn into real opportunities, more than emails sent.
SDR or BDR?
The titles overlap. Often an SDR follows up inbound leads as well as doing outreach, while a BDR focuses only on outbound, but companies use both words differently.
Doing it without a team
Founders and small agencies often do the SDR job themselves. A tool that keeps lists, sending, replies and deals in one place is what makes that manageable.