Make the dials, follow up, it’s the words we constantly hear in the life of an SDR. I can remember beginning my career and trying to figure out the recipe for success as a young sales professional. What’s the right number of dials to make per day? How long or creative should an email really be? What’s the best time to call or send emails? Resonating at all with you yet? I bet!
What I’ve learned and figured out is it’s less of the things questioned earlier and more about how to stay the course when adversity rears its ugly face.
Hears why Persistence is your top asset:
Timing is everything
This sounds straightforward but it is often overlooked. Ask a top SDR what they do differently to have success or stand out from their colleagues or teammates. I’m almost willing to bet they provide some type of subjective answer because really, there is no secret recipe.
Buyers make decisions based on when they feel it’s best. What does this mean for SDR’s? When you focus on timing, it reminds the buyer that you are human because of the relevant and contextual outreach. I think John Barrows says it best that we need to have a reason to reach out. Not simply “checking in.”
The more swings at bat the better
In baseball or softball, the person who swings often is more than likely to connect than the person who swings seldom. This means that whatever medium you choose that works best for you to reach your prospect, stick to it. Change your style up if not working after a few swings (A/B testing), still, no success, change up your stance when you’re at the plate. See if there’s some commonality between you and the prospect, use that as leverage.
My old baseball coach would always tell me if you are going to strike out, do it swinging. Take that same mindset in sales. If a prospect never committed to a meeting or demo, it shouldn’t be because we never provided ourselves enough opportunity to ask.
Strategy > anything else
The SDR role is a grind. It’s not for the weak! The way to make sure your timing is right, and you have enough swings at bat is to build a strategy with your outreach. Talk to your buyers or customers and figure out what they prefer. Learn their problems and speak to them. Ask similar accounts what the right amount of calls to make to you or what are too many emails. We don’t know if we never ask, right?
Gary Vee said it best, “When your strategy is right, you win.”
Ultimately, if you can find a way to make the role completely objective in everything you do, it will help you remain the course with persistence. Regardless of how great or how terrible the quarter is going.
-Brian Smith Jr.-
Brian Smith Jr. currently works as a Member Services Executive with AA-ISP. He’s also a podcaster, pitmaster, and sports enthusiast. When he’s not focused on growing and expanding the AA-ISP community, he’s working on his podcast The LaunchPad, watching all things sports, or networking with the sales community.
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