Sales Development is a function that sits at the top-end of the sales cycle and is the process of identifying, connecting with, and qualifying leads. Simply put, these functions’ main priority is setting up qualified meetings between a salesperson and a potential buyer with a higher probability of purchasing a product.
Although Sales Development is usually viewed as a new term or workstream within a sales process, it’s actually a much more advanced version of its predecessor, Lead Generation. Lead Generation, in a nutshell, encompassed a team of agents calling from a database in a race to the bottom, whereas Sales Development requires a Sales Development Representative (SDR) to own much more than the number of calls they make and meetings they set.
SDR’s have become a hot commodity in the war for talent…and good SDR’s are worth their weight in gold for a company who wants to grow their customer base. Additionally, hiring top SDR’s is just as important as product fit is within the technology space - without one, the other is broken.
With the constant evolution of technology tools and buying trends, a product fit alone doesn’t just cut it anymore. Sales has changed, and for the better….aside from the traditional outreach which everybody understands and expects, Otonomee has built a four pillared approach which includes prospecting, data enrichment, sequencing, and engagement.
In order to implement a strategy, we help our partners to identify (at least) four, different characteristics they would look for in an ideal target. This could be the number of employees, revenue, number of customers, or industry/vertical…with the overarching philosophy “Do they have the propensity to buy?” and “Are we solving a problem they have?”.
One question founders always ask me is “when should I hire an SDR?” The answer depends on whether you are still in product-build mode or have moved into sales mode. If you’re still looking for product-market fit, you should continue working with your founder-led sales process so that they can help guide your company through this stage. Once you’ve found product-market fit and are ready to move into a sales motion, hiring SDRs becomes much more important because they will help close those new customers at a faster pace.
If you have doubts about when to hire, how to outsource your new SDR team effectively or how best to find product-market fit, or build a go-to-market fit, feel free to reach out, we’re happy to help!
At Otonomee, we provide people and technology solutions through multilingual customer care to help you move into new markets, level up your customer management processes and deliver stand-out customer experience.
Want to read more? Visit Otonomee.com to learn about our outsourced customer contact services solutions, our approach and how we will support you in championing growth and scale.
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