MANAGING SDR TEAMS #3 - UPSKILLING

This is the third in a series of Revcelerate posts exploring how to get the best out of your Sales Development Representatives (SDRs). In this article, Revcelerate’s SDR Director, Katherine Simches, looks at how sales development leaders (SDLs) should best manage their SDR teams once onboarding is complete, and ideal approaches for reporting on the team’s performance.

1) PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

The final area where SDLs need to do better by their SDRs is performance management. A lot of people who are managing SDRs are old-school Heads of Sales – people who have been closing deals for quite some time, and don’t really have an up-to-date understanding of what to look for or measure when doing a one-to-one with an SDR.

We might typically have about 20 KPIs relating to the individual performance of an SDR, but many Heads of Sales are still just measuring performance in a very crude way, eg just meetings booked or pipeline created. But the more granularity you can bring to measuring performance, the more effectively you can correct and optimise.

Katherine, who has managed hundreds of SDRs over the years, explains:

One metric I look very hard at is activities per meeting booked – because if an SDR is not working efficiently, that number is going to be very, very high. If an SDR is carrying out 1000 or 2000 activities to get a single meeting – rather than 50 to 200 – then I can start to look at things like call conversion rates, email opens and replies, common objections of non-converters and so on. SDRs desperately want to improve, but if you’re not tracking their progress properly, you won’t be able to support and manage them properly.

Without decent KPIs, you can’t have truly effective one-to-ones. Too often, managers just have an informal catch-up and exchange a few pleasantries. SDRs might like this at first, but ultimately you’re doing them a great disservice because informed feedback and support – rather than acting as their buddy – will be of far more benefit to their career. Helping people understand their weaknesses and giving them the tools to work on them – as well as praising their positives – will benefit both them and your business. That’s ultimately what everyone really wants from their manager.

Empower to flower

So one-to-ones need to be held weekly, at a regular time you stick to, and last a good hour. You’re looking to empower your SDRs to achieve and to own their numbers, encouraging them to self-diagnose and to ask for help when they need it, and holding them to account when necessary.

We love it when an SDR comes to us and says, ‘Hey, my call conversion rate was a lot lower last week. Can you listen to the calls and help me figure out why?’ SDRs are desperate to grow, and so appreciative when you can support them.

2) EDUCATING SDLS TO BE BETTER MANAGERS OF SDRS

In the UK SDRs are in high demand, but in our extensive experience very few companies really know how to manage them properly to extract their real value. (Sales tech companies and US companies with UK divisions would be notable, if rare, exceptions.) Everyone needs more pipeline, so hiring more SDRs – the buzzword of the day – is the kneejerk reaction. But in very many cases, it’s the managers or SDLs themselves who need better education and training about the full dimensions of the SDR role and how to really develop these people.

Nor can you expect SDRs to manage upwards and teach SDLs how to train and manage them to be successful. SDRs may have a native understanding of some aspects – the use of multiple channels, for example – but they won’t have any idea of what numbers to be looking for or what success looks like. Their managers need to be supplying that, but too often they’re letting their hires down.

It’s so frustrating for SDRs who tend to be very enthusiastic and keen to learn and improve. SDRs love the buzz of the role. They are excited by the tech industry and desperate to succeed. And they are getting frustrated because, too often, the people that are supposed to be leading and manage them aren’t equipped to bring them on. It doesn’t feel good to not be successful, and when they don’t know why, they can start to internalise things and blame themselves. No doubt there were things they could have done better, but because management didn't help them diagnose the issues, they were not able to grow. As a result we are seeing a high and quite avoidable rate of SDR churn.

Managers are often too quick to blame SDRs for not performing rather than examining their own role. In many cases, if a manager actually knew what to look for, measured and monitored the right numbers, and listened in to the calls from early on, they could spot where the SDR needs support and develop them to the benefit of the business – saving all the costs of recruiting a replacement and risking making the same mistake next time round.

Lead like you mean it

What can SDLs do to improve their knowledge and skills in this area? There are a lot of great books to look at, such as The Sales Development Playbook. There’s also a lot of great content out there from sales tech companies such as Outreach and Salesloft. But there aren’t a lot of great courses to attend, so you’re probably going to need to do a lot of independent research. And then there’s the issue that the SDLs themselves aren’t always giving the time and scope they need to develop, manage, coach and train SDRs properly.