The 11 Skills Every Sales Development Rep Should Know

In high-performance sales teams, SDRs often go unnoticed. In order to build credibility with campaign respondents, SDRs are crucial for gathering account intelligence.

Specialties of SDRs include:

• Engaging prospects and building rapport
• The use of value-based selling techniques.
• Keep an eye out for signals from prospects and customers.
• Handle objections and ask questions.
• Recognize when you need the help of more experienced colleagues.

The purpose of this post is to define what SDR sales are and what an SDR is. We'll then explore the sales development skills every rep needs to master.

What is an SDR?

An inbound marketing representative is responsible for prospect outreach and lead qualification related to inbound marketing campaigns. BDRs develop leads through outbound prospecting within a defined territory or industry, but they are often confused with business development representatives (BDRs).

An SDR is a member of the inside sales team who is responsible for outbound prospecting, moving leads through the pipeline, and qualifying leads that they work with. In spite of the fact that SDRs don't close deals, they assist sales reps in determining whether a lead will be a good fit for a particular customer.

Leads are moved through the sales pipeline by SDRs. Rather than closing deals, they nurture quality leads. In contrast, sales representatives are measured according to their ability to meet or exceed their quota for a given period of time. Both roles rely on each other to accomplish their individual and business goals, despite their differences.

This is how the inside sales team structure works from start to finish:

1. SDRs receive lead information from the marketing team.

2. SDRs qualify and nurture leads until they are ready to buy.

3. During this stage, sales representatives take over to position the right products at the right time.

Most sales operations are based on this simple workflow.

As an SDR, you will need eleven essential skills. Please bookmark this list for future reference if you are an SDR. You should share this list with your sales team in your next sales meeting if you're a manager.

1. Video Prospecting

In recent years, video prospecting has gained popularity, and for good reason.

The purpose of video prospecting is to reach out to potential clients with a short video clip, usually less than two minutes long. The prospect can connect with you on a more personal level without the time commitment of scheduling a Zoom call. SDRs don't need to be technical gurus or Oscar-worthy movie stars to create effective videos - they just need to be comfortable on camera.

HubSpot has seen great results with video prospecting. Videoyard is an easy-to-use tool that lets you create videos using your webcam and screen sharing feature. Video clips can be embedded in emails, LinkedIn posts, Google Slides decks, and even HubSpot Sales Hub.

Vidyard even offers an AI avatar that (according to Vidyard) looks and sounds like you if you suffer from on-camera fatigue or camera shyness.

Other video prospecting software options include Loom and Soapbox by Wistia. I've used these apps to give guided demo tours and share recorded presentations. They add more humanity to emails and LinkedIn posts.

Practice your video skills by creating short, engaging videos to interview yourself, share a quick tip, and ask for a call. You should review the video and take note of your delivery and how it might come across to a viewer.

Optimizing your process can also be accomplished by monitoring the performance of different types of videos to see what prospects respond to the most. Your workflow will become more efficient as you make more videos. With time, you'll be able to create customized videos like emails.

2. Highly Customized Outreach

Managing quantity and quality when prospecting can be challenging for SDRs. Connecting with qualified leads takes time, but you want to build a healthy pipeline for your sales reps.

In his outreach efforts, Brandon Kirsch, a sales manager at HubSpot, balanced quality and quantity. A personalized and timely email addressed an immediate need for the prospect. Here's an example:

Dear Michael,

I hope this email finds you well! From my research on LinkedIn, you seem to be heading marketing initiatives focused on Dunder Mifflin's overall growth strategy.

The following things stood out to me as reasons to talk with HubSpot about how inbound marketing HubSpot could help Dunder Mifflin:

• Dunder Mifflin employees have explored our all-in-one solution in the past, but the timing wasn't right.

• You‘re currently using a few different marketing tools—A, B, C, D, and E. Would you be open to a conversation about HubSpot or using an all-in-one marketing automation platform like HubSpot?

• You seem to understand the importance of content marketing inbound marketing based on your blogs, white papers, and testimonials, but there seems to be a huge missed opportunity.

• You've got “buy now” and “order” options on the site, but you're missing out on converting at least 90% of your total website traffic to the site.

• As of January 2019, HubSpot's marketing & sales platforms have seen some exciting updates.

Would you be interested in connecting this week? You can schedule 15 minutes with me here [insert link].

Thanks in advance,

Brandon

Create a scalable process for writing customized emails and researching prospects. In one glance, LinkedIn Sales Navigator can provide you with important information about a company. A tool like HubSpot's free meeting scheduler can help you plan calls once your prospecting campaign is underway.

3. Active Listening and flexibility

Especially in the prospecting phase, how can SDRs continue to add value to an increasingly automated sales process?

Active listening is the best way for an SDR to demonstrate their value-add. Chatbots can qualify leads, but they cannot ask layered sales questions or listen to information as well as humans (at least not yet). SDRs should interact with prospects in a genuine, helpful manner - not in a robotic, forced manner.

You must be highly aware of phrases that indicate a prospect might be a good fit for your company's products or services. This is where active listening comes in. Instead of checking lead qualification boxes, an adaptable and empathetic SDR focuses on gathering valuable information to move prospects further down the pipeline.

We had a weekly SDR "film club" in which we reviewed a seasoned SDR's recordings. A SDR discovered that the prospect's company offered a freemium version of its product during a call review. A prospect confirmed the average annual value of a new customer, and the SDR moved on to the next topic.

A swing and a miss. With his prospect, the SDR could have explored the following:

• What is the number of new freemium users you generate each month?

• What are the best ways to nurture relationships with freemium users? Is it customers?

• How many freemium users convert to paid users?

• Why do freemium users upgrade?

• Are there any ways to re-engage users who used the free product several months ago?

Understanding how to solve a major pain point for the prospect would have required answers to these questions. Generally, these questions can provide a wealth of information about virtually any company offering a free or reduced-price trial of their product. The questions help an SDR understand both the opportunities within the prospect's company as well as the things the prospect may have been putting off because no solution existed yet.

Practicing active listening means being adaptable — pivoting away from a prepared checklist and recognizing when an opportunity to dig deeper presents itself. A successful SDR understands the value of being present and having a real conversation.

To improve your active listening skills, try these tips:

• You should take notes and tell the prospect that you are doing so.

• Confirming the prospect's important statements on a regular basis.

• Make sure your body language doesn't signal boredom or inattention.

The key to active listening is knowing when to speak up and when to listen passively. A good active listener engages with the prospect/lead and gathers the crucial information you need.

4. Strong Follow-Up

SDRs prefer to speak with prospects on the phone, but sometimes a voicemail is the next best option.

Leaving a good voicemail is harder than it seems.

In a short time, you must entice a prospect you've never spoken with to call you back. There are some people who prefer to be concise: "Hi, I'm [Salesperson] from [Company]. I'd like to discuss X strategy with you. I'd appreciate a call back at XXX-XXX-XXXX."

An SDR's ability to leave a good voicemail requires practice.

Be committed to quality touchpoints across all your activities to move prospects through the pipeline, not just logging activity in your CRM.

It's important to always provide value so that you engage the prospect in a relevant way, especially since you want to recapture their attention. Sharing a new piece of news or content related to the prospect's industry is more enticing and inviting of a callback than leaving a voicemail that says, "Hey, just looking to connect again!"

5. Coachability

An SDR's coachability is one of their most important traits. An SDR's ego can cloud their ability to receive and implement candid feedback. SDRs who excel seek coaching from peers and managers who provide honest feedback. You can also build out a list of all the questions or challenges you faced in a given week and discuss them with your manager during a scheduled one-on-one meeting.

Taking advantage of coaching and development opportunities is a great way to champion coachability. Taking sales training and asking others for feedback on your performance can help you evaluate your skills and improve your processes. It can be challenging to receive feedback, but remember that both you and the person giving it have one common goal: improving the sales process.

6. Self-Awareness

The technical depth or business breadth of your calls should be guided by your strengths and weaknesses as an SDR. In this way, the prospect feels like they are speaking with an advisor who wants to understand their business challenges, not just a telemarketer. It's easier to handle a bad call or rejection when you know what you're amazing at and where you can grow.

An SDR who lacks organization skills might create a physical checklist for every call so they don't miss anything. SDRs who are good at building rapport might want to set a timer for each call so they don't spend too much time with one prospect.

Self-awareness will help you and your sales manager analyze your performance, including the successes and setbacks, and reflect on what went well.

To understand their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth, self-aware SDRs ask managers and colleagues for feedback. In addition, they will review their past performance, such as sales call transcripts, to determine their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

7. Organization

The sales process varies from person to person, but adhering to it is crucial to staying organized. It helps SDRs manage their days and prioritize key activities (e.g., email outreach, phone calls, and meetings).

You'll be able to keep track of your leads, qualify your pipeline, and design a workflow that helps nurture relationships that lead to closed deals when you're organized.

Organizing your day-to-day sales processes will help you master your outreach cadence so you can have meaningful and thoughtful interactions with prospects. Prioritize your tasks for the day and plan for upcoming tasks by writing a to-do list. Keep track of key dates in your process by integrating your Google or Outlook calendar and using your CRM's meeting scheduling function.

8. Curiosity

SDRs who succeed are curious and eager to learn. In addition to helping them in their current role, learning about a new product, industry, or organization will help them as they progress in their career.

It is important for SDRs to have a solid understanding of their company's products and services and to be able to identify their buyer personas and the challenges prospects face every day. They can then position their company's strengths in relation to prospects' needs and competitive solutions in the marketplace. Before passing on an opportunity to a more senior salesperson, they should be guided on how deep to dive into customer needs and solution details.

As an SDR, you can build curiosity by constantly seeking out new leads to broaden your pipeline, prospecting and learning about leads, asking questions during conversations, and committing to continuous learning.

Obtaining new information is relatively easy and often free through internal resources offered by your organization, online research through blogs (like HubSpot), training sessions with sales professionals, and meetings with colleagues. Great sales reps prioritize learning as a continuous process.

9. Relationship-Building

The most effective SDRs are able to build genuine, trusting relationships with prospects. Before handing over the deal to your account manager, they should prepare them for your company's multi-tiered sales process.

In order to build successful relationships, you must be able to communicate across multiple channels. It's important to communicate clearly your points and ideas to your contacts whether you're chatting via email, presenting to them in a virtual meeting, or sending them a pre-recorded video.

Additionally, SDRs must have sufficient emotional intelligence to empathize with prospects and understand their goals and needs.

Building rapport with prospects is a great way to become an effective relationship builder. When you've researched their business and their role within it, you can have conversations centered entirely around them and their needs. You can break the ice by talking about your shared interests during your research.

10. Resilience

SDRs have a tough job, no doubt. The main goal of most SDRs is not to close deals, unlike sales reps.

Maintaining a positive mindset is a soft skill that - for many people - cannot be taught in a book. It takes practice to become resilient. It can resonate over the phone if you're flat or discouraged one day. You will be able to pick up on your low energy and your prospect may consider it a red flag about working with you.

We all make bad calls from time to time. In order to progress in your sales career, you must learn from them and recover from them. Feeling frustrated is okay, regardless of whether a prospect was rude or you made a mistake. If you allow those feelings to derail your motivation for the rest of the day, it will negatively affect your next batch of calls.

It isn't necessarily possible to teach resilience, but becoming more resilient as an SDR means:

• Recognizing that a "no" isn't personal.

• Having a bad day doesn't define your abilities.

• Instead of becoming stuck in a situation, reframe setbacks as an opportunity to improve it.

• Handling objections in practice.

Do not let these temporary roadblocks ruin your day - or the prospect's. Keeping your head in the game requires resilience. It will also be invaluable when you have to recover from losing a big deal without skipping a beat down the road.

11. Overcoming Objections

A sales development rep's ability to handle objections is crucial to their success. 35% of sales reps say that overcoming price objections is their biggest challenge, but you don't have to be one of them.

Most reps develop the skill of overcoming objections over time. As they learn more about the solutions their business offers, they gain a better understanding of the value and how they work. In order to establish trust, you need to position these solutions to eliminate a pain point for the prospect.

Additionally, you can implement some of the practices we've mentioned on this list, such as gathering feedback from peers on how you handled objections, or partnering with more experienced SDRs and salespeople to learn how they handle objections.

Improve Your SDR Skills

You will master these SDR skills in no time if you consistently practice them. Despite this, your learning opportunities don't end here. Our sales prospecting and objection handling tips, templates, and tools will help you succeed. You will be appreciated by your inside sales team.