What does a typical day look like for an SDR?
For anyone looking to break into the technology industry, there remains two entry points: engineering and sales.
Those who identify sales as their point of attack will typically start as a sales development representative (or “SDR”) to essentially get their “foot in the door.”
What is an SDR?
An SDR is an entry-level inside sales representative that performs outbound prospecting. Essentially, the rep will perform cold outreach (calls, emails, and social selling) to qualify prospective customers and set meetings for an account executive (AE).
SDR’s are responsible for the front-end of the sales process. They are arguably the most important part of the sale since they essentially are the front lines of their companies and generate opportunities from practically nothing.
The SDR 9-to-5: A Day in the Life of an SDR
Assuming you would be taking on a typically 9-to-5 gig, let’s take a look at how a typical day as an SDR would look.
9:00 - 9:45 AM - Email Inbox Clean-up
Seize the day by checking your inbox for responses from the semi-personalized cold emails you sent the day before. At this point, you would use your research to provide the most value and insight to your prospects.
This is also a good time to check your Linkedin and Twitter and interact with prospect and respond to any messages.
9:45 - 10:00 AM - Time to Caffeinate // Check on 10 AM Email Blast
Before hitting the phones, it’s time to head to the coffee machine. While the caffeinate takes time to work it’s magic, this is also a good time to check on your scheduled semi-personalized automated emails.
10:00 - 12:00 PM - Calls
Now it’s game time! Typically, SDR’s will set aside time to make their calls. This is where you get a explore what works best for you - standing up, sitting at your desk, pacing around the office, or sitting on a bean bag.
The goal is to get yourself out of the mindset of selling, and get ready to start helping and educating your prospects.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM - Lunch
Go on a walk and enjoy your lunch. You earned it!
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Write Cold Emails // Send out Email Blast
At this point, you can start by writing or editing your semi-personalized email messages. You get to look at what emails messages are performing better than others and make improvements to add more value.
3:00 - 4:00 PM - Plan for Tomorrow // Meeting Time
Find a comfortable stop to pop-up your laptop and create a game plan for tomorrow. This means creating your call list and prospecting new leads. The goal is to be able to answer “why you” and “why you now” for each person that you add to your list. An SDR should know why their outreach would be relevant to the prospect and how they can help now.
This is also a perfect time for team meetings with your manager, account executive, and/or other top-performing SDRs.
4:00 - 5:00 PM - Calls
Now it’s time to finish strong and hit the phones one last time. You may be able to catch prospects from earlier that are preparing to head out for the day.
5:00 PM - Head Out
Time to hit the road and gear up for another productive day.
While this is a framework to help provide more insight, an SDR’s daily routine changes based on the industry, product, maturity of the market, and who your customers are.
If you have any questions and feedback, feel free to reach out.
Jaime
jaime@alwayshired.com
