Sales Development Representatives: Myth vs Reality

Sales Development ‌• September 19, 2017

Every sales development representative (SDR) wants to be more productive in their sales day so they can hit quota that much faster. However, when asked about how to best meet their sales goals, many can’t provide a sound answer.

Given the amount of misconception surrounding sales productivity in today’s business environment, this isn’t surprising. So let’s break them down to understand what’s true and what’s false in the role of an SDR.

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Here are SDR productivity myths, debunked:

You Can Never Have Too Many Tools

There are countless sales tools on the market today, with varying degrees of capabilities, specs and features. You’d think with the number of technologies available, productivity would rise.

However, with 50 percent of sales development organizations already leveraging five or more technology applications, the modern salesperson has a lot to keep track of. In reality, having to switch between so many programs can actually be more of a time suck than an advantage.

You Should be Constantly Monitoring Emails

Email is crucial for any SDR’s success, however, it shouldn’t take over your life. It may be tempting to constantly be monitoring your email outside of work, before bed and in the morning, but this type of approach can actually impede on your productivity during the day.

In reality, you should build a to-do list, plan your sales day out, and block off specific times on your calendar to focus on calling, researching and sending/answering emails and completing your other admin related tasks.

You Don’t Have Time for a Break

If your sales approach doesn’t allow time for breaks, you may burn out quickly- and SDRs are already prone to quick burn out rates. Based on research conducted by The Bridge Group, the average tenure for an SDR is 14 months, but 3.6 percent of SDRs barely make it through the first six months.

As a sales development rep, you already have a high-stress job with prospecting customers – so don’t make it any tougher than it needs to be. It’s been proven that taking short breaks at work keeps us from getting bored and unfocused while simultaneously helping us to better retain information and make connections. So get up, walk around for a few minutes, step outside for some fresh air or even just chat up your neighbor. After about 15 minutes, you’ll have more energy to tackle your upcoming tasks.

Making More Calls Means Higher Productivity

Many SDRs make the assumption that if they make more calls, they’ll be able to get more prospects into the funnel. But there’s one thing that’s wrong with this approach: call quality.

The reality is, you need a sales tool that can identify ideal prospects and build call touch plans based on qualifying factors. Our sales development platform, for example, optimizes an SDR’s day with automatically organized TouchPlans™. With Moment-of-Interest Alerts, SDRs are alerted when someone reads content, opens an email or browses their website, and can reach out at the exact moment that person shows interest in your offering.

Want to Increase Your Sales Productivity?

Today’s sales organizations are becoming functionally specialized. The resulting process and workflow changes require new, purpose-built technology to enable these specialties. OppSource’s sales development platform was built to enable dedicated sales prospecting and lead development teams. It’s centered around an account-based architecture that makes it much easier to manage and execute account-based sales development programs in support of today’s B2B consensus based decision making preferences.

If you’re trying to improve your SDRs prospecting efforts, contact OppSource today. Our platform is more than just a piece of technology, it’s a crucial component of your business success. Our sales development platform gives your SDRs all the tools they need to execute a sales plan to perfection.

Ready to get started? Request a demo.