Today’s episode of the Aligned Podcast continues Sean’s discussion with guest Ed Rusch, Chief Revenue Officer at Deck Commerce, to understand the best way to construct a high-functioning SDR department.
Handling the SDR workload:
- SDR teams help buyers make private commitments before a public close.
- If you have one SDR who handles leads they come and just does outbound when they can, what gets dropped first when the workload is too great? The outbound calling.
- Assuming inbound teams close only 50% of leads, that’s an inherent problem. You must have dedicated outbound callers who can ensure the job gets done.
Use specific KPIs to understand the language, verticals, and nuances of the selling process.
- Know the one or two KPIs most important to your audience and accompanying sub-verticals.
- Is a conversation a valuable metric? Yes, if it achieves two pieces of qualifying (or disqualifying) information.
- There’s a cost to everything - from emailing, writing content, and maintenance. Getting disqualifying people off the list is the best way to save money.
Outsourcing an SDR team:
- Outsourcing can be a powerful solution, depending on your circumstances.
- Part of Blue Ridge’s success is (in part) due to third-party work. However, what you do with an inbound SDR team is not the same as a third-party team.
- Outsourced teams can support your company with the right direction and support, but you must mitigate third-party risk by being selective in where you deploy those teams.
- Using third-party teams to investigate adjacent verticals outside your primary audience is a smart way to gain insight into the viability of the vertical and in situations where having a conversation is better than no conversation at all.
Starting your SDR team from scratch:
- First, understand that few decisions are permanent. There are ideal and mediocre situations, and most of the ones you make will be somewhere in the middle.
- Set expectations and metrics based on where you’re at today, in 90 days, and six months.
- After that period, adjust your KPIs and expectations as the team matures.
- Don’t look for a level of perfection from a new sales team. If you fail to allow growth and outsource, it will likely fail.
- Work with expectations to understand the journey and what you’ll do later to meet expectations.
- When building an SDR team, start with an internal outbound team that targets low-hanging fruit to secure funding and talent for scalable growth.
For more great content from Ed, connect with him on LinkedIn.
This episode is sponsored in part by FitzMartin’s Sales and Marketing Alignment:
Why does proper sales and marketing alignment result in a 32% average lift in revenue? Because a unified company centered around its prospects can’t help but thrive.
FitzMartin’s Sales and Marketing Alignment program will analyze your current sales and marketing structure to deliver a plan based on the needs of your prospects, bringing you increased revenue, expansion opportunities, and (above all) a unified front when communicating with prospects.
To set your company up for success, visit fitzmartin.com/solutions to discover how to unify your sales and marketing for the best results.
This episode is sponsored in part by Fitzmartin’s Organization and Culture Alignment:
Company culture and retention are directly connected. After all, if you fail to build good company culture, you fail to retain top talent. At FitzMartin, we help leaders like you raise their NPS scores from the low 60s to the high 80s (and, more importantly, present a plan to help you do the same.)
Create your company culture based on a shared mission to attract and retain top talent. Visit fitzmartin.com/solutions to learn more.