In B2B sales, SDRs play a crucial role in the early stages of the sales cycle. They focus on uncovering customer needs and pain points through research and direct communication. By building rapport and providing valuable information, SDRs help position their company's products or services as solutions to these challenges.
In practice, SDRs use various tools and techniques to identify leads from a wide range of sources, including online databases, industry events, and social media platforms. They then reach out via phone, email, or in-person meetings to schedule follow-up appointments with potential customers. AI agents can assist SDRs by automating some tasks like lead scoring and initial outreach, but human oversight is still essential for personalized engagement and decision-making.
What does an SDR actually do day to day?
Research accounts, build and maintain target lists, run outbound sequences across email, phone, and social, handle inbound enquiries, qualify interest against agreed criteria, and book meetings for account executives. The proportions vary with the motion, but the constant is that the SDR creates and qualifies pipeline rather than closing it.
How is an SDR different from a BDR or an account executive?
SDR and BDR are mostly the same role with different labels, though some organisations split them by inbound and outbound. The meaningful boundary is with the account executive, who owns the opportunity from qualified meeting to close. Separating the roles specialises the work; it also creates a handoff, which is where a great deal of context gets lost.
How is AI changing the SDR role?
It is absorbing the mechanical majority of it, which is research, list building, first-draft writing, and sequence administration. What it does not absorb is judgment about whether an account is worth pursuing and how to handle a reply that goes somewhere unexpected. The role is compressing toward qualification and away from production.
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