SDR meaning in sales
An SDR (sales development representative) works at the top of the sales process. Their job is to turn people who might need a product into qualified conversations: they research companies, reach out by email, phone or social channels, follow up, answer first questions and decide whether a prospect is worth an account executive's time. When it is, they book the meeting and hand over the context.
The role exists because finding and qualifying new prospects is a different job from running a sales cycle. Account executives (AEs) are measured on closed revenue and spend their time on demos, proposals and negotiation. If they also had to prospect, they would do less of both. Splitting the work lets each person focus, and gives companies a predictable flow of new meetings.
SDRs work mostly in B2B companies, especially in software, services and any business where deals are large enough to justify a dedicated person reaching out to new accounts.
What an SDR does day to day
The exact mix depends on whether the SDR handles inbound leads, outbound prospecting or both, but a typical outbound day follows the same rhythm:
Research and list building
Pick accounts that fit the ideal customer profile, find the right contacts and look for a reason to reach out now, such as a new hire, a launch or a post. See buying signals for the triggers SDRs look for.
Outreach
Write and send first emails, make calls and, depending on the company, send social messages. Good SDRs personalize the first line around the reason they found.
Follow-ups
Run the second, third and fourth touches of every open sequence. Much of the work is consistency: following up on time, every time.
Replies and conversations
Answer replies, handle first objections, ask qualifying questions and route people who are not the right contact.
Qualification and booking
Check that the prospect has a real need, a role in the decision and a plausible timeline, then book a meeting with an AE and write a short handoff note.
Updating the CRM
Log activities, outcomes and notes so the pipeline stays accurate and nobody gets contacted twice by mistake.
SDR vs BDR vs AE
Job titles vary between companies, which causes confusion. A common split is that SDRs handle inbound leads (people who came to the company) while BDRs (business development representatives) do outbound prospecting, but many companies use the two titles interchangeably. The detailed comparison is in SDR vs BDR.
| Role | Main job | Usually measured on | Hands off to |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR (sales development representative) | Qualify leads and book meetings; often focused on inbound | Meetings booked and held, qualified pipeline | Account executive |
| BDR (business development representative) | Prospect new accounts outbound and book meetings | Meetings and pipeline from new accounts | Account executive |
| AE (account executive) | Run the sales cycle and close deals | Closed revenue against quota | Customer success or account management |
Inbound SDR vs outbound SDR
Even inside one company, the SDR job looks different depending on where leads come from. Inbound SDRs respond to people who already raised their hand; outbound SDRs start conversations with people who did not. Many teams begin with one person doing both and split the role as volume grows.
| Inbound SDR | Outbound SDR | |
|---|---|---|
| Where leads come from | Demo requests, sign-ups, content downloads, chat | Lists, research and buying signals |
| First task | Respond fast and qualify | Find the right person and a reason to write |
| Main skill | Qualification and speed | Research, writing and persistence |
| Typical risk | Slow response loses interested buyers | Generic outreach gets ignored or flagged |
| Related reading | Inbound vs outbound | How to find B2B leads |
Qualification: what an SDR checks before booking
Booking a meeting that goes nowhere costs the AE an hour and the SDR credibility. Most teams give SDRs a short checklist, often adapted from well-known frameworks that look at budget, authority, need and timing. A practical version asks four questions before a meeting is booked:
- Fit: does the company match the ideal customer profile on size, industry and setup?
- Need: has the person described the problem in their own words, or only agreed that it sounds familiar?
- Role: do they own the problem, influence the decision, or can they name who does?
- Timing: is there a reason to act in the next few months, such as a renewal, a new hire or a project?
A worked example: one outbound SDR week
To see how the metrics connect, here is a week with round, assumed numbers for an outbound SDR at a B2B software company. They are not benchmarks; use your own data once you have it.
- The SDR researches and adds 150 new contacts at companies that fit the profile, about 30 a day.
- Each contact receives a first email and up to three follow-ups over two to three weeks.
- Assume 6 in 100 contacts reply, and half of those replies are positive: about 4 to 5 interested people a week from this batch.
- Assume two thirds of interested people qualify after a short exchange: about 3 meetings booked.
- Assume one in six booked meetings does not happen: about 2 to 3 meetings held per week, or 10 to 12 a month.
Skills a good SDR needs
- Research. Finding the right person and the right reason quickly is the core of the job.
- Clear writing. Short, specific emails that a stranger wants to answer. See how to write a cold email.
- Listening and questioning. Qualifying is mostly asking good questions and hearing the answer.
- Resilience. Most outreach gets no answer. Good SDRs learn from rejection without taking it personally.
- Organization. Dozens of sequences, follow-ups and handoffs run in parallel; the CRM has to stay clean.
- Product and market knowledge. Enough to explain the problem the product solves and to recognize a bad fit early.
- Judgment. Knowing when to stop writing to someone, and when a lead is not worth an AE's time.
Reach companies with a reason to buy this week
Startories finds the buying signal, verifies the decision-maker and runs the outreach until they book a call.
How SDRs are measured
SDR metrics track the path from effort to pipeline. Teams usually watch a few of them together, because any single number can be gamed: lots of activity with few meetings, or many meetings that never turn into opportunities.
| Metric | Definition | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Activities | Emails, calls and messages sent | Effort, but not quality |
| Reply rate | Replies divided by people contacted | Whether targeting and messaging resonate |
| Positive reply rate | Interested replies divided by people contacted | The quality of the reason for writing |
| Meetings booked | Meetings scheduled with an AE | Output of the role |
| Meetings held | Booked meetings that actually happened | Qualification quality and no-show risk |
| Qualified opportunities | Meetings accepted as real opportunities by the AE | Whether the handoff is useful |
| Pipeline sourced | Value of opportunities that started with the SDR | Contribution to revenue |
How SDR pay is usually structured
SDR compensation is typically split between a base salary and a variable part tied to meetings, qualified opportunities or pipeline. The total expected at 100% of target is called on-target earnings (OTE). New SDRs usually go through a ramp period of reduced targets while they learn the product and market.
Pay varies a lot with location, experience, company stage and how the variable part is defined, so treat any single figure with caution. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track "SDR" as a separate occupation; it groups sales roles into broader categories described in its sales occupations overview, and it publishes what employers spend on wages and benefits in its employer costs for employee compensation release.
For a company, the salary is only part of the cost of an SDR. Payroll taxes, benefits, tools, data, management time, ramp and turnover add up. Our guide to SDR salary and the total cost of an SDR works through a full example.
How to hire your first SDR
Hiring an SDR too early is a common and expensive mistake. Before the first hire, someone, usually the founder, should have booked meetings by hand and learned which companies respond and why. An SDR scales a motion that works; they rarely invent one alone.
Prove the motion first
Have a target profile, two or three reasons for writing that produce replies, and an AE or founder with time to take the meetings.
Write the playbook down
Who to target, where to find them, the messages that work, qualification questions and the handoff format.
Hire for curiosity and writing
Ask candidates to research a real account and write a first email in the interview. It shows more than a resume.
Plan a ramp
Lower targets for the first weeks, daily review of outreach, and shadowing of AE calls.
Give them good inputs
An SDR with a clean list and fresh buying signals books more meetings than one with a stale database.
Where SDRs sit in a sales team
- Founder-led sales. Before the first sales hire, the founder does the SDR work. See founder-led sales.
- First SDR next to the first AE. A common first step once the founder can no longer prospect and close at the same time.
- SDR pods. Several SDRs supporting a group of AEs, often split by region, segment or inbound versus outbound.
- Outsourced SDRs. An agency or service runs prospecting on the company's behalf; see outsourced SDR and done-for-you lead generation.
- AI-assisted SDRs. Software takes over research, first drafts and follow-ups while people handle conversations and judgment.
Mistakes that hold SDR teams back
- Measuring activity instead of outcomes. A target of 100 calls a day produces 100 calls, not meetings. Track meetings held and qualified opportunities.
- Stale lists. Writing to companies that matched a filter two years ago wastes the best part of the day. Refresh lists and prioritize companies with a recent reason to buy.
- Generic messaging. One template for every segment trains prospects to ignore you. Write by situation, not by persona alone.
- Poor handoffs. A meeting booked without context forces the AE to restart discovery and makes the prospect repeat themselves.
- No feedback loop. If AEs never tell SDRs which meetings turned into opportunities, targeting never improves.
- Burning domains. Sending high volumes from the company's main domain risks everyone's email; see the deliverability guide.
SDR career path
The SDR role is often an entry point into B2B sales. Common next steps are account executive, SDR team lead or manager, and moves into adjacent work such as revenue operations, partnerships, marketing or customer success. What carries over is the skill of understanding a buyer's problem quickly and starting a conversation about it.
The skills that get SDRs promoted are the same ones that make them good at the job today: they learn the market faster than anyone else, they can explain why a company should care, and they hand over meetings that AEs are glad to take. Keeping notes on which messages and signals worked is a habit that pays off in every later role.
For employers, this path is part of the cost of the role: good SDRs are often promoted out of it, so hiring, training and ramp time repeat. Teams plan for it by documenting their prospecting playbook and keeping the target list and messaging in shared tools rather than in one person's head.
SDRs and AI
Much of the SDR workload is research, list building, first drafts and follow-up timing, which software now handles well. That has produced the "AI SDR": software that prospects, writes and follows up on its own. Our guide to what an AI SDR is explains how they work and where they fall short, and AI SDR vs human SDR compares cost and fit.
In practice, many teams combine the two: software finds the companies with a reason to buy and drafts the outreach, while people review, handle live conversations, run calls and manage complex accounts. The judgment parts of the SDR job, deciding who is worth a meeting and how to handle an unusual reply, remain human strengths.
How Startories helps SDR teams and founders
Startories does the prospecting half of the SDR job: it watches Reddit, X, Product Hunt, directories and search for buying signals, matches each one to a company that fits your profile, finds and verifies the decision-maker's business email, writes a first email around the event and runs the follow-ups. Every reply is classified with a suggested answer, so your SDRs or founders spend their time on real conversations.
Startories works by email only and does not automate LinkedIn or phone calls. Read about the AI SDR, see how signal-based outbound chooses who to contact, or compare plans on pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What does SDR stand for?
In sales, SDR stands for sales development representative: the person who finds and qualifies new prospects and books meetings for account executives. In finance, SDR also refers to the IMF's special drawing rights.
What does an SDR do?
An SDR researches potential customers, reaches out by email, phone or social channels, follows up, answers first questions, qualifies interest and books meetings with account executives, then hands over the context.
Is an SDR the same as a BDR?
Often the titles are used interchangeably. Where companies distinguish them, SDRs usually focus on inbound leads and BDRs on outbound prospecting of new accounts.
How is an SDR paid?
Usually a base salary plus a variable part tied to meetings, qualified opportunities or pipeline. The total at 100% of target is called on-target earnings (OTE). Amounts vary widely by location and company.
What metrics matter most for an SDR?
Meetings held and qualified opportunities matter more than activity counts. Positive reply rate shows whether targeting and messaging work, and pipeline sourced shows the contribution to revenue.
Do SDRs need sales experience?
Not always. Many companies hire SDRs early in their careers and train them, looking for curiosity, clear writing and resilience. Experience helps most in complex or technical markets where credibility matters from the first email.
Will AI replace SDRs?
AI already handles much of the research, drafting and follow-up work. Live conversations, qualification judgment, calls and complex accounts still benefit from people, so many teams combine AI tools with fewer, more senior SDRs.