No business can succeed with customers and sales. You already know that. However, you might also know that finding customers can be very difficult when yours is a new business that no one is familiar with.
True, marketing can help you reach customers to some degree, but if your business provides B2B services, one of the best ways to make sales is to reach out to leads directly and set meetings so that account executives can strive to turn leads into genuine paying customers.
This can be a time-consuming process. Luckily, it’s not one you need to handle yourself. You can instead build a sales development (SDR) team to handle it for you.
The role of an SDR team is to identify qualified leads and send them to sales teams and account executives. They initiate the relationship between a lead and your business while also helping others save time they might otherwise waste pursuing valueless leads.
That said, not all SDR teams are equally successful. To build an SDR team that delivers results, keep the following tips in mind:
Develop your sales strategy and training plan
Hiring qualified SDR team members is half the battle. Even otherwise talented individuals may not satisfy your expectations if you don’t train them properly.
Before developing your team, develop your sales strategy, as well as a plan for training new hires. This will ensure your SDR team is equipped to succeed from the start.
Compensate properly
It’s not uncommon for SDR teams to have certain targets they’re tasked with hitting. For example, you may task your SDR team with setting a specific number of sales meetings every quarter.
They’ll be more motivated to strive towards ambitious goals if they’re compensated properly. Naturally, that means you should offer competitive pay.
However, if you’re building an in-house SDR team instead of outsourcing this work, you also need to offer other forms of compensation that are important to today’s workers. For example, one survey indicates the majority of workers would actually prefer additional benefits instead of pay raises.
If you were to offer impressive benefits, members of your SDR team might be more engaged and motivated to hit their goals, as they’ll want to perform well enough to continue working at your company.
Be upfront about your expectations
When screening candidates for your SDR team, let them know what you expect of them, and don’t give in to the impulse to appear less demanding than you may actually be when they’re working for you. It’s understandable that you might not wish to “scare away” any potential team members. However, if you’re not completely honest about your expectations, you run the risk of hiring SDR team members who aren’t qualified to serve your needs.
On the other hand, if you’re honest and transparent, you’ll have a better chance of hiring the right people. Those who believe they can’t satisfy your expectations will typically decide they’re not a good fit. Ambitious candidates who believe they can hit the goals you’ve set will be enthusiastic about coming aboard.
That’s also an important point to keep in mind. True, you must prioritize hiring talented and experienced workers, but it’s also a good idea to pay attention to a candidate’s attitude when deciding whether they’d make a strong SDR team member. Someone who seems energetic and passionate about your goals and mission is likely someone with the degree of motivation you’re looking for.
Yes, lead generation strategies are constantly changing as new innovations are leveraged. However, you still need a strong SDR team to generate qualified leads. These tips will help you build that team.