Prospecting for new customers is one of these processes, but, if you want to keep your pipeline moving, you will need consistency in acquiring new leads.
Most of the time, companies decide to give all the responsibility to their Account Executives to handle their outbound prospecting, which may seem like the best solution. Nonetheless, it may be costing you more time and money than you can imagine.
Having dedicated Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) can keep your pipeline moving forward. Today, we want to share what an external or outsourced SDR team can do for your business, as well as highlight the six reasons why you should hire an outsourced SDR for your outbound sales.
Sales development representatives are essential to your sales and business growth. Their work focuses on the early stages of the sales process, including lead generation, qualification, and nurturing leads.
The primary objective of an SDR team is to research prospects and convert them into qualified leads. The common tasks in a work day of your sales reps include sending emails, cold calling, capturing data, creating reports, and, most importantly, appointment setting. These tasks are done to ensure a smooth transition to an Account Executive or sales team who can close the sale.
Since your Sales Development Representatives are the first point of contact for your potential customers, it’s crucial that they understand your product or service and be well-versed in your target market, also known as the ideal customer profile (ICP). Likewise, the SDRs should understand your customer’s pain points and how the products or services you offer can bring a solution, leading them to find a true intention to buy.
There are some skills that are necessary for SDRs’ optimal performance, such as being excellent communicators and being able to clearly articulate your customer value proposition. These skills will help them build relationships with potential customers.
Hiring one SDR that does an average of 40 calls daily and gets a handful of leads a month might seem enough, but it may be tricky to understand performance if there's not enough point of reference.
Therefore, having more than one Sales Development Representative will help you calculate and determine with greater confidence how many calls, leads and conversions daily or monthly should be expected. When you assess your SDR team's capabilities, you can set stretch goals to improve performance over time.
Comparing their performance is not the only benefit for hiring multiple SDRs, that is why we want to highlight the three top benefits your business can take advantage of:
Healthy competition
While SDRs certainly help one another in challenging moments, having more than one helps to create a sense of healthy competition. When you have a team of representatives competing for the top spot, your business will end up with a group of motivated and highly productive team members striving to achieve the best possible results. Moreover, utilizing weekly metrics and friendly contests can help break the monotony and bring a bit of excitement to the daily operations of your sales department.
Mitigate your risk
Unfortunately, the turnover rate of SDRs in the United States is quite high (34.7%), so having to start all the process of onboarding with a brand new rep could not only be frustrating, and may have additional costs. In addition, having a team of SDRs instead of only one rep ensures that you won’t be left holding the bag if one member decides to pursue other goals in their career. Finally, employee burnout and attrition can be avoided with the help of a group of SDRs. To put it another way, everyone wins.
More efficient training
A team of sales development reps can help you reduce the pressure from HR and Sales Managers by encouraging peer training. You can ask your tenured reps to assist with bringing newer employees up to speed on the sales processes and strategies of your company. Also, you can implement peer-to-peer evaluations, for example, in call scoring and lead qualification. Encourage your SDR staff to provide constructive comments and create a list of best practices. You could be pleasantly surprised by what they can come up with.
Understanding the importance of hiring SDRs is essential to your business growth. With the right team members, you could significantly increase the amount of leads per month and, therefore, increase your sales. We hope these reasons help you make the decision to hire more SDRs for your business. Do you have any other reasons why you should hire SDRs? Please share them with us.
If you are interested in hiring an outbound agency with a team of experts focused on your lead generation and business development processes, feel free to contact us! Alternatively, you can schedule an appointment directly with us using this link.
“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong."
N. R. Narayana Murthy, Co-founder of Infosys
Sandra Fernandez is a Marketing Specialist with over seven years of experience in lead generation, digital marketing, market research, and market intelligence knowledge. She is responsible for targeting ideal clients through marketing strategies and digital advertising campaigns. Sandra works with the Port Group sales team to achieve success and increase B2B sales outsourcing services awareness.
