Burnout results from working too hard or overstressing yourself; it affects your career and personal life. It is caused by not having enough energy or enthusiasm for your work. Having to deal with rejection on a daily basis and being paid based on performance make sales one of the most burnout-prone occupations. Almost every sales professional has experienced burnout – overstretched and overwhelmed – at some point in their careers.
What is an SDR?
Since they are the first point of contact for your company, sales development reps need to have comprehensive knowledge of the prospect and the company before they talk to them. They also have a fair understanding of the industry, sales process, and competition in order to have meaningful discussions.
In addition to calling and emailing prospects, the sales development reps guide prospects through the sales process and prepare them for speaking with a closer. The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is the number of qualified opportunities that they generate every month, also called sales qualified leads (SQL).
An SDR team ensures that sales executives focus the majority of their attention on qualified leads and reaching targets rather than on prospecting.
Role of an SDR
Let’s take a closer look at the role, responsibilities, and objectives of an SDR now that you understand what an SDR is. Depending on each company’s definition, the job of a sales development representative (SDR) differs. The primary purpose of an SDR is to generate inbound and outbound sales leads.
The Sales Development Representative contacts potential leads or promptly follows up with leads who have inquired about your company. In short, SDRs reach prospects in all directions through the phone, email, and social media, so they know who they are dealing with and what their product is about.
As a Sales Development Representative, you listen to prospects actively and provide them with solutions based on their needs. Leads are educated about how your solution can help solve and improve their business by understanding the prospect’s business model, determining if your product is a good fit, and understanding the problems and solving them.
Here are the general duties and responsibilities of an SDR.
Research, identify, and prospect for new customers.
In order to make effective and meaningful conversations, sales development representatives must know the prospect’s industry, the sales process, the competition, and upcoming events.
Make more calls and send more emails.
A sales development representative should follow up on calls, emails, and social media inquiries regarding your company and offerings.
Setup quality meetings and appointments
Sales representatives should prepare a script that outlines innovative ways to qualify and disqualify leads, as well as how to set up quality meetings with sales managers.
Is being SDR stressful?
Being an SDR can be pretty successful for some people but not for all of them. Many factors play a significant role in making this job difficult or easy for the workers. There is often a love/hate relationship between organizations and their SDR (or BDR) teams. Having said that, they shower love on their sales development reps since (let’s face it) their job is insanely difficult! This is so hard to do that most sales reps aren’t even trying. (And it’s vital to the organization’s success.)
Despite the acknowledged difficulties in their core function, these beloved SDR teams are often criticized for their struggle to produce consistent results, which results in:
- Inconsistent sales pipelines
- Suboptimal sales results
- Lack of revenue predictability
- Trouble recruiting and retaining talent
Read More: Best Age to Start a Career in Sales
How do you avoid burnout as an SDR?
Keep a steady mindset.It’s exciting to sell! You can get caught up in the highs and lows of the week, but the truth is that the emotions are constantly fluctuating each day. As important as it is to celebrate successes, it is equally important to move on from failures without dwelling on the negatives. Your mental sanity will be immensely improved if you keep a steady temperament.
Mix it up: Having a daily routine and cadence is part of your daily routine. Although replication can result in success, it can also lead to incredibly monotonous working conditions. It is up to you to view your job from different perspectives.
Take a break: I think sometimes we need a little break, and that’s okay. No matter what you do, it’s essential to take time for yourself, whether it’s an afternoon walk after a particularly long call or taking a much-needed “mental health” day after a stressful month. As your physical energy increases, you will be better able to perform at your job, and your mental clarity will improve.
Why am I struggling as an SDR?
There could be the following reasons behind your struggle as an SDR:
Lacking the right sales tools
SDRs face one of the biggest challenges when it comes to having the right tools or sometimes too many tools. There are hundreds of platforms that promise to simplify sales processes. You might not even be able to decide on which tools your company uses, but it can be a headache putting together the right sales tech stack.
Finding high-quality prospects
Prospecting is a significant part of SDRs’ roles, which makes sense since the success of the entire sales process is dependent upon quality leads. It has always been challenging to find high-quality prospects.
In addition, you don’t want to be one of those annoying salespersons who approach people who have no interest in your product. This is not a good look for you.
Prospects are busier
It’s no surprise that despite all the tools meant to make life easier -such as email, Slack, smartphones, cloud-based storage, and SaaS solutions – they’ve most often made things more difficult.
Prospects might use several messaging apps, participate in conference calls, and send text messages; some may have several phones and one email to check.
Your contacts lose their impact when prospects are busier. Timing is everything in the role of a sales development representative. The prospect might want to avoid booking things when they have more pressing matters, but it isn’t easy to tell. It can be complicated to know when to contact them.
Cold calling no longer works as well as it did once.
Typical SDR processes include emailing, calling, leaving voicemails, and repeating. Account executives are in a unique position to close deals with the help of SDRs. Some businesses may find traditional methods of outreach to be effective, but others have found that cold calling and emailing aren’t working.
How do you succeed as an SDR?
There are the following tasks you must perform effectively to succeed as an SDR;
Make the Most of Your Time
When it comes to sales, there is always room for improvement. Whether it’s making calls, following up on prospects, or developing relationships, there’s always something to do. Even if you’re new to sales, it can seem overwhelming, but successful sales development representatives know what priorities to focus on and when. In order to be successful as an SDR, most of your time should be spent prospecting for new customers or preparing to prospect. Look for ways to automate or streamline your sales tasks to maximize your time.
Collecting prospects’ names, emails, and numbers is crucial, but this does not need to take up all your time.
Read More: Where Can I Get The Highest Interest On My Money?
Be a Passionate Product Expert
To explain why your product is suitable for others, you should know it well, live it, and breathe it. Investigate your product in detail, talk to your manager, and seek feedback from your customers.
Here, we aren’t talking about knowing every technical detail, although you should also know them. The effect of your product on the lives of your customers and the problem(s) it solves are essential to know. You’ll have an easier time selling your product if you’re passionate about it (and how it helps your customers).
Become a Master Communicator
Communication is the foundation of sales – with prospects, teammates, and your manager.
Although some people are more comfortable with communication skills than others, you should always strive to improve your communication skills.
You can start by learning and mastering the following communication skills:
- Try to listen more and talk less
- Send emails with a clear and conscious message
- Avoid talking and sounding like a salesperson
- Ask for both positive and negative feedback
Practicing communication is the most effective way to improve. Every conversation is a chance for you to improve your communication skills, whether with your boss, coworkers, prospects, or even friends and family.