We've all received plenty of sales calls, but have you ever stopped to wonder how you got on that company's radar in the first place?

Sure, some of them may have simply pulled your number out of the phone book, but smart companies are contacting you because they've done their research and they believe you're a good fit for their product. 

A little creepy? Sure, but it's effective. 

This front-end work is the responsibility of Sales Development Representatives (SDRs). Instead of tirelessly calling and emailing unsuspecting prospects, SDRs focus their efforts on a strategic, research-based approach which we’ll explain in a bit.

These folks are critical to the success of any sales team, but writing a good SDR job description can be a challenge. We're here to help with that.

If you know what you’re looking for, feel free to jump ahead. Otherwise, keep on reading.

Table of Contents

 

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What Does a Sales Development Representative Do?

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Sales Development Representatives are responsible for qualifying leads at the initial stages in the sales funnel. They must research potential clients, connect with and educate prospects and qualify leads before handing them off to the closers of the sales team. 

There are two key concepts you should understand before we go any further: inbound sales and outbound sales. Both terms are used in a multitude of scenarios in sales and marketing roles.

  • The outbound sales process requires sales people to reach out to prospects in the form of cold calls, emails or social networks. This process allows salespeople to personalize their outreach from the first touch point, but many people don’t like being contacted without having previously shown interest.
  • The inbound sales process is directed toward prospects who have shown interest in your product or service by reaching out to the company or sales person via phone call, email or request for additional information. Since contact has already been made, sales reps begin making warm or hot outreaches.

In broad terms, SDRs typically focus on inbound prospects, whereas Business Development Representatives (BDRs) generate their own leads with outbound communication. However, these responsibilities are not exclusive to one or the other, and the terms are often used interchangeably, so SDRs may be tasked with handling outbound prospecting as well as inbound.

Once a connection has been made, SDRs are responsible for contacting leads, qualifying them as prospects, educating prospects about the product or service and scheduling meetings with the sales team.

Due to the nature of this role, SDR candidates must have strong interpersonal and communication skills across a variety of channels (email, social media, phone, etc.). As front line representatives, SDRs often create the first impression prospects have with your company, so you want to make sure they have the skills to make a lasting impact on potential customers.

These roles are typically entry-level jobs with a few years experience in sales or a related field. While a bachelor’s degree is not always required, many companies prefer candidates with a four year degree in marketing, market research, sales, financial services, consulting, business development, investment banking or client success.

Five Sales Development Representative Job Description Examples

Now that we’ve covered the bases, let’s see what a few real job descriptions look like for companies hiring a Sales Development Representative. We’ve gathered five job description examples from our seven online communities. You’ll notice that we’ve redacted some information to protect the privacy of the companies that posted them.

 

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Sales Development Representative Job Description: Example 1

[redacted] is looking for a high energy and dynamic Sales Development Representative to provide pre-sales support. This role will be responsible for servicing inbound sales and related inquiries with a focus on engaging and qualifying all prospective customers. This role is one of the first touch points for prospects and has the opportunity to set the tone for the sales cycle following.

[redacted]

Responsibilities

  • Respond, engage and qualify inbound leads and inquiries
  • Engage current users to expand awareness, educate, ask for referrals, identify new opportunities and develop account intelligence
  • Effectively partner and work across the [redacted] teams - including [redacted]
  • Work closely with other [redacted] teams to develop account intelligence, relationship maps, and use case opportunities through direct account engagement and insight tools [redacted]
  • Schedule appointments and demos for [redacted]
  • Hold intelligent and engaging conversations over the phone and email
  • Act as the subject matter expert on [redacted] product offerings/solution development skills

Requirements

  • Proven business development success through effective use of core sales tools: Salesforce, DiscoverOrg, LinkedIn, Tableau, OpsCon, Google Apps, Microsoft Office
  • Demonstrated ability to collaborate with a distributed sales team
  • Capability of understanding customer pain points, requirements and correlating potential business to value that can be provided by [redacted]
  • Strong and professional communication skills -- written, verbal, presentation
  • Aptitude to manage numerous requests and time demands concurrently, while achieving production goals from assigned territory or set of accounts
  • Promotes a strong sense of urgency for reaching goals and key deliverables. Acts without being told what to do. Brings new ideas to the company
  • Contributes fully to the team effort and plays an integral part in the smooth running of teams without necessarily taking the lead
  • Drive, Grit, Team Oriented: strong desire to compete and win
  • BA/BS degree or relevant experience

 

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Sales Development Representative Job Description: Example 2

The Sales Development Representative is tasked with identifying and generating sales opportunities through both inbound and outbound calling activities. The right candidate will be one who works well under pressure, thinks out-of-the-box, easily initiates relaxed but informative two-way phone conversations with prospects, and is highly self-motivated. The right candidate will also understand how to assess a company’s needs and cater the outreach to each prospect specifically.

Responsibilities

  • Follow-up on inbound marketing leads and identify qualified opportunities providing appropriate levels of information at the right time for interested prospects
  • Be responsible for educating and developing prospects leading to hand-off to sales teams
  • Create target prospects lists and penetrate key accounts
  • Cold call into prospects generated by variety of outside sources
  • Identify key players, researching and obtaining business requirements, and presenting solutions to begin sales cycle
  • Profile strategic accounts identifying key individuals, researching and obtaining business requirements and presenting solutions to start the sales cycle
  • Set appointments for [redacted] sales team when a lead reaches a qualified stage
  • Nurture new marketing leads by educating and developing prospects until they are ready to speak with a field sales rep
  • Drive attendance for webinars and live seminars, set meetings for conferences
  • Collaborate with sales and marketing team members on strategic sales approach
  • Ensure successful follow through of sales cycle by maintaining accurate activity and lead qualification information in CRM application

Qualifications

This entry-level position requires an ambitious self-starter and someone that can effectively process inbound inquiries and identify qualified leads and opportunities. Relationship selling skills, with the ability to manage sales calls at varying levels of customer accounts, are essential.

  • 1+ year of successful experience in telemarketing, preferably in [redacted]
  • Exceptional communication skills, both oral and written, coupled with excellent listening skills and a positive and energetic phone presence
  • Demonstrated success in prospecting [redacted]
  • Extremely self-motivated with a diligent work ethic
  • High level of integrity and strong commitment to building a successful company
  • Ability to work independently as well as part of a team in a fast-paced environment
  • Adept computer skills including proficiency with Microsoft Office
  • Experience with CRM applications preferred
  • Bachelor’s degree strongly preferred, high school diploma or equivalent required

 

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Sales Development Representative Job Description: Example 3

[redacted], we’re looking for a consultative and tenacious Sales Development Representative to join our growing sales team in [redacted]. Help us solve real-world problems while streamlining the inefficient industry of [redacted].

What you’ll do:

  • Identify and qualify new sales opportunities for [redacted];
  • Learn how [redacted] works from the ground up and build the foundation for your career at [redacted];
  • Work with your dedicated Account Executives to identify ongoing strategic targets;
  • Demonstrate the value of our offering through phone calls, email, LinkedIn and other social mediums;
  • Research your target companies and prepare executive summaries to turn your Sales Executive into a guru ahead of their calls;
  • Diligently update SalesForce, our CRM, to stay current on leads and follow-ups;
  • Shadow your dedicated Account Executive in meetings and other activities to help you acquire the skills you’ll need for next role on the [redacted] sales team.

What you’ll need:

  • BA/BS degree preferred and 1-3 years of professional work experience in [redacted].
  • Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills. You should be a great writer, speaker, and listener.
  • Fearlessness - willing to hop on the phone with new people every single day and explain [redacted] value proposition as it relates to each individual you speak with.
  • An obsession with prospect happiness - set the stage for effective sales follow-up.
  • The courage to challenge the status quo when logic and reason require it. See something broken? Fix it.
  • Flexibility - things change around here. FAST.
  • The intellectual horsepower to become a guide on [redacted] in a matter of weeks, and the curiosity to keep learning about all its intricacies for years to come.
  • A deep understanding of email communication. You keep the inbox at zero.

 

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Sales Development Representative Job Description: Example 4

Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) are responsible for identifying and creating new qualified sales opportunities in Target Accounts for their regional Account Executives. The SDR will become a trusted resource and develop relationships with prospects, acting as the initial point of contact. This role will be primarily focused around researching the Target Accounts in your territory and performing outreach through emails, calls, and social media. You will have the opportunity to be closely mentored and professionally developed by more seasoned [redacted] sales professionals.

Responsibilities

  • Promoting and marketing [redacted] business through extensive and persistent cold calling, emails and communication(s) to prospective clients
  • Scheduling Initial Prospecting Meetings for the Sales Team
  • Providing in depth information to the Sales team to enable the most qualified and productive demos
  • Researching and evaluating additional leads/prospects through web research
  • Meet or exceed assigned quota of a minimum of 40 calls / 30 emails per day
  • Working together with the Sales Director to grow a specific sales territory
  • Working with the Sales Director to support the acquisition of new accounts in the region
  • Help as needed to build awareness on special projects / events
  • Maintaining all contacts/opportunities and recording all progress in Salesforce

Requirements

  • 1+ years of progressively responsible marketing, inside sales or business development related sales experience (preferred)
  • Proven track record demonstrating strong articulation of a product selling points via phone and email
  • Ability to assist in coordinating sales functions including prospecting and leads research
  • [redacted] knowledge is highly preferred
  • Four-year post-secondary education/Bachelor's degree (preferred)
  • Positive attitude and demonstrated ability to deal with rejection
  • Strong oral and written communication skills along with excellent listening skills
  • Ability to develop rapport, influence others and maintain strong working relationships
  • Demonstrated ability to explain complex issues clearly
  • Must be self-motivated, persistent, and able to work independently

 

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Sales Development Representative Job Description: Example 5

[redacted] is looking for a motivated and talented Sales Development Representative to join our growing team. Your primary responsibility is to help turn leads into qualified opportunities by partnering with marketing and sales to create and execute on program and outbound lead generation campaigns. This position requires heavy outbound phone calling, qualification, consultative selling skills and tight collaboration with the Account Executives to generate new opportunities. The SDR will be expected to report on qualification and call activity and stay thoroughly informed on all products and the [redacted] industry in general.

This is not a silo position. We want a collaborative and energetic individual that can contribute to the sales and marketing teams, work in a dynamic environment, deliver messaging and product feedback back into the marketing and product organization and work proactively to drive overall sales performance.

Responsibilities

  • Develop opportunities for the sales team from prospecting and marketing generated leads
  • Interact with prospects via telephone and email with a high attention to detail
  • Consistently achieve qualified opportunity quotas to ensure territory revenue objectives
  • Develop and execute on a strong prospecting plan of attack, including email and call scripts
  • Track all relevant qualification and lead management activity using Salesforce.com
  • Quickly learn the [redacted] product, effectively communicate the value proposition and be able to react to objections and competitive questions
  • Research accounts, identify key players, generate interest and develop accounts to stimulate opportunities
  • Disseminate opportunities to appropriate AE, educating rep as necessary about the opportunity

Key Requirements

  • 2-3 years of proven excellence in business development, inside sales and/or sales
  • Experience in [redacted] is strongly desired
  • Experience using Salesforce.com or comparable CRM strongly desired
  • Experience using Outreach would be a strong plus
  • Experience in the [redacted] industry would be a strong plus
  • Strong understanding of SDR and lead development best practices and procedures
  • Proven ability to perform successfully given low oversight and limited process
  • 100% reliable and detail-oriented. A drive to execute flawlessly.
  • Positive can-do attitude and tireless work ethic. Driven and self-sufficient.
  • Must live and breathe startups with broad responsibilities, crazy busy, dynamic environment, lots of responsibility and lots of fun

 

Sales Development Representative Job Description Template

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Now it’s time for you to write your job description, but if you’re still not sure where to start, we’ve created a template you can tailor to your own needs. The bullet points below are among the most common responsibilities and requirements found on SDR job descriptions, but you'll want to consult with your sales team to make sure you're not forgetting anything.

Again, this is a job description template, so make sure to adjust it to your specific hiring needs.

 

Company Bio

[Use this section to provide an attention grabbing overview of your company. Include information about your culture, perks and benefits, career development opportunities and anything else that will get candidates excited about your company.]

Responsibilities

  •  Follow-up on inbound leads and provide appropriate information to foster lead relationships.
  • Maintain detailed documentation and analysis of leads in the [insert CRM tool].
  • Act as a subject matter expert on [insert product/service].
  • Research target leads and create analysis of the prospect before handing them off to an Account Executive, Sales Director or sales team.
  • Educate leads on [insert product/service] and nurture them until they are qualified and ready to talk with an Account Executive, Sales Director or the sales team.
  • Qualify and engage sales leads, supplying leads with adequate information about [insert product or service] and providing the sales team with detailed information about the lead.
  • Schedule appointments, demos and introduce leads to their new point of contact [Account Executive,  Sales Director or another salesperson].
  • Call X prospects and email X prospects each day.

Requirements

  • Required: High school diploma or equivalent. Preferred: Bachelor's degree in sales, marketing, market research, financial services, consulting, business development, investment banking or client success.
  • X years of experience in sales, marketing or telemarketing.
  • X years of experience with sales tools, including [insert sales tools].
  • Proven track record for articulating a product/service and building rapport with prospects.
  • Strong communication skills, including written, verbal, presentation and on social media.
  • Ability to pinpoint customer pain points and accurately assess the transactional value for both the company and customer.
  • Self-motivated, tenacious, confident, independent and strong attention to detail.
  • Schedule appointments, demos and introduce leads to their new Account Executive or Sales Director.

 

Sales Development Representative Salary Information

This is a section you do not want to overlook. Salary information is an essential part of the job description. Don’t believe us? Check out this article.

Below are the average salaries for Sales Development Representatives in seven of the top tech employment markets in the United States. For further research, click on each bullet to reach our local compensation analysis tools.

Cross Market Average Salary for Sales Development Representative: $49,356

 

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