This week Sam Feldotto, Head of Sales Growth at Sales Reply, shared this statistic from a report by Revenue Collective - after surveying hundreds of sales & marketing executives that manage $26B in revenue and have over 3,000 SDRs reporting to them.

Sam posed the question, “Do you think sales development is broken?” Here is how I answered below.

Not surprised. Most of the SDR teams that I work with lack clarity on the following and struggle accordingly:

PURPOSE/MINDSET

Why is it in their potential customers best interest (not the company they work for) to agree to a meeting? Leadership have not clearly shared what their purpose is. Hitting metrics isn't enough to tap into intrinsic motivations for most SDRs, nor is money for that matter. (Without a clear purpose, many will struggle to execute in tough times or good).

In the absence of a clear purpose, I suggest the following to my clients who haven’t defined theirs: "To improve (ideally and dramatically) the potential customer’s business and personal condition." This seems to work for most that I consult and coach with.

VALUE

Sure, the company says that the product/solution is really good and delivers massive ROI, but do SDRs truly believe it - when they've never heard existing customers share theirs before and after stories? All they read is testimonials that marketing has put together. Sell no. 1 is to themselves. They need to BELIEVE...

Many/most don't believe or are unaware of what the real value of their solutions/products deliver to customers. Make sure to include customers or video testimonials in your onboarding programs (most onboarding programs are 180% backwards - focused on why choose us...when they should be focused on the customer and why should they change and why now) so that your SDRs get external proof of value. That’s much more impactful and believable than coming from their own company.

MESSAGING

Most prospecting emails, voicemails and live scripts are awful. Again, a function of backwards onboarding - messaging tends to be self-serving and built on "why choose" us and a value prop generator that starts with "We help B2B companies to..." This shows us as "we can help," "we work with," "we lead the xxx space," "we serve clients in your market" - "weeweeweeweewee." STOP weeweeeing on customers (and sending out weewee messaging)! They don't like it...

STATUS QUO

VP and below job titles are typically "doers." They're not "planners" (and yes, of course there are exceptions). Their job is to execute on initiatives already decided on by senior decision makers, NOT introduce change. 95% are in status quo. And yet, this is where most SDRs are told to prospect into by their leaders. (I couldn’t find a duh icon to insert here).

Below are results of a small SDR team that addressed the above and added to a robust process/cadence that was in place. Less work generated with much better results.

What would add to the above list? Have I missed anything?

If your SDR team has been struggling to hit their goals and it’s been more than 30 days, it’s time to get outside help. Give me a call.