Sales Development Representative
Definition
Sales Development Representative
A sales development representative qualifies inbound leads and prospects outbound accounts to book meetings for account executives. The role owns the top of the sales funnel: the first calls, emails, and notes that turn a total stranger into real pipeline.
Every B2B SaaS and services firm running an outbound motion sits on top of an SDR team. Without them, account executives spend all day prospecting instead of closing.
The role trades on volume, resilience, and rapid coaching cycles. Great SDRs get promoted to closer roles inside 18 months; the rest usually leave, so retention math shapes every SDR org design.
Key takeaways
- Sales development representatives book meetings — pipeline, not revenue, is their scorecard.
- Two shapes: inbound SDRs qualify demo requests; outbound SDRs cold-prospect target accounts.
- Standard KPI stack: meetings booked, meetings held, sales-accepted opportunities, and cycle time.
- Offshore SDR teams in Manila cost roughly 30-40% of a US-based SDR while covering the same time zones.
How it works
A sales development representative works from a target account list or an inbound lead queue. They run a daily cadence of calls, emails, and LinkedIn touches, scoring prospects against a fit-and-intent checklist, then handing qualified leads to an account executive.
The role sits between marketing and sales. Marketing generates leads or account signals; the SDR converts those into booked meetings; the account executive runs the sales cycle from there.
| Motion | Primary activity | Metric moved |
|---|---|---|
| Inbound qualification | Demo-request follow-up, MQL scoring | Speed to lead |
| Outbound prospecting | Cold calls, sequences, LinkedIn | Meetings booked |
| Account research | ICP fit, buying-signal scan | Opportunity quality |
| Meeting handoff | Notes, next-step booking | AE acceptance rate |
A typical outbound SDR runs 40-80 cold touches per day across calls, emails, and social. Cadences last 12-18 days and use 6-10 touches per prospect. Reply rates land around 2-5% for cold outbound in most B2B categories.
Tooling is dense: Salesforce or HubSpot for CRM, Outreach or Salesloft for cadences, LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting, Gong or Chorus for call review, and often ZoomInfo or Apollo for data.
SDRs report into a sales development manager. Career paths lead to account executive after 12-24 months of hitting quota, or to sales operations, enablement, or SDR leadership for those who prefer the coaching path.
Offshore SDR teams became standard after 2020, especially in Manila, Cebu, and Bogota. Companies like Deel, Rippling, and Notion staff meaningful chunks of their outbound motion offshore covering the same US business hours.
Examples
Sales development is the entry point for most B2B sales orgs. In 2024, Salesforce, Snowflake, and Zoom all posted SDR roles across their US, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific delivery hubs.
Salesforce built its SDR function into the modern shape — the “Business Development Representative” role at Salesforce sits under Marketing Development, ties to specific account executives, and follows a 12-month promotion path.
Snowflake hired offshore SDRs through 2023-24 across Warsaw and Manila to support the enterprise sales team, focused on named-account outbound prospecting into Fortune 500 IT and data-platform buyers globally.
HubSpot runs a full inbound SDR motion tied to its own inbound-marketing engine — SDRs qualify demo requests generated by content and paid channels, with roughly 20-30% converting to sales-accepted meetings.
Deel, the global payroll firm, uses Manila-based SDRs to run outbound campaigns into US and European mid-market accounts, keeping quota parity with the US team while operating at roughly 35% of US fully loaded cost.
Related terms
Sales development sits inside a family of sales roles covering the funnel from cold to close. The bullets below map the closest neighbouring roles an SDR partners with across most B2B sales orgs today.
- Business Development Representative: the outbound-focused variant; often used interchangeably with SDR at some companies.
- Account Executive: the closer role SDRs hand meetings to.
- Lead Generation: the broader marketing-and-sales discipline SDRs run inside.
- Sales Enablement Manager: builds the playbooks and coaching SDRs run.
- Outbound Sales Agent: the B2C cousin; SDR is the B2B version.
- Sales Operations Manager: owns the tools and reporting SDRs work inside.
FAQ
What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR?
Both prospect for a sales team. At most firms, SDRs qualify inbound leads while BDRs run outbound. At others the terms are interchangeable, with either title covering both motions inside one job.
What does an SDR do all day?
They run cold calls, personalise email sequences, message LinkedIn prospects, and qualify inbound demo requests. Meetings booked and meetings held are the two numbers a good SDR watches every day.
How much do sales development representatives earn?
In the US, mid-market SDRs earn between $50,000 and $80,000 on-target earnings as of 2024. Offshore SDRs in Manila earn between $18,000 and $32,000 fully loaded per year on average.
Can SDRs be outsourced offshore?
Yes. Manila, Cebu, and Bogota host SDR teams supporting US and European B2B companies. Time-zone coverage of US business hours from Manila needs a night shift, which most providers staff.
What tools do SDRs use?
Salesforce or HubSpot, plus Outreach or Salesloft for cadences and LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting.
Ready to scale your SDR team offshore? Browse vetted BPO providers on the Outsource Accelerator Hubs directory.
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