SDR meaning — Sales Development Representative

What is SDR?

An SDR (Sales Development Representative) is responsible for the first conversation a prospect has with your company. Depending on the org, that means qualifying inbound leads that came from marketing, or cold-calling into target accounts, or both. The SDR's output is a qualified meeting: a conversation with someone who fits the ideal customer profile, has a problem worth solving, and has agreed to a specific time. Everything else — the demo, the proposal, the negotiation — belongs to the Account Executive. The role exists because prospecting and closing are genuinely different skills with different rhythms, and asking one person to do both usually means neither gets done. SDRs typically live in a metrics-heavy environment: dials, connects, conversation rate, meetings booked, meetings held, and pipeline generated. The best ones are not the loudest; they are the ones who prepare the list properly and stay composed for the ten seconds after the prospect pushes back.

When to use SDR

• Companies with more inbound leads than AEs can follow up on within an hour
• Outbound motions targeting a defined list of named accounts
• Any sales team where AEs are spending more than 30% of their time prospecting
• Post-funding scale-ups that need predictable pipeline rather than founder-led deals

Real examples

• Inbound SDR: respond to a demo request within five minutes, qualify against ICP, book the AE.
• Outbound SDR: 200 accounts per month, 3 contacts per account, multi-channel sequence over 18 days.
• Quota example: 12-20 held meetings per month depending on deal size and segment.

Common mistakes

• Talking for the whole first call. An SDR call should run near a 40% talk ratio — see the talk ratio calculator.
• Sequencing everyone identically. Personalisation at the account level beats volume once connect rates drop.
• Chasing booked meetings instead of held meetings. A no-show costs you the slot and the AE's trust.
• Not recording or reviewing calls, which means the same mistake repeats for six months.

Want to practice SDR live? Run a roleplay with an AI buyer.