Qualities of High-Performing SDRs

Business leaders are stepping up their growth strategies to drive sales and increase revenue.  

If you’re one of these leaders, chances are you’ve explored ways to create a high-performing SDR function. Whether in-house or outsourced, having the right team in place is essential to build the right pipeline and revenue.  

But what exactly sets top-performing SDR teams apart?  

Input, Output, Outcomes & Insight 

For high-performing SDRs, success isn’t just about hitting outreach targets, it’s about overachieving and creating meaningful outcomes. This means tracking and analysing performance beyond just activity metrics.  

Metrics every SDR should be reporting on:  

• Volume of outreach (Input) 

• Meetings booked and conversations generated (Output) 

• MQLs, SQLs, opportunities created and the conversion rates between stages (Outcomes) 

• Market insights and prospect feedback (Insight) 

Beyond just reporting numbers, high-performing SDRs focus on continuous improvement using data to refine their strategy. This not only strengthens their performance but also provides valuable insights for both marketing and sales leadership.  

“We look at four key measures at durhamlane: input, output, outcomes and insight. That insight piece is very important… If a prospect says ‘No’ to the proposition, we should be reporting back to the customer why they’ve said that. If someone says ‘Yes’, we should be explaining why.” - Richard Lane, CEO, durhamlane (RevGen Digital Summit) 

Seamless Extension  

High-performing SDR teams operate in lockstep with your sales and marketing objectives. This means a deep understanding of your value proposition, buyer personas, ideal customer profile and buying journey.  

Success starts with clear communication and collaboration between SDRs and marketing. The best SDRs ensure there’s a shared understanding of sales and marketing goals, expected outcomes, and the messaging needed to resonate with your target audience.  

For SDRs, alignment with marketing is just as crucial as it is with sales. By proactively sharing insights from their prospecting efforts – whether it’s buyer objections, emerging trends, or feedback on messaging- top SDR teams use these insights to refine their approach and marketing strategies. This continuous feedback loop ensures outreach remains effective, messaging stays relevant, and both teams are working towards the same revenue goals.  

Through this synergy, SDRs give you total visibility of their processes, so you know what to expect.  This will ensure there are no surprises or complications when activity gets underway. 

Proven Capability 

The business environment has changed tremendously over the last 18 months, and this means many of your established lead generation methods now need to be thrown out the window. So, how do you solve this problem?   

Key adapting traits of an agile SDR include:  

• The ability to pivot messaging based on metrics and prospect feedback.  

• Using data-driven approaches to refine targeting and outreach.  

• Adopting technology to improve efficiency.  

• The creativity to differentiate in a world of outreach noise. 
   

By combining these factors, top SDR teams ensure they are always delivering value and maintaining momentum in the sales pipeline.  

Building a High-Performing SDR Function 

Building a High-Performing SDR function is a never-ending task of recruitment, continuous training and development. This is hugely rewarding when you get it right, but it comes with its challenges of talent attraction, staff churn and dedicating the time on development.  

Whether you’re developing an in-house team or partnering with an outsourced provider, the principles of high-performing SDRs remain the same: alignment, proven capability, execution, and data-driven insights. By ensuring these elements are in place, you can build an SDR function that consistently delivers results and contributes to sustained revenue growth.