Career series - FAQ on "How I unstuck from SDRland"

Disclaimer:?

The terms SDR and BDR are not universally standardized in the tech industry. For clarity in this article, SDR mean a salesperson who exclusively handles the inbound sales qualification step. BDR is referring to a salesperson who does outbound activities, such as cold calling / cold emailing, to generate opportunities.

The difference between SDR roles, BDR roles and AE roles in the sales cycle are shown in the graph below.

Q: How did I transition from SDR/BDR to AE?

In an earlier post, I explained in detail how I transitioned from an inbound SDR to an outbound BDR and eventually became an AE. If you haven't read that one, I highly recommend you read that piece first for the context of this piece.

Q: What are hiring managers looking for when hiring AEs vs. SDRs?

Disclaimer: hiring managers differ greatly on what they are looking for when they hire people, whether for AE or SDR or BDR roles. So below are just my opinion.

Generally speaking, SDR/BDR roles are seen as the most junior sales role. So hiring managers are generally not looking for people who have a lot of experience or sales skills. They are willing to take in fresh graduates or people with just 1-2 years of doing end-to-end sales experience and teach them the necessary skills. This is because the SDR or BDR role only takes care of the very beginning of the sales cycle, so it is a role that is highly repetitive, thus good to be used as a training ground.

In contrast, AE roles involve managing the entire sales cycle, starting from the first discovery call (a step SDRs/BDRs know how to do) all the way to negotiation and contract signing. The sales cycles can vary in duration, spanning from a few weeks to several months and each sales cycle could present totally different obstacles. So it is not as easy to learn and requires more time to master.?

Therefore, most companies seek salespeople with prior experience in managing the sales cycle for AE positions. This is because the opportunity cost of letting a newbie-SDR/BDR-turned-AE ruin qualified opportunities is too high for many companies, especially startups that rely on their own revenue to survive.

The biggest challenge for SDR/BDR to go to the AE role is to show the hiring manager you have a proven track record of closing deals, which normally SDR/BDR doesn’t have.?

Q: How did I overcome this challenge?

As mentioned in this post, during my time as an Outbound BDR, I had the opportunity to stand in for our Enterprise AEs due to a hiring gap that lasted for three months. During job interviews, I would delve into this experience to demonstrate my understanding of closing opportunities. Of course, running just one sales cycle is different from handling hundreds, but it was better than none.

I knew that not all hiring managers were open to hiring SDRs/BDRs for AE roles, regardless of the SDR's/BDR’s potential. However, some were more willing to take a chance on me than others. So it was essential to meet as many hiring managers as possible. I went to all the job interviews I could possibly secure.?

Then, I approached the job interviews as if they were sales calls, with the distinction being that this time I was selling myself. My strategy was to compensate for my lack of experience by showcasing my capabilities. For instance, I thoroughly researched the company's product and customer case studies from their website and mentally prepared a territory plan. During interviews, I would share my insights on how I would approach the market. This proactive attitude set me apart because not all candidates went the extra mile. It was this kind of attitude that many hiring managers were looking for.?

If the hiring manager hadn't already requested a mock sales call or demo, I would offer them when I sensed the hiring manager had an open mind. I did this because I was confident I would do it well.

One important point, I never hid the fact that I was SDR/BDR in the interview. Usually, I would bring it up at the beginning of the conversation. If it was a deal-breaker for the hiring manager, I would rather not waste their time. Many hiring managers appreciated this upfront approach. By doing that, they also sensed that I was confident about myself. That was super important.?

Beside preparing as much as possible for the interview, I also think whom you approach matters a lot. I found that startups were more willing to give SDRs/BDRs a chance compared to more established companies. Startups like Pointpal, lacking the brand recognition and proven track record of larger firms, struggled to attract stronger candidates, thus gave me a competitive advantage.?

Q: But what if someone did not have the experience like you to stand in for your AE, how can they transition from a SDR/BDR role at one company into an AE role at another company?

That would indeed be very very difficult. Though many SDRs still made it. I think a lot of the time, it is just luck, i.e. you met them at the right timing and you happened to be the best candidate they could get.

Therefore, I believe it is always easier to get to AE through internal promotion. The good news is that most companies with SDR or BDR teams do offer such a career path.

I think internal promotion is the least risky path for SDRs/BDRs because you're already familiar with the product, sales process, and your hiring manager likely sees your potential in the AE role, making them committed to your success.

You already know how to do the initial qualification call, and the only part you need to focus on now is the portion from after the initial call until the prospect signs the contract. Just for this portion, there are already enough things for the SDR to learn. But you have an advantage of seeing your AEs close your opportunities before. Don’t underestimate the exposure you gain by watching. They would be super helpful.

Examples of such SDR would be ZY. He joined salesforce.com as a fresh graduate and was later promoted from SDR to AE. Salesforce.com divided the AE roles into different segments i.e. Very Small Business (VSB), Small Business (SB), Mid Market (MM) and Enterprise.

A VSB or SB AE would be focusing on companies of up to 200 employees, and these VSB or SB companies had less complicated decision making process than the Mid Market or Enterprise companies. Therefore it is a relatively easier sales cycle to manage. With numerous opportunities to close, like closing 60 deals in a quarter, it provided newbie AEs like ZY a chance to hone specifically just on the closing skills. To draw an analogy, ZY received the ball (qualified opportunities) from his SDR (me) and could focus on practicing just the shooting part. That helped him to succeed very quickly as an AE.

On the other hand, transitioning from an SDR/BDR role at one company to an AE role at another company can be quite challenging. In addition to learning how to manage the sales cycle, you must also learn to sell a new product, get accustomed to possibly a different sales process, and sometimes even familiarize yourselves with a new market. These factors can add extra stress for young SDRs/BDRs.

Example of such an SDR would be W. W went from being an SDR at an established company similar to salesforce.com to an AE at a company that recently established its Asian sales office in Singapore (although the company headquarters had been around for a few years). While the new company had an SDR team to pass him opportunities, these SDRs were not well-trained. W found that only 1/3 of the opportunities passed to him were properly qualified with pain points, and the remaining 2/3 required re-qualification and often ended up as dead leads. His calendar was full of calls, however many of those calls didn't result in actual pipeline. Additionally, W had to adapt to a new market he was unfamiliar with. He still managed to hit his quota by working 70 hours a week, including weekends. His time went to 1) coaching his SDR to better qualify because there was no SDR manager, 2) learning about the new product, 3) figure out the sales cycle of this new product. This inevitably led to W’s burn out.

Myself was another example. When I moved from salesforce.com to Pointpal, a company just starting to sell, I didn't have to deal with qualification problems since there were no SDRs. However, I had to learn new knowledge about B2C loyalty programs which was a completely new domain to me. The sales cycle for this product was significantly shorter than that of salesforce.com CRM. Yet, my job scope expanded far beyond the sales cycle, encompassing onboarding, typically handled by customer success, and ongoing support, usually managed by customer support. Essentially, once I closed a deal, I became responsible for everything related to the customer. This expanded scope meant that my working hours extended well beyond the typical Monday to Friday’s working hours. Working on Saturday was common. And I was also very close to burn out.?

However, I do know that internal promotion could be hard to come by, just like what happened to me at salesforce.com. So if outside opportunities present themselves, e.g. headhunters find you, then go for it. Just be aware of the hidden risks when you make your decision, especially if you want to intentionally choose a startup (companies of seed rounds or early stages) to catch the high growth potential.

Q: Apart from consistently achieving or overachieving the SDR/BDR quota, what else can a SDR/BDR do to prepare himself/herself for the AE role?"

I did 2 things.

1. When I was doing the inbound SDR role, I learnt about the sales cycle by following my opportunities in the CRM system. AEs at salesforce.com were asked to log their activities such as calls, meetings, emails in the CRM, so I got exposure of what sales cycles could look like.?In the beginning, I thought “managing sales cycle” must be a really difficult thing because everybody made such a big deal out of it. But after I followed hundreds of my opportunities that got closed, I started to see patterns. I also examined my opportunities that didn’t get closed. They helped me realize that “managing the sales cycle” was not that difficult if the initial qualification were done correctly.?
2. While I was still in the inbound SDR role, occasionally we encountered very small deals, like 3 Starter Editions. Most AEs didn't have the time to run a sales cycle for these small deals, so I asked my AEs if they were okay with letting me handle them. Some of my AEs were kind enough to let me conduct demos or address questions under their supervision, giving me valuable hands-on experience.

Q: How do you address the interviewer's question “Why did you leave your (SDR) role? and Why such a short tenure?”

I am pretty honest when I answer these questions.?

For leaving the SDR role,? my reason was “I have learnt everything I could from the SDR role and I have been consistently achieving my quota. So I am looking for more challenges. And my current employer doesn't have headcount for internal promotions.”?

For someone with no prior sales experience, I think spending at least 1 year in an Inbound SDR/BDR or Outbound SDR/BDR role is about right for learning all the skills.?

If you are forced to leave the role in a very short time, like I did when Pointpal went bust, I would just give the reason “the company went bust” or “I had been laid off”. I think those are totally legitimate answers.

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