Why BDR/SDRs are more important to a startup than AEs
I’ve worked for 6 startups. 3 ran out of money. 2 are doing OK. 1 sold for $100 Million.
At these, I’ve been a BDR/SDR, partnership manager, sales manager and full cycle AE. The companies that failed had very little pipeline due to little investment in continual prospecting. The ones doing OK have more AEs than BDRs. The one that sold had a BDR team 4x the size of the AE team.
An established company (Google, Amazon, Reddit, etc) doesn’t really have to sell itself. People know what they do, and arguably wouldn’t need as many BDR/SDRs. But a new company with a new solution absolutely needs to get in front of as many potential customers as possible. In short, they need meetings.
A really good BDR/SDR will get meetings, allowing AEs to focus on closing deals. But for some reason, companies often treat BDRs as entry level folks, promising “rapid promotion to AE” Why? If someone is good at filling the pipeline with qualified leads, why turn off the hose?
At the company that sold, I started as a BDR, broke records, and was then promoted to AE. The sales pipeline started to drop so management asked me to go back to hunting, focusing on whales. I wasn’t doing 100 touches a day. I was doing research, targeting the right people and conducting strategic outreach. I got a base, commission, plus a percentage of the 1st month’s revenue of a new account - which encouraged me to go after the largest prospects (and get paid as well as most AEs). I ended up bringing in 5 of the company’s largest accounts.
So why did I make that initial claim? When I booked a whale, I assigned the meeting to a rotating cast of AEs. One was spectacular and the rest simply OK. Just about everyone closed a big deal, but it wasn’t based on their skill. It was based on the client’s needs. We had a really good solution. With a couple of big prospects, the AE left (or was let go), but the deal still closed because the prospect wanted the product. And that’s the whole game… finding the people who need the solution. Maybe a great AE can sell someone a product they don’t need, but most companies will fly or die based on the number of conversations they can generate.
All six companies had really good solutions. But founders are often blinded by their intense belief that everyone will love the product and it will sell itself. You can’t sit back and wait.
As the worl'd oldest SDR/BDR (maybe!), I’m finishing up a role with a company that just decided they don’t need BDRs/SDRs anymore. I filled 60% of their pipeline in my first 3 months. I think they are going to regret that decision because I booked 5x as many meetings as all the AEs combined. In any case, if you have good BDRs, pay them well and let them do what they do best… hunt. Then everyone else can eat.
