What is a Sales Development Representative (SDR)? A Complete Guide for 2025

Last updated: August 20, 2025

Sarah started as an SDR at a cybersecurity startup in 2022. Today, she's booking 15+ qualified meetings per month and earning £65k. Here's why the SDR role has become the fastest route into B2B tech sales—and why every growing company needs them.

If you've been wondering what Sales Development Representatives actually do, whether you should become one, or if your company needs to hire one, this guide has everything you need to know based on real data from 500+ SDR placements.

Quick Answer: What is an SDR?

An SDR (Sales Development Representative) is someone who finds potential customers, reaches out to them, qualifies their interest, and books meetings for the sales team. They're essentially the engine that fills your sales pipeline with qualified prospects.

Think of it this way: If your sales team are the closers who win deals, SDRs are the hunters who find the opportunities.

Whether you're considering hiring an SDR, exploring outsourced SDR services, or thinking about becoming one yourself, understanding this role is crucial for modern B2B success.

Table of Contents

• What Does an SDR Actually Do?
• SDR vs BDR vs AE: What's the Difference?
• How Much Do SDRs Earn?
• The SDR Career Path
• Essential SDR Skills
• A Real Day in the Life of an SDR
• SDR Tools and Technology
• How SDRs Are Measured
• Should You Hire an SDR?
• Build vs Buy: Internal vs Outsourced SDRs

What Does an SDR Actually Do?

Here's what Sarah (our cybersecurity SDR) does in practice:

1. Research Potential Customers

• Identifies companies that fit the ideal customer profile
• Finds decision-makers using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, company websites, and sales tools
• Researches pain points, recent news, and business triggers

Example: Sarah finds a manufacturing company that just announced a digital transformation initiative. Perfect timing for cybersecurity solutions. This type of trigger-based prospecting is exactly what we help companies with through our B2B sales development services.

2. Multi-Channel Outreach

• Sends personalized emails (not spam!)
• Makes strategic phone calls
• Connects on LinkedIn with valuable insights
• Follows up persistently but professionally

Sarah's approach: She noticed her prospect's company had a data breach mention in the news. Her email referenced this and offered a security assessment—instant relevance.

Many companies leverage professional appointment setting services to handle this outreach systematically and professionally. See how we helped Totalmobile and Radaro scale their outreach effectively.

3. Qualify Interest

• Determines if prospects have budget, authority, need, and timing (BANT criteria)
• Asks discovery questions to understand challenges
• Scores leads based on fit and intent

4. Book Qualified Meetings

• Schedules demos for the Account Executive team
• Provides context and background on each prospect
• Ensures smooth handoffs to the sales team

The result: Sarah's meetings have an 85% show rate because they're properly qualified and relevant.

SDR vs BDR vs AE: What's the Difference?

Role	Focus	Activities	Typical Experience
SDR	Inbound leads + outbound	Qualify marketing leads, light prospecting	0-2 years
BDR	Pure outbound	Cold prospecting, new market penetration	1-3 years
AE	Closing deals	Demos, negotiations, closing	3+ years

In practice: Most companies use "SDR" as a catch-all term. What matters is the actual responsibilities, not the title. Learn more about the differences in our SDR vs BDR comparison.

How Much Do SDRs Earn?

UK Market (2025 data from our placements):

• Entry Level: £25k-35k base + £10k-15k commission = £35k-50k total
• Experienced: £35k-45k base + £15k-25k commission = £50k-70k total
• Senior/Team Lead: £45k-55k base + £20k-30k commission = £65k-85k total

Top performers can earn £80k+ in their second year.

US Market:

• Entry Level: $45k-55k base + $15k-25k commission = $60k-80k total
• Experienced: $55k-65k base + $25k-35k commission = $80k-100k total

Key factors affecting salary:

• Company size and funding stage
• Industry (FinTech and cybersecurity pay more)
• Location (London/SF pay premiums)
• Individual performance

Real example: Tom, an SDR at a SaaS company in Manchester, earned £72k in his second year by consistently hitting 120% of quota.

According to Glassdoor's latest data, SDR salaries have increased 15% year-over-year due to high demand for skilled sales development professionals.

The SDR Career Path

Typical progression (based on our client placements):

Month 1-3: Learning Mode

• Product training and sales enablement
• Sales process training
• Shadowing experienced SDRs
• Ramping up activity levels

Month 4-12: Hitting Stride

• Consistent quota achievement
• Developing personal outreach style
• Building industry knowledge
• Meeting quality improvements

Year 2: Mastery & Growth

• Mentoring new SDRs
• Process optimization
• Considering next role

Common Next Steps:

1. Account Executive (70% of our SDRs)
2. Customer Success Manager (15%)
3. Marketing (10%)
4. SDR Team Lead/Manager (5%)

Fast track tip: The best SDRs become AEs within 18-24 months. The key? Consistent performance and strong relationships with the sales team.

Essential SDR Skills

Based on 500+ SDR interviews and placements, here are the skills that actually matter:

1. Research Skills

Why it matters: Generic outreach gets ignored. Personalized, relevant outreach gets responses.

In practice: Good SDRs spend 60% of their time researching, 40% reaching out.

Tools that help: ZoomInfo, Clearbit, and Crunchbase for company intelligence.

2. Written Communication

Reality check: You'll send 50+ emails per day. Poor writing = poor results.

What works: Clear, concise, value-focused messages that speak to business pain.

3. Persistence Without Being Annoying

The balance: Following up 5-7 times while remaining professional and helpful.

Sarah's secret: She provides value in every follow-up (industry insights, relevant content, market trends).

4. Active Listening

On discovery calls: The best SDRs talk 30% of the time, listen 70%.

5. Coachability

Career maker: The SDRs who progress fastest are the ones who implement feedback immediately.

6. Basic Tech Skills

Must-haves: CRM proficiency, Excel/Google Sheets, sales engagement platforms.

A Real Day in the Life of an SDR

Here's Sarah's actual Tuesday (she shared her calendar with us):

9:00 AM - Morning Planning

• Review yesterday's activity and responses
• Check emails and book any interested prospects
• Plan today's outreach priorities based on best-fit accounts

9:30 AM - Research Block

• Research 20 new prospects using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and ZoomInfo
• Update CRM with findings and trigger events
• Craft personalized email templates for each prospect type

11:00 AM - Outreach Block #1

• Send 25 personalized emails using Outreach sequences
• Make 15 strategic phone calls to warm prospects
• Connect with 10 prospects on LinkedIn with valuable insights

1:00 PM - Lunch & Admin

• CRM updates and data hygiene
• Follow-up scheduling and calendar management
• Team standup meeting and knowledge sharing

2:00 PM - Discovery Calls

• Two 30-minute qualification calls with interested prospects
• Detailed note-taking and CRM updates
• Immediate follow-up with next steps

3:30 PM - Outreach Block #2

• Follow-up emails to warm prospects with case studies
• Social selling activities on LinkedIn
• Research for tomorrow's prospect list

5:00 PM - Daily Wrap-Up

• Update pipeline in CRM with call outcomes
• Schedule follow-ups for optimal timing
• Plan tomorrow's priorities and target accounts

Sarah's numbers for this day:

• 25 emails sent
• 15 calls made
• 2 discovery calls completed
• 1 qualified meeting booked (for next week)
• 2 follow-up meetings scheduled

SDR Tools and Technology

Essential stack (based on our most successful SDR teams):

CRM (Choose One)

• Salesforce: Enterprise standard, comprehensive features
• HubSpot: SMB favorite, user-friendly
• Pipedrive: Simple and effective for smaller teams

Sales Engagement (Choose One)

• Outreach: Market leader with advanced automation
• SalesLoft: Strong competitor with excellent analytics
• Apollo: All-in-one solution with database included

Research Tools

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Absolute must-have for B2B prospecting
• ZoomInfo: Comprehensive contact database
• Clearbit: Company intelligence and enrichment
• Hunter.io: Email finder and verification

Communication

• Calendly: Meeting scheduling automation
• Loom: Personalized video messages
• Zoom: Video calls and screen sharing

Pro tip: Master one tool at a time. Better to be excellent with a basic stack than average with advanced tools.

Many companies find success with SDR as a Service providers who bring their own optimized tech stack and proven processes.

How SDRs Are Measured

Primary metrics (what actually matters for your career):

1. Qualified Meetings Booked

• Target: 8-15 per month for new SDRs
• Good: 12-20 per month
• Excellent: 20+ per month

2. Meeting Show Rate

• Minimum: 70%
• Good: 80%
• Excellent: 90%+

3. Pipeline Generated

• Varies by company: £50k-200k per month in potential deal value

4. Activity Metrics

• Emails: 40-60 per day
• Calls: 20-40 per day
• LinkedIn connections: 10-20 per day

Reality check: Companies that only focus on activity metrics usually have high turnover. The best companies focus on outcomes (meetings, pipeline, revenue).

According to Sales Hacker's research, top-performing SDR teams achieve 2x more pipeline per rep by focusing on quality over quantity metrics.

Should You Hire an SDR?

Here's the honest truth: most companies think they need an SDR when they actually need to fix their product-market fit first. I've seen too many startups burn through cash hiring SDRs to sell a product that isn't quite ready.

But if you're already closing deals regularly and your sales team is drowning in admin work, an SDR might be exactly what you need. The clearest sign? When your Account Executives are spending more time researching prospects than actually selling to them.

I always tell clients to look at their current situation honestly. If your sales team is booking fewer than 20 meetings per month because they're too busy with prospecting, that's a problem an SDR can solve. Especially if your deals are worth more than £10k—the math just works better with higher deal values.

The timing matters too. You need at least three months of runway to see real results from an SDR hire. They're not going to save a sinking ship, but they can definitely accelerate a ship that's already moving in the right direction.

The Real Cost (And Return) of Hiring an SDR

Let me break down what an SDR actually costs you. Most companies only think about the salary—maybe £35k base plus £15k commission. But there's so much more.

You've got benefits (another £8k), the tech stack they need (£5k for good tools), plus the time you'll spend training and managing them (easily worth £10k of your time). Then there's recruitment—whether you do it yourself or use an agency, budget £5k. So you're looking at nearly £80k all-in for the first year.

But here's where it gets interesting. A decent SDR will book you around 150 qualified meetings per year. In my experience, about 20% of those turn into actual deals. So we're talking 30 new customers. If your average deal is worth £15k, that SDR just generated £450k in revenue.

The math looks great on paper—nearly 6:1 return. But there's a brutal reality check coming: it takes 6-9 months to see that return, and most companies struggle with retention. Bridge Group's research shows 70% of companies can't keep their SDRs longer than 18 months.

That's why so many of our clients have tried the internal route multiple times before coming to us. The hidden costs of turnover, re-training, and lost momentum add up fast.

Build vs Buy: The Internal vs Outsourced Decision

I've had this conversation hundreds of times. A CEO calls me up and says "Jamie, should we hire our own SDRs or work with you?" The answer always depends on where they are as a company.

When Building Internal Makes Sense

If you've got a sales team of 10+ people and someone who actually knows how to manage SDRs, building internal can work brilliantly. I've seen companies like Slack and HubSpot do it phenomenally well. But here's what they had that most don't: dedicated sales management, proven hiring processes, and the patience to wait 6-9 months for results.

The upside is obvious—complete control over training, perfect cultural fit, and total focus on your product. But the downsides are brutal if you're not prepared. The recruitment process alone can take months, then you're looking at another 3-4 months of training, and even then there's no guarantee they'll work out.

When Outsourcing Makes More Sense

For smaller companies (under 5 salespeople), outsourcing almost always wins. You get experienced SDRs who can start generating meetings in 4-6 weeks, not 4-6 months. No recruitment headaches, no training costs, no management overhead.

The trade-off? Less control and potentially higher long-term costs if you scale massively. But most companies I work with are thrilled to trade some control for predictable results and immediate impact.

The Reality Check

Here's what really happens: most companies try to hire internal SDRs, struggle with retention or performance, then come to us 12-18 months later having burned time and money. We recently worked with a fintech company that went through four internal SDRs in two years before switching to our outsourced model.

Case study: TechCorp tried hiring internal SDRs three times over 18 months. High turnover, inconsistent results. Switched to outsourced SDR services and saw 40% more meetings in month one. Similar success stories from Clarizen and Comtrac show the effectiveness of this approach.

Learn more about this decision in our detailed outsourced vs in-house SDR comparison. You can also read about our GTM strategy and execution approach that supports successful SDR implementations.

Getting Started: Your Next Steps

If You Want to Become an SDR:

1. Apply strategically: Target growing B2B companies with strong cultures
2. Highlight transferable skills: Customer service, research, communication
3. Learn the basics: Read sales books, understand B2B sales processes
4. Practice the craft: Start with personal outreach on LinkedIn

Recommended reading:

• Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
• The Sales Development Playbook by Trish Bertuzzi

If You're Considering Hiring SDRs:

1. Define your ICP clearly: Who are you targeting?
2. Calculate your economics: Deal size, sales cycle, target volume
3. Decide build vs buy: Based on your constraints and timeline
4. Start with one: Test and optimize before scaling

Need help? Our SDR as a Service provides experienced SDRs who can start generating meetings within 4 weeks. No recruitment risk, no training time, no management overhead.

Industry-Specific Considerations

Technology Companies

SDRs in tech typically focus on:

• Complex, multi-stakeholder deals
• Technical buyers who value specificity
• Longer sales cycles requiring nurturing
• High deal values justifying significant effort

Learn more about our work with cybersecurity companies and custom software development firms.

Financial Services

FinTech and financial services SDRs need:

• Understanding of regulatory environment
• Security and compliance awareness
• Trust-building in conservative industry
• Relationship-based selling approach

Healthcare Technology

HealthTech SDRs must navigate:

• HIPAA compliance considerations
• Clinical workflow understanding
• Multiple decision-makers (clinical + administrative)
• Evidence-based value propositions

Explore our expertise with health tech companies and AI/ML companies.

For specialized industries, many companies find success with industry-focused SDR services that bring deep vertical expertise. We also work with managed IT service providers and networking infrastructure providers.

The Future of SDR Work

Technology Impact

• AI assistance: Tools like Apollo and Outreach increasingly use AI for personalization
• Automation: Routine tasks becoming automated, freeing SDRs for strategic work
• Data enrichment: Better prospect intelligence leading to more relevant outreach

Skill Evolution

Modern SDRs increasingly need:

• Data analysis capabilities
• Social selling expertise
• Video communication skills
• Industry specialization

Career Opportunities

The SDR role is expanding into:

• Revenue Operations
• Marketing Operations
• Customer Success
• Sales Engineering

Conclusion: The SDR Role in 2025

The SDR role isn't going anywhere. As B2B sales becomes more complex and competitive, the need for specialized prospecting expertise will only grow.

For individuals: SDR remains the fastest path into B2B tech sales, with clear progression to six-figure earnings within 2-3 years.

For companies: SDRs are essential for predictable pipeline generation, but success requires proper strategy, tools, and management—or the right outsourcing partner.

The bottom line: Whether you're looking to start your sales career or scale your business's pipeline, understanding the SDR function is crucial for success in modern B2B sales.

According to Forrester research, companies with mature sales development functions achieve 28% higher revenue growth rates than those without.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long does it take to become good at SDR work? A: Most people see consistent results by month 3-4, with mastery typically achieved in 12-18 months. The learning curve depends on prior sales experience and the quality of training provided.

Q: Is SDR work difficult? A: It's challenging but learnable. The hardest parts are handling rejection (you'll hear "no" 90%+ of the time) and staying consistent with daily activities. However, the rewards for persistence are significant.

Q: Can you work remotely as an SDR? A: Yes, many SDR roles are now remote or hybrid, especially post-COVID. However, in-person training and mentorship can accelerate development, particularly for new SDRs.

Q: What's the difference between an SDR and a BDR? A: The terms are often used interchangeably. Some companies use SDR for inbound focus and BDR for outbound, but responsibilities overlap significantly. Learn more in our detailed SDR vs BDR comparison.

Q: Do I need experience to become an SDR? A: No, many successful SDRs start with no sales experience. Companies often value attitude, coachability, and communication skills over experience. Customer service, account management, or research backgrounds translate well.

Q: How do outsourced SDRs compare to internal hires? A: Outsourced SDRs offer faster time-to-value and lower risk, while internal SDRs provide more control and long-term cultural alignment. The choice depends on your company size, timeline, and resources. Read our detailed comparison guide.

Q: What tools do I need to learn as an SDR? A: Start with your company's CRM (usually Salesforce or HubSpot), LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and whatever sales engagement platform they use (Outreach, SalesLoft, etc.). Master the basics before moving to advanced tools.

Q: How is AI changing the SDR role? A: AI is automating routine tasks like email sequencing and lead scoring, allowing SDRs to focus on personalization and relationship building. The human element remains crucial for complex B2B sales.

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Ready to accelerate your pipeline without the hiring and training overhead? Our professional SDR services have helped 100+ B2B companies generate qualified meetings within 4-6 weeks. Read success stories from companies like Versa Networks and Project AI. Book a strategy call to discuss your specific needs.

Considering an SDR career? Check out our sales enablement resources and comprehensive sales development guides to get started on the right foot. Learn more about our team and our proven GTM methodology.

Additional Resources

Industry-Specific Guides

• SDR strategies for cybersecurity companies
• Health tech sales development approaches
• Custom software development lead generation
• AI/ML company sales strategies

Service Comparisons

• Appointment setting vs full SDR services
• In-house vs outsourced sales development
• SDR vs BDR role differences

External Industry Resources

• Sales Development Report by TOPO - Annual industry benchmarks
• Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross - Foundational SDR methodology
• The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge - Data-driven sales development
• Bridge Group Research - Leading SDR benchmarking studies
• TSIA (Technology Services Industry Association) - Technology sales best practices