Creating a convincing sales narrative is the cornerstone of any successful business. And although the story is written by founders, investors, and product managers, a Sales Development Representative (an SDR) is the professional responsible for selling it. Large businesses hire multiple teams of SDRs specializing in specific skills. For startup founders who are looking for a more reasonable solution, the best option is to start small by hiring one or two SDRs. This article will take you through a typical pre-recruitment, recruitment, and post-recruitment cycle in a growing business to simplify the process for you.
The first question to ask yourself and your team is:
Do we need an SDR right now?
This will depend on how ready your product is for the market. If the product is yet to take shape, it’s better to focus on refining it till there is something tangible to speak of. But products that are almost finalized can be sold. Let’s look at two separate phases of a startup’s journey:
If the product is final
An SDR will be of great help in this case. In certain cases, founders already know people who want their products, and this kicks off initial sales motions. At this stage, an SDR can simply streamline the scattered sales efforts and experiment with what works best. And if the first 10 clients have already been onboarded by the startup, chances are there is a roadmap for the first SDR to follow. The SDR needs to scale the processes and see what kind of narrative works best.
If the product is almost ready
An SDR will flourish in this situation. He will have the liberty to mold the sales machinery to his advantage while setting up these processes. Lead generation and qualification needs to begin as soon as possible.
Clearly Identify why you hired the SDR
Role Overview
Be certain of the exact responsibilities you want your SDR to handle. If it is going to be more lead generation than strategy, you don’t need a strategy expert.
Skills and Attributes
Identify key skills and attributes necessary for the role.
Pre-Sourcing Checklist
Early stage startups need someone with experience and proven success to help steer them in the right direction.
Been there, done that
Look for someone who has already worked as an early stage SDR elsewhere successfully. Ideally, someone should have been working on cold sales even while the product was being finalized, so the team has a basic conception of what absolutely doesn’t work. In short, the sales playbook needs to be in motion already. An experienced SDR will immediately have insights based on the previous experiences of people handling the sales.
Balance training with grit
If you’re looking forward to hiring someone from an established business because of the extensive sales training they have had, consider that they may not be able to work without the resources they took for granted when they were at their previous organization. You may chance upon a rare combination of trained plus gritty, in which case it’s an easy choice. But if you don’t, prepare to spend a few long hours understanding if training can make up for a go-getter vibe (it might).
Be open to mid-career professionals switching fields
Multiple eligible people in retail, tech, and other management positions would love to switch to sales and they would be ideal. They have experience, industry, and prior exposure to critical situations. Sales departments need this support system in place. Sales is often a cross between a numbers game and a survivor challenge–experience teaches us a certain level of relentlessness that freshers typically do not have.
Sourcing the right candidates
Referrals would be useful to early stage startups because of the unique combination of experience and verve that this role requires. Posting the opening on LinkedIn, Indeed, or any job site is a traditional and tested method. Alternatively, you can reach out to a hiring agency that you trust.
Whichever method you use, reading through each chosen candidate’s CV carefully is a must.
Evaluation of the chosen candidates
It’s time to be picky. Settling for the “good enough” would only backfire because you need a candidate who can communicate, persuade, and have a good grasp of consumer psychology. Build a fair and structured interview and evaluation procedure, ensuring every candidate is asked the same questions and set the same test so an honest decision can be made.
Initial Screening
Use a phone or video call to gauge basic fit, communication skills, and interest in your startup.
Behavioral Interviews
Conduct in-depth interviews to assess past experiences, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit.
Technical Evaluation
Base these tests on daily sales tasks that they would be responsible for, if hired. If you need someone to prepare your strategy or advise you on it, ask the candidates to share a sample strategy with you. If you need someone to cold call fifty people a day, test their powers of persuasion. For example, asking them to spontaneously draft a cold email will show you how quickly they can think on their feet, but “performances” of cold calls are always going to be completely unrealistic. Most SDRs are required to know about prospecting and tracking tech. Check if the person you’re hiring knows or is willing to learn the tech this role needs.
Choosing the right candidate
Hiring was and always will be a deeply personal process, but the best hiring decisions are personal and based on high evaluation scores.
After the entire hiring process is over, the team will have a list of candidate scores. Balance these scores with the candidate you want to grow alongside for the next five years. The most suitable candidate will be the one who scored well and got along well with the team.
A well-adjusted and supportive environment is key to an SDR’s success because their daily work is stressful. They are trained to react smoothly to rejection, but team camaraderie has rejuvenating effects.
Final Thoughts
An important concluding reminder: hiring the wrong person can be worse than hiring nobody. It’s easy to begin selling a product from scratch. But an unprofessional and unskilled SDR will damage the product narrative, and repairing that will be an extra hassle.
Early stage startups are vibrant, unpredictable, and a wonderful opportunity to grow in any role. Experienced professionals get a chance to relearn their job responsibilities to suit an ever-changing global market. Freshers get a head start. Being an SDR in this exciting, challenging setup is a double-edged sword. Precision can win wars; lack of precision will cost you your growth.
An efficient SDR can change the growth trajectory of any company (assuming the product is viable).
This hiring procedure is effectively a hunt for The One. Not every founder/team is equipped to take it in their stride, and there are excellent hiring partners who will do the job better than you because of their startup knowledge and expertise. This is by far the best way for business leaders who don’t have the resources to launch a recruitment expedition to the moon and back.
