@reaper moving your question here to keep @Plutus thread clean.
I’m an SDR manager and find that if marketing is good, SDR’s need less sales skills than people think, and more more people skills.
For context, in my specific company, we get about 1000 leads per week via Facebook ads. Some of them book a call automatically, some of them don’t. Some of them have money, some of them don’t. Often times the broker they are, the more desperate they are to get help, and they sometimes think/hope the closing call is just a free trial, not a sales call.
Important points of the role; reading between the lines in what the prospect is saying, how to be the leader despite it being a normal conversation, knowing whether or not someone is financially qualified.
You’re really a prediction specialist as an SDR first and foremost. “Is this person going to close? Are they even going to show up? What will their main objection be? What distractions might there be? Which closer would best be able to close this specific prospect?”
In order to prevent and prehandle objections, you need to be able to sniff them out and redirect, basically. Make sure they show up to the call.
And then of course it’s also important to present as professional, knowledge, efficient. You don’t want to say too much as an SDR, it’s the closer’s job to influence, but you certainly need to be good at labeling, validating, challenging, reframing, in a normal-sounding way.
Closing calls sound very formulaic, but SDR calls should always sound as natural as shooting the shit with your buddies over a beer. The way realtors and financial advisors talk at dinner networking events, positive, professional, casual, friendly, letting everyone know how good their service is and that it could help them, that’s how you should be as an SDR, alongside having a secret agenda to be a ruthless detective and extract all their lies to find the truth they’re hiding underneath (partner objections, window shopping, real needs, etc).
So, basically just having a normal conversation and being socially savvy. I think those are extremely people-skills oriented not just sales oriented. So that’s what my titles would reflect - but ofc True Sell Stage 2 is dedicated to being an SDR.
I would also look at ST1, that’s what I use for my SDR role, it’s broad and does everything, and that’s what an SDR needs, breadth as well as depth.
C&C is amazing as it provides a lot of leadership and discernment, plus literally “premium pipeline” as one of the major features.
True Social would be the dream fit, based on how important being able to have a normal conversation is. You CANT HAVE A SALES CONVERSATION, YOU CAN ONLY HAVE SOME SALES ELEMENTS IN A NORMAL CONVERSATION so… your social skills will be the primary bottleneck for an SDR role. Sales skills are the bottleneck for closing roles.
Emperor Reforged would be great, as so much of this stuff stems from being confident and quick-witted. You can get to the point where you’re so confident wearing the crown that prospects stop even trying to take it from you.
Summertime gives that really warm first
Impression and makes you likeable AND like people - super important to enjoy what you’re doing as an SDR.
Ascension would slap, both ST1 and ST2, each for the reason the stage was made for. Both stages are so important. I feel like True Sell Stage 1 is a combo of ST1/2 of ascension, but specifically for sales, btw.
Emperor Black would be fucking slick for setting actually because you get ruthless about qualification and making money as fast as possible. Stack with summertime or true social though - advanced stack for sure.
OG Stark is awful for setting. Too much liking not enough challenging. You’re not supposed to be impressive as a setter, just professional, efficient, smart, and asking good questions.
GLM would be good too