Sales Strategies Learned from BDRs

In 2019, as a BDR, I was earning 2X of what my AEs were making in a good month. Today's equivalent would be INR 5 lac a month. Here's how I did it 𝟭. 𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻: Our VP Sales had hidden a 3X accelerator on WINS. As expected, no BDR cared about it. The AE team was responsible for closing. While everyone tried to maximize pipeline, I was coordinating with my AEs to maximize wins. End result? I hit my accelerator in 6 months. 𝟮. 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲-𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀: We had a monthly quota of 2 qualified opps & $200k in pipeline. Everyone was chasing 200% pipe. I calculated the exact number of wins my AEs would need, & reverse engineered goals from there. Bigger-ticket size with higher chances of closures was my new goal. 𝟯. 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: Your manager is lying if they say territory doesn't matter. Here's a little secret they won't tell you - best reps get the best patches. That's how everyone wins - the SDR, the Manager, the AE, the VP, the company. From day 1, I made sure to deliver results. That way, whenever a prime territory opened up, I was the obvious choice to take it. 𝟰. 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟱𝟬 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀/𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹: Back in 2019, most sales teams chased input metrics. 50 calls, 100 emails/day was standard. Incompetent managers could easily hide behind the activity metrics in a dry month (it’s 2025, and nothing has changed). I kept my sole focus on delivering output. The more I did, less f*cks my leadership gave on my input metrics. 𝟱. 𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆: BDRs weren't responsible for taking demos. SE team owned it. I broke the rules since I knew the product in-and-out. I used to tag-team with my AEs and delivered most demos ourselves. Prospects loved that we could answer their questions on the call - no “I’ll get back to you.” 𝟲. 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗗𝗥𝘀: I made a habit of coaching new reps, taking mock calls, and sharing email templates that were working for me. Highest earning BDRs are almost always the most generous ones. The more you share, the more comes back around. And sometimes, that gets reflected in your paycheck!

I averaged 476% quota attainment when I started my sales career as a BDR at Salesforce But I was by no means special or talented In fact, I was the exact opposite What I learned how to do differently was leverage data to develop tactical frameworks that could make me that successful My 5x8 Prospecting approach was the peak And you can start using it today Data I used to help create it 👇 1. It takes ~8 cold calls to get a pickup 2. Email reply rates fall off at attempt #9 3. Calling on multiple contacts in an account increases response rate by 160% How to execute 👇 1. Pick 5 key contacts in an account 2. Narrow down 2-3 outreach channels 3. Attempt to reach each contact 8 times over 8 weeks This is a simplification of a traditional "cadence", which are often overcomplicated and easy to give up on I developed this framework as a BDR at Salesforce, but also used it as an AE and have trained hundreds of sales reps how to use it to light a fire under their prospecting If you stick to this, it works It's simple and repeatable Don't overthink it Want a full deep dive? https://lnkd.in/eN_KghCD

I was a SDR/BDR for 30 months, this was my secret to hitting quota every month👇🏼 ❌ Consistency is about putting in the hours. ✅ Consistency is about targeted, systematic activity. ❌ Cold calls are a numbers game. ✅ Cold calls are about research, personalization, and timing. ❌ Email sequences are set and forget. ✅ Email sequences are constantly tested, analyzed, and refined. ❌ AE collaboration is just about passing leads. ✅ AE collaboration is about strategic alignment and mutual learning. ❌ Prospecting only when your pipeline is dry. ✅ Prospecting everyday regardless; there's always a next month, quarter. ❌ Rejections mean you’re not cut out for this. ✅ Rejections are crucial learning opportunities to refine your approach. ❌ Following up is about reminding them you exist. ✅ Following up is about providing value and staying top of mind. ❌ Product knowledge is your best tool. ✅ Understanding customer challenges is key. Now as an AE I see myself still a SDR just with more responsibilities 🤓 #coldcalls #sdr #salesdevelopment

If I were starting my tech sales career as a BDR today, I’d drop the “Hey, this is a cold call” script immediately. Let’s be real—when you open a call like that, you’re waving a red flag. Their defenses go way up. You’re spotted. You’ve lost momentum before you even get to the value. Instead, lead with curiosity. Lead with a real problem. Lead with a reason for them to lean in. Try this: 👉 “Hey [Name], quick question—can you help me out? I work with [Your Company], and we partner with companies like yours to solve [PAIN POINT YOU KNOW THEY HAVE]. I’d love 20 minutes on your calendar because I know how painful that issue can be.” Now pause. This hits differently because: • You’re inviting collaboration, not pushing a pitch. • You’ve identified a real business pain they definitely feel. • You’re speaking their language and skipping the fluff. That’s how you earn attention. That’s how you open doors. If you’re just getting started in sales, make it your mission to understand your buyer’s pain better than they do. Dig in, go deep, and build your message around it. Sales isn’t about slick talk. It’s about relevance. Be human. Be sharp. Be obsessed with the customer’s world. #techsales #salesstrategy #bdrlife #coldcalling #salesdevelopment #startupsales #salestips #businessdevelopment #sdrlife #salesmindset #demandgeneration #salesleadership

My SDR shared how he handled the "I'm busy, call me later" objection. He continued and said "I have scheduled the call back" I stopped him immediately. Here's why: Connect rates are at all time low. The chances of the SDR getting that lead back are bleak. He should have made the most of this call. When a SDR/BDR hears the above objection, their common response is: "Sure thing, sorry about that, Ill call you back later" Lately, I've seen a lot of advice suggesting that when you get the "I'm busy, call me later" objection, you should simply follow up later without pushing back. While I get the idea, I strongly DISAGREE. Often, prospects say this as a reflex because they weren't expecting your cold call—not because they're truly busy. So here is what I told my SDR to start doing moving forward: "Absolutely! But before I go, could I quickly explain what we do in just 30 seconds? If it's not relevant, you can tell me now, and I won’t waste your time with another call or email. Would you be opposed to that?” In my experience, 7 out of 10 times, the prospect will give you those 30 seconds. In fact, one of my other SDRs booked a meeting yesterday using this exact approach. It’s crucial to make every conversation count. Don’t be pushy—pushy salespeople fail. But don’t give up at the first sign of resistance either. Try this response next time and you will secure more meetings. Let me know how it goes! What are some of the talk tracks that have worked well for you when tackling this objection? Add them in the comments!! PS: As a sales rep, you need to push past the resistance without being pushy on every conversation you have with your prospects. #sdrs #bdrs #sales #objections

We expect each of our BDRs to generate 30-40 SQLs per month on month 4. When stress testing this with brilliant sales leaders, they all asked me “how on earth?” So far, Rory and Jake are crushing their numbers without running any automated sequences. Here’s how we did it (and how you should do it too): 1️⃣ Boost confidence: set the very first objective to be 1 SQL in their first 48 hours on the job. We had an internal contest: 1st one to get his sql gets $150. If both do, each gets $200. Getting that first sql and going from zero to one changes everything for them. Because once you taste success, you will know how to repeat that. 2️⃣ Startups principles and marketing 101: We blocked a full hour to teach our first principles as a startup, and the need to always create urgency + our intolerance for misexecution. And also the concepts of adoption curve and intent. This deeply informs the why behind everything that they do. Both Jake and Rory had already read every single Paul Graham essay and Amp it up by Frank Slootman before starting. 3️⃣ Be technical AND excellent hunters: in addition to the traditional BDR training they got, they also immediately learned everything about our internal intent infrastructure and how to use Clay and CaptainData to keep enriching it. It gives them the highest intent contacts within our ICP to maximize their call conversion rates. Ohhh… and do things that don’t scale! I don’t want to see a single stupid email cadence. Do everything manually, and send emails that are uniquely relevant and personalized to your prospects. And then we will figure out how to automate our successful experiments! If you want a loom recording of some of our workflows, comment in this post and I will send it to you directly!