“Throw them to the wolves” simply won’t cut it these days.
If you’re reading this in 2022 we’re also in a more remote world. Onboarding has never been more difficult, let alone SDR onboarding.
Consider how technology is evolving and who is entering the workforce, or how the workforce is being pressured to change. The in-office experience brought on many undocumented benefits like immediate feedback, on-the-fly coaching, quick questions answered, and the overall office energy.
Before you begin
We recommend reading each section to gain SDR sales process knowledge that works best for your SaaS company. We also recommend bookmarking this article or saving it on your desktop, because these SDR training strategies are evergreen and you’ll likely reference them frequently. Further, this will be a valuable resource to give to your SDRs when they begin training their own teams.
Your SDRs are the new generation of workforce. They didn’t grow up with the same sales training as you or your SDR managers, nor their managers before them. SaaS companies have to rethink the onboarding process for SDRs in 2022. Your SDR salespeople are likely now remote employees, even those working from an office, there will be some remote component to their job.
What is an SDR?
The SDR team is the engine of sales. SDRs across the world are working 24/7 to create new opportunities, meet with prospective customers and drive revenue.
SDR stands for “sales development representative”, AKA sales development associate. SDRs are often referred to as the unsung heroes of SaaS sales teams, because they are mainly operating in B2B tech.
SDRs use contact lists and do cold outreach on a daily basis. However, more SaaS companies are beginning to use SDRs in different capacities.
SDRs are in charge of the nitty-gritty setup and data configuration for Salesforce, Hubspot, Marketo, etc., which means SDRs become a powerful extension of the sales team because they have visibility into what other teams need from them.
The SDR team can also be one of your most difficult and annoying teams to manage after you onboard them if they’re not set up for success from day 1.
As SDRs are the engine of sales, SDR onboarding must be given the appropriate time and attention. SDRs are hungry to learn about your product, their role in the company and how they can succeed at their job.
SDRs will vary based on location, experience level, personality type and more. You need an SDR onboarding process that can adapt to SDRs who have experience and SDRs who have never touched the phone.
This playbook will help you establish an SDR onboarding process that drives SDR success while increasing your SDR team’s capacity to bring in revenue for your business.
What is SDR Onboarding?
SDR onboarding is the process SDRs go through to become productive members of a B2B tech sales team. SDRs experience this training most often during their first 90 days on the job, but companies are beginning to expand SDR training throughout SDRs’ careers.
A lot of SaaS companies are investing in SDR onboarding because SDRs are the first point of contact for their SaaS product, so SDRs need to be effective communicators and salespeople with strong technical know-how.
Who is responsible for SDR Onboarding?
Training SDRs can feel like an arduous task for sales managers. However, SDRs can’t hit the ground running on their own without proper training from those responsible for SDR onboarding.
SDR managers, sales managers, or your Head of Sales are responsible for SDR training, but SaaS companies have been making SDR Onboarding a priority across departments since SDRs are so new to the sales process. SDRs are part of the sales team, but SDRs also need SDR training.
What is SDR Onboarding like?
Onboarding SDRs can be a quick process or something dragged out over weeks and months depending on the organization and its resources. SaaS companies depend on SDRs for onboarding, which means SDR managers must establish SDR training as a priority. SaaS companies depend on SDRs to understand sales processes quickly because SDR managers are often judged based on the productivity of their SDR teams.
Onboarding SDRs can be broken down into three stages: pre-onboarding SDRs, SDR Onboarding, and SDR post-onboarding.
Pre-onboarding SDRs is the process of teaching SDR managers how to manage SDR teams before SDRs even hit the ground running and actually doing SaaS onboarding for SaaS companies. This stage can be especially beneficial because SDR managers need to know SaaS onboarding processes before SDRs can even start SaaS onboarding.
SDR Onboarding is the process of getting SDRs up to speed with sales training so SDRs can hit the ground running and begin SaaS onboarding for SaaS companies. This is what the bulk of this article will cover.
Post-onboarding SDRs is SDR managers doing SaaS onboarding and SDR trainers coaching SDR trainees to ensure SDR Onboarding was a success and how the SDR team can get more efficient. This is especially useful because once an SDR is trained, they’re in a likely spot to want to train others to help progress their career. It also creates a great feedback loop to iterate on the process.
SDR Onboarding Step 1, Day 1: Excitement, expectations, and timelines
At first, SDRs are usually very excited to learn about their role and who they’ll be speaking with. SDRs love sales, salesmanship, sales psychology – everything about it! We’ll get into what’s realistic for them to start hitting the phones, hitting quota, etc. but you should also consider how you can get them EXCITED about the potential growth. Empower them to take their destiny into their own hands and REALLY lean into the role and crush it.
They landed the job. You’ve got a good rhythm and relationship with them. First impressions matter – and your first impression isn’t done yet. It’ll take employees (and salespeople) a few weeks to REALLY understand what the company culture is like and where they fit into the team and how important they are.
So, we mentioned getting them excited. Empowerment for them to start building their own path is that exact item (we’ll path out the path that you can set your SDRs on, read on). SDR onboarding requires you to get them excited, build a path forward, and build towards a bonfire of passion and energy.
SDRs will feel really empowered and motivated if they know exactly what their long term path looks like, but it’s also a smart SDR tactic as well. SDRs that see the endgame temptations become more driven.
SDR Onboarding Step 2, Week 1-2: Start high-level, then get more granular
You won’t get them on a live call on their first day. Instead, get them to sit with the people who can help get them excited. Protip: your founder/co-founder is likely the most excited about this vision, and also has this vision in their mind at a high level – founders dream big.
Can’t get your founder on a call? That’s a shame… get someone on the GTM leadership team that can dedicate time and is high enough energy to meet with this new employee 1-1 to talk about where the company is headed. 20-30 minutes on a Friday can do this exceptionally well. SDR onboarding that includes connecting with leadership early on to fuel the fire increases the chance they’ll start performing earlier.
This is a great time to get your SDR to start practicing prospecting internally to not only grease the wheels of speaking to people they’ve never met before, but also to get context. The high level context from the GTM team is great, now have them reach out to the CSMs/support team, the product team, and of course the sales team. Here are a list of questions you can give them to start the conversation with:
- What gets you excited about working for our company?
- In your own words, what problems do we solve and why is that important for our customers?
- What’s a memorable experience you had since working here? Business related or culture related.
- Are there any client stories that stand out for you?
- Who else in the organization do you think I should speak to?
- Bonus (to help build the relationship): What’s one question you wished more people would ask you? Professional or personal.
By the end of this week, you should have a well-oiled SDR that has a solid understanding of your company vision and culture. SDR onboarding takes time – just shy of 3-5 months – so give them some space to grow into their SDR role. But don’t forget to check in on their progress, and make sure they stay prioritized even with their learning internally.
Finally…
SDR Onboarding Step 3, Week 3-4: Live phone exposure
Shadowing live calls. Period.
Recordings are great, but you don’t have to be attentive. Recordings should be considered supplemental. Live will be the best, in-the-moment exposure that someone who is new could get. Demos, discovery calls, or (if your system has the capacity to) listening to cold calls live. Easier done in person in a call room, but some tools allow this to happen for training. If live cold calls can’t be listened to, then default to recordings.
Test your SDR with mock scenarios. Let’s face it, mock scenarios are uncomfortable and awkward. There’s no way in hell you’ll be able to completely simulate the live experience but that’s OK. The point for mock scenarios is not to have the cold call perfected, but instead, focus first on the message of value being delivered.
Secondly, you should pay close attention to how they’re interacting with the ‘prospect’. Are they nervous? Are they stumbling over their words? Do they sound disinterested or hesitant when asking questions about their situations, problems, etc.? Identifying and correcting these issues will add even more value to the SDR’s learning experience.
Structuring your Mock Calls
For SDR mock scenarios, you want to observe their approach and work on individual skills, incrementally. Is the SDR appropriately digging for pain? Are they asking too many questions or not enough? Are they qualifying correctly?
The SDR needs to be able to distinguish between a prospect’s tone of voice and what they’re actually saying. They should also be able to combine the two and provide the most value, not use it as a chance to close.
Additionally, SDRs should be getting coaching on how to qualify and disqualify leads. The SDR qualification framework is critical and needs to be set up correctly from day one. You can’t afford for
Here are the 3 phases in your SDR onboarding you should use for mock calls to help avoid overloading your new employee with the 20 things they will inevitably need to work on. Ideally there are 1-2 competencies that the SDR will begin to work on refining over the next few days between each phase:
Phase 1: Confidence and comfort on the phones
Even seasoned salespeople will have difficulty adjusting when pitching something new. Simple answer is that they are not confident with the message of value. This practice will be great exposure.
Your role:
The friendly + curious prospect
Get them talking and stumbling through answering questions. Throw a couple curve balls about the product. This will inform your new SDR what they need to learn more of and prepare them for phase 2.
What the SDR should work on:
Their understanding of the industry, space, and different roles they’ll be engaging with
The SDR should work on asking good questions, getting the prospect talking. Only asking relevant questions to avoid rambling and unfocused conversation.
Phase 2: Nailing the message of value
Naturally this will begin to come to them through phase 1, but the primary difference here is that you can now dive deeper into the problem <> solution dynamic. Ask about why you should care about the solution as a prospect.
Your role:
The stern + selfish prospect
You won’t be putting objections up quite yet, but you will be more serious and less friendly this time around. Let the SDR’s new confidence shine through. Let there be silence sometimes so that the SDR is forced to see where to go next.
What the SDR should work on:
Their understanding of the problem <> solution dynamic both at an individual and an organizational level
If SDRs are hitting roadblocks at this stage, SDRs should immediately consult their manager or peers for assistance. SDRs can certainly take the next steps on their own, but managers play a big part in SDR success and any SDR that gets stuck is likely to benefit from some extra perspective.
For example: SDR is struggling with their understanding of the problem <> solution dynamic – the SDR might want to consider doing some competitive analysis or industry research, identify what the likes of competitors are offering and how it might be beneficial for a prospect.
Phase 3: Overcoming objections
The moment we’ve been waiting for! Lighting that fire underneath the SDR… Pushing back… Really testing their knowledge. Grab your list of most common objections and differentiators that your competitor has. It’s your SDR’s time to shine. Diamonds are formed under pressure, so start applying that pressure (so that the SDR can shine… like a diamond… see what I did there? I’m not even a dad yet).
Your role:
La resistance!
Competitors. Awkward silence. “Why should I care about that?” “Send me some info.” “No I don’t have time right now.” “That’s not currently a problem.” You name it. Bring in the big guns – this is a fun part!
What the SDR should work on:
Their comfort with objections and how to speak around them, while also guiding the conversation back to what your solution can provide.
SDRs should have a strong back pocket list of why you are different, but they need to show that they know their product (and target persona) well enough to answer questions based on SDR knowledge.
Putting it all together
By now you should have some structure to onboarding your SDRs. Sales onboarding is a critical element to your business’ success. If you’d like a more in-depth analysis and a customized approach, please reach out to us here.
Your primary takeaways are this:
- Get SDRs excited when they join the company
- Lay a path forward to properly set expectations
- Start slow and higher level, then dive deeper
- Best practice is getting on the phones and practicing often
- Work on 1-2 core competencies over time to help build proper habits
So, what would SDR Onboarding look like in a cadence?
| Day 1 | Get excited through founder/GTM leaders |
| Day 2 | HR + other onboarding |
| Day 3 (morning) | HR wrap up/self learning |
| Day 3 (afternoon) | Self-research (free-reign) |
| Day 4 (morning) | Self-research on company |
| Day 4 (afternoon) | Connect with peers from different departments |
| Day 5 (morning) | Overview of platform, industry, customer stories with manager |
| Day 5 (afternoon) | Connect with peers from different departments |
| Week 2 (morning) | Self-research on solution |
| Week 2 (afternoon) | Systems overview, company structure and lead flow process (with tests) |
| Week 3 (morning) | Self-research on solution + success stories |
| Week 3 (afternoon) | Live call shadowing (or call recordings) |
| Week 4 (morning) | Self-research on solution, value, market fit + hold, and ICP |
| Week 4 (afternoon) | Mock calls Phase 1-2 |
| Week 5 (morning) | Self-research on solution, objections, personas |
| Week 5 (afternoon) | Mock call wrap up w/ Phase 3 |
| Week 6 (morning) | Territory assignment + list build |
| Week 6 (afternoon) | Cadence review + prepping day-to-day schedule and routines |
So, what do you do next to get on the right path?
Firstly, if you have feedback on anything, please leave a comment, or reach out to me here. Further, if you enjoyed this content and want to see more, sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of this page linked here. I will be updating this post as more resources are developed. There will be a downloadable resource attached to this blog. Lastly, if you need more direct advice, please reach out to me here, or connect with me on LinkedIn here and let’s continue the discussion.
SDR Onboarding is critical to getting your team up to speed and having these processes built sooner rather than later will save you time and headache in the inevitable future of hiring more reps.