Effective sales development representatives meet goals. Great sales development representatives annihilate them. What is the distinction? Great sales development representatives go above and beyond simply acquiring new abilities. SDRs have a one-of-a-kind chance to assist account executives in closing agreements. While the conventional outreach method may work for some businesses, SDRs may use a few hard and soft skills to help your inside sales team perform even more.

Let’s start with a simple description of SDR sales if you’re new to the SDR position or managing a new team of SDRs. Then we’ll go through the 11 abilities that every sales development person must learn.

Rapport-building

Sales development representatives must work hard to establish rapport: It is more hard to link over the phone or by email than to connect in person. Even natural connectors find it challenging to strike up a conversation with often unpleasant strangers.

Finding common ground before making the initial contact is the easiest approach to create rapport immediately. Knowing what consumers are going through — for example, an industry or company problem, unusual weather, sporting achievement or defeat – and talking about it goes a long way toward creating rapport before attempting to schedule an appointment.

Adaptability

When sales development professionals learn active listening, they’ll be able to identify prospects’ pain concerns, many of which aren’t on their checklist or script. As a result, they must become more agile and ready to pivot with prospects.

To delve further, keep the dialogue flowing naturally: Respond to prospects’ inquiries or concerns with precise responses. Then ask your consumers what they think of what you’ve said: What do you think of that feature? How do you feel about the technologies I’ve described? What else can I say?

Coachability

SDRs must be self-assured. But they aren’t so sure that they aren’t open to improvement. They must be coachable, listen to their areas for growth and ways to improve and then put those new tactics into action.

Even better, SDRs want to get direct input from their supervisors and seasoned colleagues regularly. Reps want to request one-on-one time to discuss successes and failures. Then, set aside time each week to experiment with different techniques.

Tech-ability

There’s no getting around it. SDRs must be digitally aware — and keep their abilities up to date. Sales and CRM software, social media skills, artificial intelligence (AI), and the technology behind your goods and services all undergo rapid and frequent development.

Reps want to keep on top of developments by taking advantage of vendor training possibilities, online video tutorials, company-led training, and using technology daily.

We are convinced that these abilities will help you perform better as a sales development representative. They’re all relatively straightforward to grasp, but constant practice will ensure that you’ve mastered them in no time. But the learning doesn’t have to stop there; we’ve got even more terrific sales prospect and objection management techniques, templates, and tools for you to have in your back pocket. Your inside sales staff will be grateful.