Sales Development Representatives

No previous experience is needed, but any sales experience one can obtain in the field—such as volunteering, an internship, or a part-time job—will be useful.

Sales development representatives need a variety of traits to be successful on the job. For example, they need excellent research and analytical skills in order to identify sales prospects, learn about their products and services, and determine if their company’s products are a good fit for the prospect firm’s needs. They also need to be knowledgeable about their employer’s products and services in order to effectively explain and “sell” them to sales prospects. It helps to know both the pluses and minuses of their product or service in order to craft an effective sales pitch and to be prepared for questions from potential customers. Sales development representatives need top-notch interpersonal and communication skills (including active listening ability) in order to develop relationships with sales prospects and explain their company’s products or services. They must understand verbal and silent signals that will give them hints that the customer is ready to buy or has reservations about making the purchase. They need to know when to push forward with their sales pitch and when to perhaps hold back and use different strategies to convince the sales prospect to make the purchase. For example, some prospects may not like a “hard sell,” and would rather review information that the SDR provides and then follow-up with questions via e-mail.

Some SDRs use webinars, videos embedded in e-mails, and other types of online communication in order to market their company’s products or services. As a result, they need to be confident public speakers and comfortable on camera. Other important traits for SDRs include strong time-management and organizational skills, a “thick skin” and the ability to handle rejection, coachability and a lack of ego (so they can be taught by more experienced SDRs to improve their sales pitches), self-awareness (the ability to know their strengths and weaknesses), curiosity, self-motivation, and familiarity with sales software and lead generation tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator and customer relationship management software such as Salesforce.