SDR Meaning in Sales: What a Sales Development Representative Does

SDR meaning in sales: SDR stands for sales development representative. The role exists to split prospecting from closing, so each job gets done by someone who does only that. The SDR starts conversations and filters them; the account executive (AE) runs the deal and signs it.

What does SDR stand for?

Sales development representative. You will also see "sales development rep", "SDR rep" (a small redundancy, like "ATM machine") and, in some companies, BDR for business development representative. In a job ad, "SDR" almost always means an early-funnel B2B sales role with a quota on meetings rather than on revenue.

What an SDR does, step by step

• Research. Identify accounts and contacts that fit the ideal customer profile, and find a relevant reason to reach out: a hiring push, a new funding round, a tool they just adopted.
• Outreach. Run multi-channel sequences (cold email, cold calls, LinkedIn) to book a first conversation.
• Qualify. Use a framework such as BANT to confirm fit, need and timing before passing the lead on.
• Hand off. Book a meeting for an account executive and brief them on context, so the prospect never has to repeat themselves.
• Log everything. Every touch, reply and disqualification goes in the CRM, because the next SDR on that account will start from it.

Inbound SDR vs outbound SDR

Inbound SDRs work leads that raised a hand: demo requests, trial signups, content downloads. Their job is speed and qualification, since an inbound lead cools fast. Outbound SDRs build pipeline from accounts that never asked to hear from you. Their job is targeting and persistence. Many teams start with one SDR doing both, then split the role once volume justifies it.

Where SDRs sit in the sales org

SDRs usually report to a sales development manager, who reports to the head of sales or, in some companies, to marketing. A common setup pairs two or three SDRs with each account executive, though the ratio depends on deal size: the bigger and longer the deal, the fewer AEs each SDR can keep busy. SDRs sit between marketing, which generates marketing-qualified leads, and the AEs, who expect sales-qualified leads.

SDRs work from a CRM and a sequencing tool, but their real raw material is contact data. A list of names with no verified email or direct phone is unworkable, so accurate, deduplicated prospect data is what separates a productive SDR from one burning hours on dead numbers.

Example: an outbound SDR team at a B2B SaaS company

A B2B SaaS company splits its sales team. Five SDRs each run outbound to a list of target accounts and book around 12 to 18 qualified meetings a month. Those meetings flow to three account executives who focus only on running deals and closing.

One SDR, Maya, owns mid-market accounts in fintech. She researches each account, finds the VP of Operations, verifies a direct line, and runs a six-touch sequence. When a prospect agrees to a demo, she books it for an AE and logs the context. Maya is paid on meetings held and pipeline accepted, not on whether those deals eventually close, which keeps her focused on volume and fit rather than on chasing late-stage deals she does not run.

Example: one SDR week, from list to meetings

Monday, the SDR builds a list of 200 target accounts. Tuesday and Wednesday go to research and the first touch. Thursday is call blocks on the accounts that opened or clicked. Friday covers follow-ups, CRM hygiene and handoff notes for the meetings booked. The pattern repeats, and the list is the part that decides whether the rest of the week pays off.

Example: building that 200-account list with Derrick

Here is what the list step costs when the SDR builds it in the Derrick web app instead of copying data by hand:

• Company Hiring Signal on the 200 accounts to find who is hiring sales roles right now: 1 credit per company, so 200 credits.
• Find a company's people to pull the head of sales and two operations contacts per account: 1 credit per person, so three credits per account. It needs your LinkedIn account connected through the Derrick Chrome extension.
• Email Finder on the 400 contacts worth writing to: 5 credits per email found, nothing when no email is found, so 2,000 credits at most.

Even if every email is found, the whole list stays inside the 10,000 monthly credits of the Standard plan (€20/month). Find a company's people and Email Finder run on paid plans; Company Hiring Signal also works on the free plan's 100 monthly credits. Prefer to stay in a spreadsheet? The same features run in the Google Sheets sidebar. An SDR who lives in Claude or ChatGPT can ask for the same data through the Derrick MCP server, and a RevOps team can wire it into the CRM through the REST API (both from the Plus plan).

Splitting the SDR and AE roles is one of the highest-leverage moves in B2B sales. Closers are expensive and scarce, so having them prospect from scratch wastes their time. SDRs feed them a steady flow of qualified meetings, turning pipeline generation into a measurable, scalable engine.

How SDRs are measured

• Meetings booked and meetings held. Held matters more: a meeting the prospect skips created no pipeline.
• Qualified pipeline created. The value of opportunities the AE accepts, which keeps SDRs honest on fit.
• Activity. Calls, emails and LinkedIn touches. Useful as a leading signal, harmful as the only target.
• Conversion rates. Reply rate, meeting rate and meeting-to-opportunity rate show where the funnel leaks. The free sales conversion rate calculator helps put numbers on each step.

How SDRs are paid

SDR pay is usually a base salary plus a variable part tied to meetings held or pipeline accepted. Together they make the on-target earnings (OTE). The variable part is set on what the SDR controls, which is why tying it to closed revenue backfires. Exact amounts vary a lot by country, company stage and deal size.

SDR career path

The role is the main on-ramp into B2B sales. A typical path runs SDR, then senior SDR or team lead, then account executive, with sales development manager as the alternative track for people who prefer coaching to closing. The skills it builds, prospecting, qualification and resilience, transfer directly to closing roles.

What AI changes for SDRs in 2026

AI now drafts first emails, summarizes accounts and suggests who to call next. It has not removed the job: it moved the SDR's time from typing to judgment. The SDRs who win are the ones whose lists are well targeted and whose contact data is accurate, because AI scales whatever you feed it, good list or bad one.

• Measuring SDRs on closed revenue. They do not run deals; comp them on meetings booked and qualified pipeline, or you punish them for outcomes they cannot control.
• No clear handoff. A vague SDR-to-AE handoff loses context and frustrates prospects.
• Prospecting bad-fit accounts. Volume against the wrong list produces meetings that never convert.
• Working from dirty data. Wrong numbers and stale emails waste the SDR's scarcest resource, which is selling time.
• Counting activity instead of outcomes. A hundred calls a day means little if none reach a decision-maker.
• Hiring SDRs before the message works. If the founder cannot book meetings with a pitch, adding SDRs only multiplies a pitch that does not land.
• Letting SDRs build lists by hand. Hours spent copying names from LinkedIn are hours not spent talking to buyers. One email every 2 weeks on go-to-market and sales data tactics: subscribe to the Fill Down newsletter.