Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at ReadyCloud, the Shipping, Returns, Growth Marketing and CRM Suite built for e-commerce.
My career as an executive sales development rep (ESDR) in the software as a service (SaaS) industry has taught me many things—namely, that in the ever-evolving tech world, there is a two-pronged fork for its growth cycle.
• Prong A: Software is rapidly developed and rolled out to users, much like beta video games, with the intent of improving it along the way, all so it can improve the user’s experience (in this case, pain point resolution).
• Prong B: SDRs like you and I are responsible for taking these working lumps of clay and selling the finer points of them to other leaders.
Notwithstanding, of course, are the many cogs and wheels in between—from various departments like marketing and engineering to testing, QA and even customer support.
All said and done, in SaaS, we’re all tasked with making pain points a thing of the past for our user base. But what about the execs who are in the trenches—the ones on the front lines? If you’re a leader in SaaS, let me give you the down-low on just what makes us SDRs tick and what perks make us work even harder.
Make it cushy for us to close.
I can’t tell you how many SDRs I have talked to or worked with that all share a similar grievance: It could be so much cushier to close. For example, at the company I work for, when you close big accounts, you take home a substantial earning for that close, coupled with enticing incentives on the front first few months of service. For example, we get to keep the first month’s service fee, and we have the opportunity to earn even more bonuses based on the number of user licenses that are purchased and the volume of data that is subsequently used.
Consider an immediate and ongoing thank you to your SDRs for bringing the bottom-line-boosting business to the company.
We really love residuals.
What’s even cushier to an SDR like me aside from a sweet and honeyed closing bonus? The potential to add residual earnings to my take-home pay as part of my ongoing efforts.
You see when we SDRs create relationships with enterprise users in SaaS, we often are also the lifeline to those companies. And we tend to work diligently, hand-in-hand with them well into the future. In short, we nurture deals to close them and then post-nurture and sustain them in the aftermath. Gaining residuals that add up over time between every account we close is the best way to keep us engaged and hungry in the long term.
There are some tools we really (really) like.
A rather surprising anecdote from my personal experience is the lack of proper tools being provided at the workplace. In my past experiences, it felt like I was clawing tooth and nail to get a subscription to a few online tools that would greatly enhance my ongoing efforts. The lack of these tools hampered my ability to perform to my expectations.
So, if you’re a SaaS leader, pay attention to this: Provide your SDRs with the tools they require to close more deals. Even if some of those tools seem costly, the investment in the right ones will certainly pay off in spades in the long term.
Help us help you.
My last parting piece of advice is to help us help you. What does that mean? It means giving us autonomy in our position. After all, you hired us to bring you more deals, help grow the company and expand the bottom line. So, let us do our job so you can focus on doing yours.
Of course, we all won’t pan out—and that’s okay. But here and there, you will uncover a rockstar in the mix that you never want to let go of. Hopefully, you’ll apply this advice and have an SDR Exec who’s on your team grinding with you for the long haul.
Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?
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