The Modern SDR

Read time: 3 mins

AI is predicted to increase business profits by >35% in 2024 alone.

That said I’m not convinced AI will remove SDRs from the workplace all together (no matter what everyone is saying).

Instead, I feel very strongly SDRs will evolve (and it’s not the first time they have).

In this newsletter I will share with you where I believe the role of SDR is heading and how you can future proof yourself or your team.

Let’s dive in.

1: The Content Queens

If you think about it, SDRing is another form of Marketing (don’t shoot me).

But just like Marketing we are creating outreach to people who do not know us with the aim of converting them into people who want to chat with us. SDR is just more direct than traditional marketing approaches.

Problem is, our buyers have been saying to us for years they don’t want to speak with sales people as much as they used to. They’d prefer a ‘‘digital experience’’.

Our job as buyers should therefore be to acknowledge this and rather than triple our dials or double down on more automated emails aim to improve our skills to meet our buyers where they want to be met.

One place we can do that is on social media. Which as we know, is eating the world. But that’s not the only content you can build. Content comes in many forms such as infographics, lead magnets, freebies etc.

Part of an SDRs job in the future needs to be to create content in multiple formats to help educate prospects where the prospects want to be educated.

So how can you future proof yourself? Start learning content marketing. It’s as simple as that.

2: Network Led Growth

SDR by nature has historically been very transactional.

E.g. Call someone, book a meeting, hand em over.

The problem? There’s no relationship being built.

If we look at data on how buyers are buying there are tonnes of indicators from referrals, partnerships and networks that show buyers are buying based on what their peers are recommending and doing.

SDRs needs to upskill themselves dramatically on ‘network led growth’ and building deeper relationships with their network and partners. This means less time on cold outreach and more on existing relationship investments.

One way to do this could be through content creation which feeds into point one. Another could be running meet-ups etc. The options are endless but network led growth needs to be more about a few relationships rather than as many as possible.

The people who continue to hammer transactional relationships though, will lose.

3: AI Skills

Everyone talks about AI but I don’t know many people who can actually leverage it very well.

Sure, all the tools in our tech stacks leverage it and we don’t need to think about it much but I predict the eventual winners, the people who can deliver great content consistently, build their networks and convert them to buyers will be the ones who can leverage AI properly.

After all, the first 1 person billion dollar business is predicted to be achievable because of AI.

So how can you get started? Well, there are loads of courses on AI 101 out there you can get for around £50. Invest in yourself.

Because if AI is the future (which it is), why wouldn’t you invest in your own future?

Phase 4: 121 Relationships

No prospect wants automation. It’s just a fact of human Psychology.

The world of SDR has almost gone ‘‘full circle’’ on automation and instead of leveraging it to be more productive we will use AI to remove low value tasks meaning we can focus ALL our efforts on high value prospects who deserve 121 special attention.

This will mean every rep needs to be incredible at copywriting and verbal communication.

Skills like email writing, cold DMing and cold calling will become more important than ever before to start a few super high value conversations every day.

No more mass mailing, mass calling or mass DMing with copy and paste rubbish.

Human to human relationships will be allowed to prosper and in return we will be able to focus much more of our time on selling activities.

After all, in 2023 sellers only spent 28% of their time actually selling (Salesforce Report).

Future Proof Yourself

1. Learn basic AI principles: Learn how to use ChatGPT at a basic level - start there and build your knowledge. I recommend 30 mins a week to AI learning.

2. Triple down on copywriting: Prospects hate nothing more than poorly written emails that cram their inboxes. Spend 15 mins a week learning copywriting principles.

3. Start creating content: This doesn’t need to be selfies online. Think about content as anything that your prospects can consume and get value from. Create 1 piece per week to get started.

4. Referrals + NLG (network led growth): Learn how to leverage your network to get referrals. After all, referrals close 75% of the time.

Conclusion:

Remember - you are in control. If I can learn all of this, you can too.

Have a strategy for your future and how you can make yourself stronger.

The best way to do that? Invest in learning.

The market can take your job, your income, your ego. But it can’t take your knowledge and experience.

PS. I’m in the early stages of working on a new product that will take SDRs into the future.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 more ways I can help you in 2024:

1. The Cold Call OS - Convert More of Your Cold Calls into Meetings + Commission for just £97 (+20% off right now).

2. SDR>AE Skills Bootcamp - Go from SDR to AE + Start Closing Deals. Save your seat now.

3. SDR Leader Bootcamp - Go from SDR Manager to SDR Leader + Start Building a High Performance SDR Team. Save your seat and get 30% off with my SUPER EARLY BIRD pricing {available until March 31st}.

4. Outbound Team Training - Build a 7-Figure Revenue Channel with my bespoke Outbound Training Programmes (booked out until April).