Do you know the difference between a sales development representative (SDR) and a business development representative (BDR)? Many salespeople don’t. In fact, try looking it up yourself. There’s a good chance that even after you’ve looked it up, you’re still not sure which one is which.
But that’s okay, because we’re going to clear everything up for you in this blog post. We’ll look at both BDRs and SDRs, and we’ll examine the pros and cons of each position—so you can decide which is right for you. Stay tuned!
What is a business development representative?
What is a BDR? A business development representative is an inside sales position who helps organizations grow by identifying new business opportunities and developing relationships with potential customers. BDR sales typically work closely with marketing teams to generate leads and drive pipeline activity. In many organizations, BDRs are the first point of contact with prospective customers, so they need to be skilled at building rapport, qualifying leads, and delivering high-quality customer service. They’ll have a toolbox full of best practices for lead generation and customer relationship management.
What is a sales development representative?
A sales development representative, or SDR, is an important part of any sales team. SDRs are responsible for identifying and contacting potential customers and qualifying them. Typically, SDRs work closely with marketing and other sales representatives to determine the best leads for specific products or services. They also conduct SDR marketing, creating campaigns like email newsletters, social media posts, and online ads that generate leads. So you can see, SDR marketing and sales plays a critical role in helping businesses to grow by connecting them with valuable leads and filling their pipelines.
BDR vs. SDR: What’s the difference, and why can the definition be unclear?
Like we mentioned above, when discussing BDRs vs. SDRs it’s easy to get confused. One reason for this is that if you look online, you’ll see varying definitions for each role from organization to organization. Both are entry-level sales reps, and both are responsible for generating leads and developing relationships with potential customers (but not closing). However, there are some key differences between the two positions.
- BDR sales are focused on outbound activities with cold leads, such as cold calling, cold emailing, social selling, and face-to-face conversations. Business development reps are mostly responsible for developing long-term relationships and partnerships in untapped markets and seeking out new opportunities.
- SDRs are focused on inbound activities with warm leads, such as following up with organic leads from marketing campaigns, responding to online enquiries, and building short-term relationships. They’re also responsible for collaborating with marketing on lead management, scoring and qualifying.
Because of their different focus areas, SDRs and BDRs often have different skill sets. SDRs need to be able to effectively communicate the value of a product or service to a warm lead before they lose interest, while BDRs need to be able to think, plan, and execute strategically for outbound prospecting, establish trust, and start relationships that will remain profitable.
While both positions are important for generating leads, mixing up the two is a common practice, especially in small organizations where salespeople are required to do both inbound and outbound activities. Because of this, the SDR and BDR job role definitions have gotten muddled.
Let’s get ready to rumble! SDR vs. BDR, which role is best for you?
If you’re currently researching how to get a sales job, you may be wondering whether you should become an SDR or BDR. Both roles have their pros and cons, but ultimately it depends on what you’re looking for in a career. Let’s look at the personal traits, salary, and career path that go best with each role.
Choose a role that fits your personality
1. Become an SDR if you’re scrappy, energetic, and calm under pressure
Inbound SDRs should be scrappy and full of energy. ‘Scrappy’ is a term that usually describes someone who’s determined and ambitious, who doesn’t let anything stand in their way. To be an SDR, you must be willing to take risks and not be afraid of challenges. This will help you combat SDR burnout—the crazy phenomenon where on average new reps only last 15 months on the sales floor! Reasons for this include low base pay, long hours, and unfortunately in some organizations unclear expectations, a lack of training and coaching, workplace abuse, and limited opportunities for promotion.
At many organizations, you’ll also have to craft your own SDR marketing campaigns to fill your pipelines. It’s tough out there. To survive burnout, you’ll need to be humble, productive, coachable, and self-reliant.
Does that sound like you? Good—after the CEO, you have the most important job in the organization: generating inbound leads and bringing in revenue. Know that it’s not going to be easy; you probably won’t make six fixtures starting out (not for a long time), and you’ll be doing a lot of busywork that can get monotonous. You need to be productive, create your own schedule and not waste time on low-value tasks. And most importantly, you must be coachable—taking criticism and feedback well to improve your performance and build your . And if you work somewhere that doesn’t provide much coaching or training, you gotta find it outside of office hours on your own.
2. Become a BDR if you’re patient and strategic
Does the SDR career path seem just too easy for you? Sitting in your comfy office chair and waiting for the phone to ring or the emails to come flooding in? If you’re looking for a different challenge, if you’re looking to really earn your keep, then you need to be a BDR. This job is not all wine and roses. You’ll be making a lot of cold calls, and you’ll probably get more than your fair share of calls slammed in your face. But that’s all part of the adventure! BDR sales is a tough job. You’ll always be on the lookout for new opportunities, budding long-term relationships and untapped markets to partner with. In order to do so, the most important thing is to be patient and strategic.
There’s a common misconception that all salespeople are good at strategy, whether it’s targeting leads, emotional intelligence or interpersonal skills. But the truth is that not everyone has a strategic mind. Some reps are simply more inclined to tackle problems head on, throwing the first solution at prospects until their problems are solved rather than considering them from different angles and finding more nuanced, efficient solutions.
If you’re a BDR sales, whether you’re trying to reach new customers or clinch repeat sales from existing clients, targeted and strategic thinking is key. To be truly effective, your approach should be comprehensive, taking into account all aspects of the customer journey: from initial outreach through to follow-up interactions, even if you don’t handle closing, these stages need to be considered while working with your team. That means thinking carefully about the key drivers of your prospects’ purchasing decisions. Factors like pricing, availability of competitors’ products, and even overall market trends can all have a major impact on whether (and when) customers decide to buy.
Strategic thinking is all about looking ahead and planning for the future. It’s about keeping your eyes on the horizon and seeing the big picture—and it’s about having the patience to execute a long, winding sales cadence with confidence and ease.
BDR vs. SDR salary: who earns more?
How much money do BDRs or SDRs earn? You probably already know that there are a multitude of factors that influence a salesperson’s salary. On the one hand, your level of experience and education have the most obvious impact on your earnings. You’ll typically make more with five years of sales experience under your belt than a newbie fresh off the street. On the other hand, factors like location, the nature of the company you work for, the price of your product or service, and the particular industry you’re in all come into play.
We’ve looked at Payscale, the leading salary and compensation database. According to the site, here are the average sales development and business development rep base pay + commission + bonuses in the United States. As you can see, the numbers are neck and neck.
| In the United States | SDR | BDR |
| Base pay | $35-60k | $36-70k |
| Commission | $5-$26k | $2-25k |
| Bonus | $3-$25k | $2-25k |
BDR vs. SDR: which has a better career path?
You’ve been working hard, making calls, and developing relationships with clients. You’re good at what you do, and you’ve been recognized for your achievements. One day, your boss calls you into their office and tells you that you’re being promoted to the position of sales development manager, senior business development rep, or account executive!
In any of these new roles, you’ll be responsible for leading a team of wide-eyed salespeople (aww, remember when this was you?), tracking their progress, providing feedback, and helping them troubleshoot any problems they may have. Although opportunities for promotion can be scarce in the first few years, many SDRs and BDRs do move up to senior sales roles or management and leadership positions.
So it turns out that neither one is really better than the other!
Quick tips: how to get a sales promotion
- Be one of the top salespeople in your company. If you want to be promoted, you need to show that you’re the best at what you do. This means winning competitions leadership may hold.
- Be a team player. Having positive relationships with your coworkers is important, but it’s also crucial to show that you’re good at collaboration. When looking for managers and leaders, bosses want to see people who work well with others and don’t hesitate to jump in when someone needs help.
- Be proactive. Isaac Newton’s inspiration for his theory of gravity may have fallen from a tree, but your promotion probably won’t. Take the initiative to take on more responsibility, and show your boss that you’re striving to improve by getting a coach or extra training.
- Be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are successful careers. It takes time to work your way up the ladder, so create a 3-5 year timeline for yourself. Get mentorship at your company and make a plan to get there. If you don’t want to become stuck, during BDR or SDR onboarding, ask your advisors what resources and training they have available to help you for a promotion.
Key takeaways
- What’s the difference between BDRs and SDRs? BDRs focus on outbound prospecting and building long-term relationships, while SDRs handling inbound leads, qualifying them and forming short-term relationships.
- Which role is best for you? SDR roles fit those who have the energy for high-volume, monotonous tasks. You’ll also have to do SDR marketing to generate your own inbound prospects. BDR sales, meanwhile, is best for reps who want to build strategies and really hunt for leads daily.
- How to prepare for a BDR or SDR role: Download Lusha, a B2B lead enrichment and contact finder SDR tool. It’ll help you qualify leads when you’re prospecting on LinkedIn, inside your Gmail inbox and on B2B websites. You’ll receive up-to-date and accurate contact info like email addresses and phone numbers as well as business data like company revenue and employee headcount. It’ll help you prepare for (and succeed) in any sales role you choose.
Don’t wait—sign up for a 14-day free trial of Lusha and compare it to your current contact finder tool. With an accuracy rate of 85%, we promise it won’t disappoint!
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