I've never seen a great SDR leader who accepts high attrition rates.
"It's part of the grind running an SDR org."
These same leaders have 40-50% attrition rates, mostly voluntary. Their reps are choosing to leave the org.
From our work with dozens of SDR teams, attrition happens for a few reasons:
⛔️ Toxic culture
You know...the smile and dial stuff everyone's always talking about.
Fear-based leadership. Unrelenting focus on hitting dial activity. Strict adherence to scripts and cadences.
This is the obvious one.
⛔️ Lack of role-specific enablement
I see this all too often. Enablement is strapped on bandwidth, so SDRs never get role-specific training.
The "last mile" training/coaching around what to do when a prospect picks up a cold call and says "hello." How to write great emails, subject lines, etc.
SDRs attend enablement sessions meant for AEs, then have to translate that into their outbound approach.
⛔️ No career track (a big one)
SDRs are no longer getting promoted to AE in 10-12 months. Orgs are struggling to hold onto SDRs for 1-2+ years because there isn't a place for them to go.
Ideas:
- Create a "belt system" where reps can earn promotions: SDR 1, SDR 2, etc
- Give them extra responsibility (like owning the playbook)
- Make them a team lead
- Build an AE development program to start AE training when they're still SDRs
⛔️ Inexperienced front-line managers
99% of sales orgs spend 6-7 figures on rep training every year, but ZERO on manager training. You have managers that don't know how to run proper 1on1s, weekly team meetings, coach around skills, etc
⛔️ Poor AE/SDR alignment
Still seeing this one a lot. Alignment is basically three AEs bossing around one SDR on what accounts they should reach out to.
There has to be specific guidance that allows SDRs to work autonomously.
What helps an SDR hit quota vs. pleasing their AEs is often in conflict. Fix that immediately.
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What would you add to the list?