The best SDRs set up meetings for their AEs like they're blind dates.
They get prospects excited to meet with their AE.
Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes. You get a call from someone you don’t know, from a company you haven’t heard of.
They do a decent job in the call and you’re intrigued.
And then…
They set you up for a call with someone else.
This process feels like a nurse handing you off to a doctor. Who then asks you the same exact questions the nurse did. Not a great experience.
Let's do better.
Here’s how to pull this off:
✅ Tell the prospect what they’ll learn
First, ask your AE what prospects learn from their first conversation. This excludes any language about platforms or dashboards. I’m talking education around “why change?”
Second, watch a recorded disco/demo from your AE. Or ride shotgun in a few sales calls if your company doesn’t record them.
Here’s an example of what this might sound like at the end of a cold call:
“I’m really excited for you to meet with Tom. You mentioned that staffing welders and figuring out how to automate high mix/low volume parts are top priorities. My Account Executive will walk you through how other manufacturers are solving these two problems so that you’re not having to push back orders. You’ll also walk away with a plan for how you can tackle traditionally tough to automate products.”
Don’t mention “demo” at all.
✅ Humanize your AE
Talk about your AE’s experience. Hype them up.
After you tell the prospect what they’ll take away from the call with your AE, you could end with:
“Oh, and Tom has about 7 years of experience walking the plant floor. Not to mention, he’s had dozens of conversations with Operations leaders in the last 6 months. There are some really big trends we’re seeing and everyone’s dealing with the labor shortage right now. You should get a few ideas you can bring back to your team."
~~~
Lesson here: Take that extra step at the end to talk up your AE and get the prospect excited about them as a HUMAN + what they can learn in that first call.
Your AEs will love you. And the prospect will be much more likely to show up.