How the BDR Increases Lead Generation
Learn how BDRs can help you increase your leads.
Customers make their own purchasing decisions based on research, relationships, and their own judgments.
Selling to potential customers and hoping for the best is not an option.
After all, leads can find hundreds of competitors, so you must demonstrate to them that your solution is the best fit for their problems.
How do you go about doing this?
By taking leads on a nurturing journey!
Just like you do with infants, it's about teaching them.
You educate them on the benefits of your services or products, ensuring that your firm is at the top of their mind when it comes time to make a purchase decision.
As you can see, lead generation is only one aspect of the sales process.
This is where BDRs come up.
Research says, 82 percent of buyers agree to meetings when a salesperson begins contact.
That's why BDRs are critical to lead nurturing and sales support, as they are the ones behind the design of outbound strategies. They identify leads, evaluate them, and then pass them along to sales.
BDRs explore underdeveloped channels for possible leads that might otherwise go unnoticed by marketing lead generation.
Want to find out more?
Selling to potential customers and hoping for the best is not an option.
After all, leads can find hundreds of competitors, so you must demonstrate to them that your solution is the best fit for their problems.
How do you go about doing this?
By taking leads on a nurturing journey!
Just like you do with infants, it's about teaching them.
You educate them on the benefits of your services or products, ensuring that your firm is at the top of their mind when it comes time to make a purchase decision.
As you can see, lead generation is only one aspect of the sales process.
This is where BDRs come up.
Research says, 82 percent of buyers agree to meetings when a salesperson begins contact.
That's why BDRs are critical to lead nurturing and sales support, as they are the ones behind the design of outbound strategies. They identify leads, evaluate them, and then pass them along to sales.
BDRs explore underdeveloped channels for possible leads that might otherwise go unnoticed by marketing lead generation.
Want to find out more?
Reminder: What is a BDR?
A business development representative (BDR) is a sales representative who specializes in generating leads. They can be sometimes known as an SDR, and they specialize in prospecting, qualifying, and scheduling appointments for the sales team.
The BDR creates the first contact between potential customers and your company. Therefore methods like cold calling, cold emailing, or cold messaging on social media are used to generate new business opportunities.
They are the face of your business.
The BDR creates the first contact between potential customers and your company. Therefore methods like cold calling, cold emailing, or cold messaging on social media are used to generate new business opportunities.
They are the face of your business.
How Does a BDR Fill the Sales Funnel?
BDRs require a particular skill set. Starting with an understanding of their business industry, product, or service, and how it fits their target market, are the first few steps. They must also have a thorough awareness of their industry's issues and trends, as well as their target audience's pain points and the solutions they demand.
Selling starts with research
Before leads can be generated it's essential to know where to search and for whom.
Research to find the right markets and target audiences has to be the first step.
BDRs find different lead generation opportunities by analyzing customer profiles, behavioral data, and insights.
If a lead is a fit for your product or service the BDR will look for ways to reach out and make the first contact. By having insight into the industry, their messaging will prove timely and more appealing thanks to their research.
Outreach can be done over several channels
At the very least, any self-respecting BDR should be covering more than one channel for selling. We recommend three, and specifically, these three:
Lead qualification plays a major role
The intention of cold outreach is to get more information from your lead about their current pain points. At this stage, a BDR will just offer their help. It is too early to sell their product or service right away.
Once a conversation is started the BDR has to evaluate whether the lead can be pushed further in a sales funnel or if it's a dead end.
Target research and cold outreach will give the BDR information about their leads, as well as a qualifying call. With this information, the BDR will qualify the leads.
If after cold outreach the lead turns out to be a good fit, it's a BDRs job to move that lead on to the next step in the sales funnel, whether it is a meeting with an account executive or some other step.
Selling starts with research
Before leads can be generated it's essential to know where to search and for whom.
Research to find the right markets and target audiences has to be the first step.
BDRs find different lead generation opportunities by analyzing customer profiles, behavioral data, and insights.
If a lead is a fit for your product or service the BDR will look for ways to reach out and make the first contact. By having insight into the industry, their messaging will prove timely and more appealing thanks to their research.
Outreach can be done over several channels
At the very least, any self-respecting BDR should be covering more than one channel for selling. We recommend three, and specifically, these three:
- Cold Emailing - BDRs use cold emailing to reach out to potential customers and introduce them to the company's products or services. They send a message that is relevant to the customer and provides value so that they are more likely to respond.
- Cold Calling - Cold calling involves contacting potential customers who may not be familiar with the company or its products via phone call. BDRs need to be prepared for objections and have effective rebuttals ready.
- Social Selling - Social selling is the process of using social media platforms to identify potential leads and connect with them. This method allows BDRs to build relationships with potential clients before reaching out to them directly.
Lead qualification plays a major role
The intention of cold outreach is to get more information from your lead about their current pain points. At this stage, a BDR will just offer their help. It is too early to sell their product or service right away.
Once a conversation is started the BDR has to evaluate whether the lead can be pushed further in a sales funnel or if it's a dead end.
Target research and cold outreach will give the BDR information about their leads, as well as a qualifying call. With this information, the BDR will qualify the leads.
If after cold outreach the lead turns out to be a good fit, it's a BDRs job to move that lead on to the next step in the sales funnel, whether it is a meeting with an account executive or some other step.
What a BDR Needs for Peak Performance
In order for a BDR to be successful, certain prerequisites are necessary.
Adding a business development representative to your team is an investment in your company's future growth.
If the following requirements are met, the work of the BDR ensures an increase in lead generation.
Simply hiring someone and giving them a PC and a phone is surely not enough.
A BDR needs not only the equipment, which also includes a specific tech stack, but also training and education opportunities to develop them personally.
In order to guarantee success, optimal working conditions must be defined.
For this, as much information as possible about the customer target group must be given. So that a BDR can effectively generate and qualify leads. Of course, a BDR also does research to get information about the market and target group.
The internal senior team must also be prepared to work with BDRs. Here, open and fast communication between BDR and the rest of the team is essential.
And always keep in mind: working with BDRs can take a while until the first results will show up, as it will be a lot of trial and error at first.
Adding a business development representative to your team is an investment in your company's future growth.
If the following requirements are met, the work of the BDR ensures an increase in lead generation.
Simply hiring someone and giving them a PC and a phone is surely not enough.
A BDR needs not only the equipment, which also includes a specific tech stack, but also training and education opportunities to develop them personally.
In order to guarantee success, optimal working conditions must be defined.
For this, as much information as possible about the customer target group must be given. So that a BDR can effectively generate and qualify leads. Of course, a BDR also does research to get information about the market and target group.
The internal senior team must also be prepared to work with BDRs. Here, open and fast communication between BDR and the rest of the team is essential.
And always keep in mind: working with BDRs can take a while until the first results will show up, as it will be a lot of trial and error at first.
Top BDR Skills
While there is no one-size-fits-all example of the perfect BDR, there are some overarching qualities and skills that top BDRs exhibit over the course of their careers. They are as follows:
Resilience against "NO"
Many cold calls or cold emails are often needed before a BDR can pique someone's interest. Strong BDRs can stay the course in the eyes of rejection and improve their skills in order to increase their success rate.
What distinguishes the best from the rest is their ability to pick themselves up and make a phone call or send another email right away.
Their resilience and inner strength keep them going because they understand that business development is a long-term attempt that can take time to accomplish.
Empathy
Empathy is an important skill for building trust because it allows reps to prove that they care more about the prospect's business issue than they do about closing the deal.
According to a study, 66 % of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.
BDRs with empathy listen more than they speak. That way, they can truly understand what the prospect is telling them.
It's essential for BDRs to put themselves into the shoes of the prospect. Understanding what they think and feel is what a BDR has to be able to do.
Communication
Prospects will not be qualified by a BDR who sounds like they are reading from a script.
Of course, they want to reach out to as many prospects as possible via phone, email, and social media, so the quality of their communication is vital.
They must spend time personalizing their outreach in order to be successful.
Also repeating what the prospect has just said to make sure to understand their point of view and not be afraid to keep asking questions will help to get to the root cause of a problem, not just the symptoms.
Curiosity
Curiosity will drive a BDR to want to learn more about the industry in which they work, the competition they face, and the customers they interact with on a daily basis.
It is not sufficient to rely on managers to get information.
BDRs must be proactive and inspired to improve constantly.
BDRs must be willing to constantly learn, share, and improve their skills. Everyone learns in different ways, so spending time with their colleagues, and industry experts, reading, using LinkedIn, and participating in events all contribute to your learning.
A curious attitude shows that a BDR has the right mindset to grow as a person and improve the company they're working for.
Creativity
BDRs are no longer limited to reaching out to prospects.
A creative BDR is always able to bring their message to prospects with personalized cold emails and calls, videos, voice messages, and leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or events as just a few examples.
Finally, the B2B space is competitive when it comes to getting your voice heard and message seen, but this gives room for innovation and creativity.
The market is constantly evolving and demands more expertise to not be outperformed.
According to Simon Morden CEO and Chairman at Prosell Learning Ltd and On.Board, sales is becoming more complex, and cold outreach has to be personalized and more consultative.
There are many opportunities to stand out and find platforms that work for lead generation.
Working with top performers in lead generation who have the skillset generates 2.7x more sales meetings than THE REST can do.
Therefore it makes a lot of sense to work with BDR experts to get the maximum out of your business.
Resilience against "NO"
Many cold calls or cold emails are often needed before a BDR can pique someone's interest. Strong BDRs can stay the course in the eyes of rejection and improve their skills in order to increase their success rate.
What distinguishes the best from the rest is their ability to pick themselves up and make a phone call or send another email right away.
Their resilience and inner strength keep them going because they understand that business development is a long-term attempt that can take time to accomplish.
Empathy
Empathy is an important skill for building trust because it allows reps to prove that they care more about the prospect's business issue than they do about closing the deal.
According to a study, 66 % of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.
BDRs with empathy listen more than they speak. That way, they can truly understand what the prospect is telling them.
It's essential for BDRs to put themselves into the shoes of the prospect. Understanding what they think and feel is what a BDR has to be able to do.
Communication
Prospects will not be qualified by a BDR who sounds like they are reading from a script.
Of course, they want to reach out to as many prospects as possible via phone, email, and social media, so the quality of their communication is vital.
They must spend time personalizing their outreach in order to be successful.
Also repeating what the prospect has just said to make sure to understand their point of view and not be afraid to keep asking questions will help to get to the root cause of a problem, not just the symptoms.
Curiosity
Curiosity will drive a BDR to want to learn more about the industry in which they work, the competition they face, and the customers they interact with on a daily basis.
It is not sufficient to rely on managers to get information.
BDRs must be proactive and inspired to improve constantly.
BDRs must be willing to constantly learn, share, and improve their skills. Everyone learns in different ways, so spending time with their colleagues, and industry experts, reading, using LinkedIn, and participating in events all contribute to your learning.
A curious attitude shows that a BDR has the right mindset to grow as a person and improve the company they're working for.
Creativity
BDRs are no longer limited to reaching out to prospects.
A creative BDR is always able to bring their message to prospects with personalized cold emails and calls, videos, voice messages, and leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or events as just a few examples.
Finally, the B2B space is competitive when it comes to getting your voice heard and message seen, but this gives room for innovation and creativity.
The market is constantly evolving and demands more expertise to not be outperformed.
According to Simon Morden CEO and Chairman at Prosell Learning Ltd and On.Board, sales is becoming more complex, and cold outreach has to be personalized and more consultative.
There are many opportunities to stand out and find platforms that work for lead generation.
Working with top performers in lead generation who have the skillset generates 2.7x more sales meetings than THE REST can do.
Therefore it makes a lot of sense to work with BDR experts to get the maximum out of your business.
Outsourcing a BDR Makes Lead Generation Faster
So you might be thinking about hiring a BDR now. Not so fast, there are a few things to consider before doing so. Particularly how you go about hiring one, especially when outsourcing is a possibility.
Save yourself the long hiring process
If no sales team in your company exists yet, hiring people for an in-house team can cost you a lot of time and money.
According to a report by the bridgegroup, the average ramp time is 3.2 months and the average rep lasts 1.5 years. So you have about 15 months of working effectively with an internal BDR.
To give you an idea of how much it can cost you to hire and work with SDRs: it can cost your company up to 2 million dollars.
You really have to consider whether this fits your company's strategy.
After all, the onboarding time with an internal BDR can take a minimum of 90 days.
In comparison, the onboarding time with an outsourced BDR service is about 1 week.
This is a significant difference that has to be considered for or against outsourcing your sales.
Outsourced BDRs allow businesses to focus on more important issues. There is no need to spend time developing processes and KPIs for an internal team, nor is there any need for onboarding or training.
Outsourcing your BDRs will connect your organization with qualified people who bring their expertise to your business.
Additionally, after a new BDR is hired her or she is not always able to perform to reach the company's goals right away: 42.5% of reps take 10 months or longer to become productive enough to contribute to company goals.
Expect greater results much earlier with outsourcing BDRs
First, a BDR generates leads with outbound methods much faster than with inbound.
Second, an outsourced BDR is an expert in their field and might be even faster than a new BDR of your in-house sales team.
Third, when BDR service companies hire new BDRs, they want the best of the best because these professionals are the company's assets and insurance to compete successfully.
Outsourced BDRs are equipped with efficient tools and strategies
More than 40% of salespeople say prospecting is the most challenging part of the sales process. With outsourced BDRs, your company is not going to face any of these challenges.
Also, a company like SalesPipe provides their BDRs and SDRs with the best tools to be as efficient as possible. Tools like LinkedIn SalesNavigator and AmpleMarket, are used on a regular basis and will support BDRs in their daily tasks.
Besides the right tools, our BDRs will assist your sales reps in leveraging tools to support your sales team to follow a consistent and measurable process of outreach via phone, email, and social media.
BDR experts know…
More leads aren't always recommendable.
Why?
Outsourcing business development means getting better leads. The BDRs collaborate with sales teams to identify key qualifiers for leads, which they then incorporate into their process to deliver people who are more likely to close.
Working with experts boosts your B2B lead generation to the next level.
Save yourself the long hiring process
If no sales team in your company exists yet, hiring people for an in-house team can cost you a lot of time and money.
According to a report by the bridgegroup, the average ramp time is 3.2 months and the average rep lasts 1.5 years. So you have about 15 months of working effectively with an internal BDR.
To give you an idea of how much it can cost you to hire and work with SDRs: it can cost your company up to 2 million dollars.
You really have to consider whether this fits your company's strategy.
After all, the onboarding time with an internal BDR can take a minimum of 90 days.
In comparison, the onboarding time with an outsourced BDR service is about 1 week.
This is a significant difference that has to be considered for or against outsourcing your sales.
Outsourced BDRs allow businesses to focus on more important issues. There is no need to spend time developing processes and KPIs for an internal team, nor is there any need for onboarding or training.
Outsourcing your BDRs will connect your organization with qualified people who bring their expertise to your business.
Additionally, after a new BDR is hired her or she is not always able to perform to reach the company's goals right away: 42.5% of reps take 10 months or longer to become productive enough to contribute to company goals.
Expect greater results much earlier with outsourcing BDRs
First, a BDR generates leads with outbound methods much faster than with inbound.
Second, an outsourced BDR is an expert in their field and might be even faster than a new BDR of your in-house sales team.
Third, when BDR service companies hire new BDRs, they want the best of the best because these professionals are the company's assets and insurance to compete successfully.
Outsourced BDRs are equipped with efficient tools and strategies
More than 40% of salespeople say prospecting is the most challenging part of the sales process. With outsourced BDRs, your company is not going to face any of these challenges.
Also, a company like SalesPipe provides their BDRs and SDRs with the best tools to be as efficient as possible. Tools like LinkedIn SalesNavigator and AmpleMarket, are used on a regular basis and will support BDRs in their daily tasks.
Besides the right tools, our BDRs will assist your sales reps in leveraging tools to support your sales team to follow a consistent and measurable process of outreach via phone, email, and social media.
BDR experts know…
More leads aren't always recommendable.
Why?
Outsourcing business development means getting better leads. The BDRs collaborate with sales teams to identify key qualifiers for leads, which they then incorporate into their process to deliver people who are more likely to close.
Working with experts boosts your B2B lead generation to the next level.
Conclusion
A BDR plays a major role in setting up your sales funnel. It's an important role, that requires a lot of knowledge and should be the work of people who have the knowledge and skillset to get the job done.
Finding and hiring one can be an unexpected challenge your company might run into. They become your face, after all. It often requires a professional recruitment team, time, and money.
Avoiding these obstacles can help your organization grow and develop faster than your competitors.
A great way to move forward with lead generation without any of the cons is by working with outsourced BDRs who will perform as a great extension of your sales and marketing team.
Want to work with BDR experts? Find out here how we can help.
Finding and hiring one can be an unexpected challenge your company might run into. They become your face, after all. It often requires a professional recruitment team, time, and money.
Avoiding these obstacles can help your organization grow and develop faster than your competitors.
A great way to move forward with lead generation without any of the cons is by working with outsourced BDRs who will perform as a great extension of your sales and marketing team.
Want to work with BDR experts? Find out here how we can help.
Post by Mattes Wöstemeier.
Get started
If you are a company looking for sales growth or a sales rep looking for opportunity, let's chat.
