BDRs. SDRs. Cold callers. Telesales. Outbound. Call it whatever you like, it doesn't work for the vast majority of businesses.
I could write a lengthy blog on the topic of how to make it work a bit better, but there are plenty of experts that can genuinely help with that. Instead, I'll pose you two questions:
What is the qualification ratio on your SDR-generated leads? I'll hazard a guess it's too high, due to a desire to make the best of the low volume being generated. That in turn makes your sales reps busy fools, chasing deals you can't win and causing them to blame someone else.
What is the conversion ratio on your SDR-generated leads in comparison to leads from referrals? I wouldn't be surprised if it's something like 4:1 or 5:1 versus 2:1 - an implied inefficiency of monstrous proportions. Would you accept any other team in your business wasting 12 hours a week per person, every week?
If your sales team rely on leads generated by calling, unless you have seriously invested in your team's effectiveness, they will be busy chasing deals they shouldn't, out of desperation. Free them up to add value and become much more efficient by instead training them to ask for referrals, and generate near-instant results. Certainly you should expect an investment in a systematic referral strategy to generate high quality leads within a week, that consistently turn into wins.
04/08/25
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Thomas Coles