SDR and BDR roles

Treat SDR and BDR as labels for a motion. Their meaning depends on the work assigned.¹ A company may use the titles for different parts of inbound and outbound work, while one position may cover both responsibility areas.² That ambiguity affects hiring, measurement, and handoffs. Start with the work: who creates contact, who qualifies the problem, which accounts receive concentrated attention, and what the handoff must contain. Define those boundaries before choosing the title.

Define the role before you choose the title

Start with what a rep owns during the week. Write the operating boundary before deciding which label belongs on the job description.

Demand source

Find where conversations begin and who must create them. A comparison of role definitions mapped Sales Development Representative to inbound follow-up and Business Development Representative to outbound prospecting more often, with some definitions reversing those assignments.³

Ask: Which motion does this role own, and what starts the conversation?

Prospecting scope

Separate the channel from the broader prospecting responsibility. Depending on the organization's size and structure, prospecting may be assigned to an SDR or a BDR.⁴

Ask: Does this person work a defined outbound motion, qualify responses, or cover both parts of the path?

Account focus

Account strategy can create a boundary separate from channel ownership. Account Development Representatives are defined around targeted accounts.⁵

Ask: Is the role working a broad prospect pool or a named account set that needs account research and tailored outreach?

Qualification bar

Set the information a rep must learn before a conversation moves forward. Part of an SDR's role is finding facts, learning the prospect's pain points, and judging whether the company may have a helpful solution.⁶ The SDR also qualifies the account, builds rapport, and learns what matters to the prospect.⁷

Ask: What problem is present, how does the contact describe its effect, and what would make a next conversation worth taking?

Handoff

Define the handoff with buyer context and a meeting on the calendar as separate pieces. An SDR's goal is to sell the value of taking a meeting with an account executive.⁸ The role identifies potential customers, initiates contact, and qualifies leads before passing them to sales executives.⁹

Ask: What must be known before the next owner accepts the meeting, and what would make the meeting worth keeping?

What the SDR role usually covers

This role sits near the opening of the sales motion and turns attention into a qualified conversation. Treat its scope as broader than a call block.

Sales development representatives are usually the sales organization's openers.¹⁰ They spend time researching accounts, sequencing prospects, writing custom emails, and handling objections.¹¹ SDRs create pipeline through prospecting, qualification, discovery, and meeting booking.¹²

Use this role when the person must create interest, learn enough about the problem to judge fit, and prepare the next conversation. One definition of the SDR role focuses on qualifying inbound leads, conducting outreach, and booking meetings for account executives; closing sits outside that definition.¹³

The title can still cover outbound work when the organization assigns it that way. The written scope should settle the question through the demand source, qualification bar, and handoff requirements.

What the BDR role usually covers

State what work starts today and what outcome ends it.

The BDR team handles outbound activity.¹⁴ In practice, that can mean creating contact with selected prospects, working the response, and moving qualified interest toward the next conversation. Put the account scope and qualification standard beside the outbound assignment so the role does not become a volume target without a defined handoff.

If the same person also handles inbound follow-up or deeper qualification, record that in the role design. The BDR label alone cannot tell a new hire where the boundary sits.

Make the handoff usable

A handoff should let the receiving seller continue the conversation without asking the prospect to repeat the opening context. The rep who created the conversation should pass along what was learned and why the next step makes sense.

SDRs can establish credibility by showing they understand the industry trends and realities affecting the prospect, then tailoring the solution discussion to the prospect's goals and priorities.¹⁵ Sales roles may also require finding other people involved in the buying process.¹⁶

Use a short handoff record that answers these questions:

• What problem did the contact describe?
• What effect does that problem have on the account?
• What goal or priority did the contact mention?
• Who else may be involved in the buying process?
• Why did the contact agree to continue?

Move the meeting forward when the record gives the next owner a reason to continue the conversation. Send it back for more work when it only contains contact details and a calendar slot.

What not to do

• Modern SDR roles involve more than cold calling and emailing.¹⁷
• Keep list building secondary to outreach. One operating description calls spending all of an SDR's time building lists wasteful and assigns SDRs to outreach.¹⁸
• Use different measures for outside sales representatives focused on field meetings and relationship development and SDRs focused on outbound prospecting and qualification.¹⁹
• Keep the SDR inside an owned pipeline. One team wants SDRs to become revenue specialists in their own pipeline. It describes volume operation across hundreds of accounts as the alternative.²⁰