GETTING STARTED
ULTIMATE SDR/BDR STARTER GUIDE ⚡About PointerBASICS
Job HuntingCommunities to joinPodcastsWebinarsBooks to readPeople to followExternal Courses GlossarySalariesSKILLS
Ideal Customer ProfileCalling Emails Social SellingLinkedIn Profile BuildingSequencingMindsetOnboardingDaily RoutineQualificationProgressionPerformance ImprovementGeneralPRACTICE
Live PracticeCOURSE
BasicsIntermediateAdvanced60 hours to SDR - Scroll down for the two-week starter plan
This is constantly being built out. Help us make it better by providing feedback, or sending Ricky Pearl a message
As an SDR there is a lot to learn quickly. It is best to have a structured approach so you are not learning advanced techniques, before mastering the basics. Don't learn 10 different call openers before you have mastered 2.
The below content is nicely structured to give you an easy ramp. It's important to remember that this is the theory... As Mike Tyson said. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Similarly, cold calling is easy, until you have your prospects on the other end of the line.
Jason Bay is a great place to start. You may not land up using all of his methodologies, but it's solid info. If you understand could action this, you are certainly capable of getting a job as an SDR.
First content to consume
COLD CALLING
- Cold call breakdowns (here, here, and here)
- Cold call intros
- How to crush your cold calling blocks with Nick Cegelski
- A killer cold calling structure with Nick Cegelski
- “Prospects never return my voicemails”
- The quickest way to increase your pick up rates
- Use these two cold call opening lines
- Dealing with call reluctance
- Cold Calling: From reluctant to confident
- Setting up “blind dates” for your prospects
COLD EMAIL
- The REPLY Method™
- The “Short and C-Suite” Cold Email™
- You need a narrative + storytelling frameworks
- 32 personalization triggers
- How to pattern interrupt
- In the year 2030, cold email will be…
- Cold email breakdown
- 3 creative subject line formulas for 35-65%+ open rates
- Use boring subject lines
SEQUENCE / CADENCE
- KISS (Keep It Simple Sequencing)™
- The 7-second video bump email.
- How Ned Arick from Canny.io approaches sequencing
- If you had to choose between phone, email, or LinkedIn as your tool of choice
MOTIVATION and MINDSET
- “I love prospecting!” Said no rep ever…
- Goals are overrated…
- You first, me second
- Procrastination is the #1 killer of sales results.
- How to deal with anxiety
- Two hacks for becoming the top SDR
OBJECTION HANDLING
- How to handle “not interested” via cold call
- How to handle “not interested” via cold email
- Deflating objections
- Handling “not interested” via cold email
MISC
First 3 books to read
First 2 podcasts to listen to
Contact Pointer to get our “30-day to tech sales” self-paced program. It will use only publicly available resources. 2 hours a day for 30 days. For more intense training we can support your once placed in a role through our outsourced SDR/BDR management services
Okay, this will take more than 2 hours.
- Register for LinkedIn and follow this LinkedIn profile guide for SDR’s in Saas to get your profile looking good. Don'tworry, it doesn't need to be perfect. You will be spending a lot of time on LinkedIn over the coming month, so you will have lots of opportunities to tweak it. Get your basics right. Make sure your profile pic is professional. Use this free tool to quickly make your pic look good.
- Register for slack and join all the free Communities to join
- Click and follow all of these People to follow, From this point on you will spend 30m of your day on LinkedIn.
- Add all of your contacts to your Gmail, outlook or upload them as a CSV by following this video
- If you are on TikTok, follow the people on this list People to follow
- Spend an hour Googling your top questions about SaaS sales (answering your main questions will help calm the nerves)
- Craft a great into and post it into each of the communities you joined yesterday
- Find the community managers and send them a DM. Let them know you are there to learn and ask for any advice or support
- Do one action to show them you are taking advicetheir
- Start listening to 30 Minutes to Presidents Club
- Over the course of the next week listen to the following episodes. There are 30 episodes there (cut down from their 80+) Listen on 1.5 speed for a total of 10 hours of listening
- 30MPC episodes most relevant to SDR positions = 3,4,5,6,9, (playbook 1), 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20, (Playbook 2),21,29,31,33,34,37,44,47,50,54,61,63,69, Playbook 7,83
- Order the 3 books listed above
- Sign up for the Aspireship SDR Course (It's free for 30 days)
- Start the course - Don't worry too much about the assessments, watch the videos at 1.5 speed.
- Do 2 hours a day, or binge this over one weekend (that's my preference)
- Read the post on Job Hunting and start connecting with SDR leaders and recruiters in your area.
- Register for a free HubSpot account. Follow tutorials and set up a basic pipeline. You will use this CRM to collect contacts that will be useful to you along your job hunting journey. You will also use the pipeline (deals/opportunities to track the jobs you are applying for, set follow up steps etc.)
- Start a search for SDR position on LinkedIn and start applying. Even if you don't get interviews, you might get feedback. If you start getting interviews, use these opportunities to learn about what they want to see. Pluck common attributes they are looking for and plug them into your profile.
- Ask a question in each slack community. Something engaging which will highlight your eagerness to learn. “Hi All, I'm self-training to become a SDR - If you wanted an SDR to come equipped with knowledge of 4 technologies, what would it be?”
- Start reaching out to SDR’s on LinkedIn at companies that you might want to work for. Ask them questions about the culture there. Let them know you are in the process of moving into tech sales, and any guidance would be appreciated
- Register for your free Loom or Vidyard account. You will need to be proficient in video prospecting and should use this tool to stand out in jobs you are applying for.
- Consume some of the content from Video Prospecting - Best Practice
- Make sure you have used all 100 LinkedIn invites available to you this week
Assuming you binged the Aspireship course. Move over to their video resource library and watch the following videos
Mindset: mastering your mental health in sales
Mindset: No Time to Waste
Continue with Aspireship content
- Triple Threat Prospecting
- Mastering LinkedIn Outreach
- Crafting Cold Emails
- How to impress in your first 30 days
- OK - BIG PAUSE. You have consumed a LOT of content. What do you think? is this for you? If yes. WE need to get some practice. All the theories in the world won't make you a better cold caller.
- For today. Practice your call opener. Watch these Jason Bay videos, and practice the opening lines 100 times. JUST THE OPENING 7 SECONDS.
- Dealing with call reluctance
- A killer cold calling structure with Nick Cegelski
- Then join this Slack channel and start dropping in voice recordings of your cold calls. In the #PRACTICE channel, you are allowed to cold slack call anyone in the group.
- Take the day off - mental health is important! reflect on all the info you have learnt
- Do 10 cold calls in the Slack community, or pick up one of the ROLE PLAY activities pinned in the channel. If no one is available,
- Consume one more piece of content from our Calling section
- Watch this video Family Feud - Prospecting edition.
- Write out 3 lines that you liked best and practice saying them
- Find one friend who is willing to role play with you for an hour
- Make sure you have used all 100 LinkedIn invites available to you this week
- Reach out to . See if they offer training in your area and if they are a good provider for you.
- Watch the video prospecting content from our Emails section
- BE BRAVE and send your first video to someone
- Watch this webinar Overcoming call reluctance - what SDR managers want from their team and internalise the resolve you will need, and the attributes you need to highlight to succeed
- Make sure you have used all 100 LinkedIn invites available to you this week