1. SDR Manager Go-No-Go
When to hire an SDR Manager and why SDR Managers with early stage
startups must be player/coaches if the company struggles to scale.
By Derrick Williams, a Senior Manager of
Inside Sales and Sales Development

2. ***These figures are only estimates and for illustrative purposes only.
Does not reflect or imply any individuals or organizations.
Is it time to hire an SDR Manager?
Player/Coach
or No-Go
1st Gear...
● No mgr, SDRs
report to CMO or
Sales owned- VP
Sales Ops
● 1-2 reps maybe a
player coach
building
2nd Gear...
● Inbound leads,
pipeline creation,
deal progression
● Closing, deploying,
expanding in
accounts,
referenceable
customers
Cruising...
● Profitable and
scaling the business
● Est ISR Model,
promote SDRs
Hire SDR Mgr
(if no player/coach)
Dir, ISR / SDR

3. A few call-outs
Consider going with a strong player/coach when first starting your SDR initiative who’s
excited to do the work her/himself and has the skills to scale with the business as you
evolve but can also transition back to contributing if the business isn’t scaling.
Be mindful of the reporting structure.
Senior SDR Managers will prefer to report directly to C-level
For career pathing, SDRs want to be as close to closing/revenue as possible so makes sense to align to sales but
marketing also works - who’s there for the team and showing the love?
Have a longer term plan that accounts for career progression, development plans as you
scale as well as contingency plans for the SDR team and the manager

4. derrickw0@gmail.com
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Thank you.