Insight: How remote SDRs can dramatically reduce cost per lead

Successful sales teams consist of many moving parts. There are sales managers who guide, coach and keep their troops focused on what matters. There are account executives who are celebrated for closing deals. There are customer success reps who step in once sales are made and specialise in upselling, cross-selling and renewals.

Then there are the team members who get the sales ball rolling in the first place. To some, they are cold-callers. To others, they are ‘The Hunters’. They are Sales Development Reps (SDRs) and, as any sales manager knows, they are often one of the hardest roles to recruit for.

What are SDRs?

SDRs focus solely on sales prospecting and helping qualify the best leads for account executives. Often the first point of contact for potential customers, they source leads from various places, build contact lists and reach out to targets to gauge their interest. They play a vital role in keeping the sales funnel flowing and spend their days cold-calling, emailing, social selling and appointment setting before passing the baton (ie: potential customers) to account executives to hopefully seal the deal.

Why is recruiting SDRs challenging?

One observer has described truly great SDRs as a “unicorn species” because they only come around once in a blue moon. While that may be hyperbole, there is no doubt that hiring SDRs presents unique challenges.

For starters, the SDR is an entry-level position so many candidates lack a work history to refer to when weighing up if they have the basic skills to do the job. Having those skills is essential as SDRs are essentially the face of a business, often the first team member a potential customer engages with. It is not a job to be gifted to someone lightly.

Thrown into this mix is the fact that keeping a quality SDR can often be more difficult than finding one. A study by respected sales consulting firm The Bridge Group found the annual attrition rate of SDRs is 34% and that more than 36% of businesses see new recruits depart within six months of hire. Coupled with an average ramp-up time of 3.2 months (time to reach full productivity) and it is clear that SDR recruitment can make or break a business.

The benefits of remote SDRs

Now for the good news – there is a resourcing strategy that is making life better for SDR recruiters. Remote staffing allows employers to tap into pre-qualified talent pools and hire quality SDRs in a quick, simple and cost-effective manner.

Reduced costs – remote staffing is a financial win. It’s that simple. From saving up to 70% on labour due to the lower cost of living in offshore destinations to being spared expenses related to recruitment, training and payroll, investing in remote SDRs can significantly reduce one’s bottom line and deliver a more economical cost per lead.

Consider the following example. Employing an onshore SDR on an average wage requires a range of costs including (but not restricted to):

• Base Salary – $80,000
• Commission – $16,000
• Superannuation – $10,080
• Statutory on-costs (ie: payroll tax) – $5,300

That takes us to a total cost (on-target earnings) of $111,380.

Now let’s consider the offshore option:

• Monthly fixed fee (all-inclusive) – $30,000
• Commission – $3,000

That’s right – a grand total of $33,000 and a monumental saving of $78,380. With numbers like that, it would be possible to employ a team of three offshore SDRs and still save $12,380 per annum and that surely makes good business sense.

Larger talent pools – with a global talent shortage putting increased pressure on recruiters, many businesses relish the chance to partner with remote staffing providers that have nurtured ready-to-work talent pools. Technology has also fostered a global workforce where offshore SDRs can perform their roles as seamlessly as in-house team members. With a four-stage pre-qualification process, the likes of flexhive by Hudson can even put only the top 5% of applicants in front of their clients.

Time savings – recruiting and managing an in-house SDR team is a major time commitment. From sourcing talent, training and onboarding, an extraordinary amount of energy needs to be spent simply getting an SDR started, let alone their ongoing management. Remote staffing providers have streamlined processes that mean candidate shortlists can be presented within eight hours and successful applicants can be contacting potential customers within a week.

Increased efficiencies – employing remote SDRs ensure that internal talents can dedicate their time to the crucial aspect of closing sales. Prospecting is a time-consuming and repetitive process, with countless hours often needed to find and qualify leads. It makes smart business sense that this task be managed by remote SDRs using technology that automates and streamlines the process and, in turn, allows account executives to focus on what they do best. Quality remote staffing providers also offer end-to-end solutions that handle everything from legal compliance to data security and payroll.

Summary

The rules of the modern workplace are constantly evolving, with executives and managers increasingly open to new ways of doing business. Remote staffing is one such avenue and many sales teams are already harnessing the power of remote SDRs to complement the skills of their in-house colleagues.