Sales development

Short description: Marketing and sales Organizations

Sales development is an organization that sits between the marketing and sales functions of a business and is in charge of the front-end of the sales cycle and top of funnel leads by[lower-alpha 1] identifying, connecting with, and qualifying leads. Simply put, this organization is tasked with setting up qualified meetings between a salesperson and a potential buyer with a high probability of purchasing a product or service. A lead that meets this criterion is called a sales qualified lead (SQL). Once a lead is determined to be qualified, it is then passed to a salesperson, typically an account executive, who takes ownership of the lead and conducts the rest of the sales process.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Process
* 2.1 Types of leads
* 2.2 SDR outreach
* 2.3 Connecting with the buyer
* 3 Sales development conceptual framework
* 3.1 Demands
* 3.2 Characteristics
* 3.3 Benefits
* 3.4 Challenges
* 4 Notes
* 5 References

## History

The concept of sales development can be traced back as far as the early 1980s, with roots at Oracle. The original Oracle Direct team (DMD), started by Anneke Seley in the early 1980s, is among the earliest sales development teams on record. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it has been one of the key organizational strategies for most famous B2B technology companies, including Sun Microsystems, and Cisco.[2] In the late 1990s the sales development role was developed within Computer Associates as a bridge between sales and marketing groups with an emphasis on direct/indirect channel partner support.

## Process

### Types of leads

Sales development handles two types of leads. The first, often referred to as an inbound lead, is generated by marketing and sent to a sales development representative (SDR). The SDR will then engage that lead, qualify their interest in purchasing a product and determine whether it is worth spending further resources selling to this lead. If an SDR determines a lead is worth spending sales resources on, the lead is handed off to a salesperson to conduct the rest of the sales process. The second type of lead, often referred to as an outbound prospect, is a lead an SDR discovers by identifying potential buyers that would benefit from the product the SDR is selling. The universe of potential buyers a business can sell to is called a total addressable market (TAM). The criteria for a customer that a business has defined as an ideal fit is often described in an ideal customer profile (ICP), which an SDR will use to identify outbound prospects.

### SDR outreach

Once an SDR has identified the leads, whether inbound or outbound, that they wish to engage in a sales discussion, they must find a way to connect with that lead. Traditionally, this is done through phone-based outreach, which remains the primary channel by which most teams attempt to connect to leads. The email has become the other essential channel by which an SDR attempts to connect with a lead. In recent years, social media has become more prevalent, as an increasing number of teams use LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media platforms to connect with buyers. Most SDRs teams combine phone, email, and social media outreach in a multi-channel touch pattern to improve the probability that they will connect with their buyers. Outreach to a specific lead is often guided by a touch pattern, which is a cadence of touchpoints at specific intervals over a defined period of time before an SDR ceases outreach and moves on to another lead.

According to a Gartner study, technical buyers are 87% less likely to answer an SDR/AE compared to an approach that comes from a technical peer, expert, executives, or people from their network.[3]

### Connecting with the buyer

Successful SDR outreach results in connecting with a lead. Connections can occur in any of the channels the SDR is using for outreach: phone, email, or social media. If over a channel other than the phone, an SDR will schedule a phone call, in which the SDR will qualify the lead and interest them in moving forward in the sales process with a salesperson. Qualification criteria are most often described in a sales qualified lead (SQL) definition, which outlines the minimum information an SDR must gather before advancing a lead to the next step in the sales process with a salesperson. Most commonly, the criteria include information on available funds the lead has for a product (budget), the lead's ability to make a decision on purchasing a product (authority), how the lead need and the company will benefit from purchasing the product (need), and when the lead will be able to make a decision to buy (timeline).

Once an SDR gathers enough information to meet the criteria in the SQL definition, and the lead agrees to take the next step in the sales process, an SDR will schedule the next meeting between the lead and a salesperson and hand ownership off to that salesperson, who then conducts the rest of the sales process.

## Sales development conceptual framework

The below framework presents the main themes and concerns highlighted in the literature, commonly considered by B2B companies when establishing or using sales development.[4]

### Demands

* Organizational: Motivated and open-minded sales and marketing team with shared targets, clear process and transparent communication.
* People: Well-managed and chosen SDRs with right training and rewards.
* Technological: Digitalized sales processes with working systems and tools that are integrated between marketing and sales, as well as shared databases.

### Characteristics

* Organizational unit between marketing and sales.
* Focus on both ends of the sales pipeline: generating, qualifying, and nurturing leads, both outbound and inbound prospect- and account-focused.
* Target: meetings for outside sales force with large pool of contacts and touchpoints.

### Benefits

* Seamless cooperation between marketing and sales units and clearly defined roles results in no wasted leads and reduced conflict between inside and outside sales.
* More activities into sales into sales with same or less resources with better quality leads, shorter sales cycles, higher conversion rates and ultimately more sales.
* Helpful when focusing on new markets or in launch of new products and or service.

### Challenges

* Communication between marketing and outside sales which can limit relationship building and information sharing.
* Organizational culture and people-related challenges such as resistance to change during implementation.
* High turnover in SDRs and measuring challenges, no clear KPI for better revenue.

## Notes

1. ↑ Hugh Dubberly and Shelley Evenson refer to the "sales cycle" as the series of steps which leads to a sale, or alternatively the period of time necessary for a sale process to be completed.[1]

## References

1. ↑ Dubberly, H. and Evenson, S., The experience cycle, ACM — Interactions — Volume XV.3 — May + June 2008 — On Modeling Forum, accessed on 3 September 2025
2. ↑ "Sales Development Team: Most Important Sales Process Innovation in 10 Years". 7 April 2014. http://davidcummings.org/2014/04/06/sales-development-team-most-important-sales-process-innovation-in-10-years/.
3. ↑ "Gartner Survey Reveals 87 Percent of Marketers Are Concerned About Technology Replacing Jobs in Their Industry". https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-27-gartner-survey-reveals-87-percent-of-marketers-are-concerned-about-technology-replacing-jobs-in-their-industry.
4. ↑ Mahlamäki, Tommi; Martikainen, Juho (January 2024). "Sales Development in Business-to-Business Markets". Conference: 16th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Systems. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386148971_Sales_Development_in_Business-to-Business_Markets.

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