Improving the Efficiency and Results of an SDR Team
Tuppurainen, Vili (2023)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023120534385
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023120534385
Tiivistelmä
A Sales Development Representative’s (SDR) job is to find new customers and identify selling opportunities based on their needs, and to create value for the prospective customers around relevant commercial offerings, after which they will schedule a meeting for qualified prospects with an Account Executive who finishes the sales cycle. The objective of this product-based thesis is to provide a guide for the SDRs at Vaadin to discuss and provide possible improvements to the quality and efficiency of their work, which should enhance their overall results. The work of SDRs consists of many aspects, such as outreach through email, phone calling and LinkedIn, as well as scheduling their workdays and having the right mentality, each one of which can be broken down into subsections.
The topic for the thesis was chosen after a year of experience at the commissioning company, when the author realized that the overall quality and efficiency of the SDRs work, and their results, lacked consistency. Therefore, the author wanted to create a guide that would help the team improve their performance.
The theoretical framework of the thesis comprises of the research conducted by the author to gain a better understanding of background around the role of sales and SDRs, and how the team could improve the quality of the different aspects of their work. This includes different forms of outreach, timing and scheduling their work by utilizing time blocking, and developing the mental toughness required to deal with the rollercoaster of a sales role.
The empirical part of the thesis discusses the process of creating the SDR Guide as the product of this thesis. The section discusses the starting point of the thesis, the project plan and structure, as well as the evaluation of the final outcome.
The final chapter of the thesis, discussion, includes the author’s evaluation of the thesis process, suggestions for future development and presents the author’s personal learning experience over the course of writing the thesis.
This thesis project was started in the spring of 2023, but most of the work was conducted between October and November of 2023 and finalized in late November of 2023. The guide which is the product of the thesis should help the SDRs improve their overall efficiency, quality of work, and performance.
The topic for the thesis was chosen after a year of experience at the commissioning company, when the author realized that the overall quality and efficiency of the SDRs work, and their results, lacked consistency. Therefore, the author wanted to create a guide that would help the team improve their performance.
The theoretical framework of the thesis comprises of the research conducted by the author to gain a better understanding of background around the role of sales and SDRs, and how the team could improve the quality of the different aspects of their work. This includes different forms of outreach, timing and scheduling their work by utilizing time blocking, and developing the mental toughness required to deal with the rollercoaster of a sales role.
The empirical part of the thesis discusses the process of creating the SDR Guide as the product of this thesis. The section discusses the starting point of the thesis, the project plan and structure, as well as the evaluation of the final outcome.
The final chapter of the thesis, discussion, includes the author’s evaluation of the thesis process, suggestions for future development and presents the author’s personal learning experience over the course of writing the thesis.
This thesis project was started in the spring of 2023, but most of the work was conducted between October and November of 2023 and finalized in late November of 2023. The guide which is the product of the thesis should help the SDRs improve their overall efficiency, quality of work, and performance.