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How to hire a Sales Development Representative

SDRs fill the sales pipeline with qualified leads. They do cold outreach and discovery calls. Then they hand the lead to an account executive. SDR is the first job in most B2B sales teams. It is often the sales role you hire the most people for. A great SDR fills the top of your funnel. A bad one wastes your account executives' time with meetings that go nowhere.

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What does SDR stand for?

SDR stands for Sales Development Representative.

A Sales Development Representative (SDR) starts sales conversations that someone else closes. They work a list of target accounts and inbound inquiries. They reach decision-makers by phone, email and social media. They check if there is a real need and budget. Then they book a meeting for an account executive. The role exists because finding prospects and closing deals suit different people. Splitting the two lets a company do much more of both.

Function
Sales development, top of funnel
Level
Entry-level individual contributor, often a first sales job
Reports to
SDR Manager or Head of Sales Development
Measured on
Qualified meetings booked, pipeline created, activity volume, meeting-held rate
Next step
Account Executive, SDR Team Lead, or customer success

The hiring challenge

SDR hiring is a volume problem. You may get 500 applicants for 20 openings, and most have no B2B experience. Resumes do not help, because the role does not need a track record. It needs coachability, the right tone and the ability to take rejection calmly. To judge these traits, you have to hear the candidate handle a real cold call. Reading about their internship will not tell you.

What to look for in an SDR

Three traits predict SDR success. Resilience (can they keep going after 10 rejections in a row without losing energy?). Tone (do they sound natural and confident on a call, or stiff and rehearsed?). Coachability (when they get feedback, do they change their approach or defend it?).

For SDR roles, attitude matters more than experience. A new graduate who is curious and has thick skin will often beat an SDR who has stopped growing. Your interview should test how people act under pressure. Their resume matters less.

How to structure the interview

A strong SDR interview has two stages. First, a cold-call roleplay. Give the candidate a company name and a buyer persona, and ask them to open a call. Score them on whether they start by asking questions or start by pitching. Second, a rejection scenario. Tell them the prospect is not interested and watch what they do. Good candidates accept the objection and change direction. Weak candidates push harder or give up.

AI voice interviews suit SDR hiring well. They test tone and resilience across hundreds of candidates. You can put 500 applicants through the same roleplay. Then you compare their answers side by side. To fill 20 openings, your sales manager meets the top 60.

Every applicant takes the same cold-call roleplay. The list is ranked by score, and the top 60 go to the sales manager.

Common mistakes when hiring SDRs

Hiring for product knowledge. SDRs learn the product in a few weeks. They cannot learn to handle rejection that fast. Test how they take a no before you test what they know.

Not testing for tone. SDR is a voice job. If you never hear the candidate on a call, you are hiring blind. Written tests and resume screens miss the most important thing, which is how they sound.

Giving too much weight to B2B experience. Most SDR candidates are early in their careers. One year of cold calling does not make someone better than a new graduate who handles rejection well.

Key skills for a Sales Development Representative

  • Cold outreach
  • Discovery questioning
  • Tone and energy
  • Resilience and rejection handling
  • CRM hygiene
  • Coachability
  • Active listening
  • Meeting qualification

What a great interview looks like

Voice

"Tell me about a time you kept going after 10 rejections in a row. What kept you at it?"

Roleplay

"This is a cold call. The prospect says, 'Not interested, bye.' What do you say?"

Jordan Taylor's answer in the AI interview

"Totally fair. Before I go, what are you using for this today?"

Resilience: 8 out of 10▶ 02:40

Scenario

"Your AE says a meeting you booked was not qualified. What do you ask them?"

Voice

"What do you say in the first 30 seconds of a cold call? Walk me through your opening."

Roleplay

"The prospect says, 'Just send me an email.' How do you respond?"

You can use these questions in Goodfit as they are, or edit the questions and the scoring for your team.

Recommended interview process

  1. 1

    Round 1: AI Voice Roleplay15 min

    A cold-call roleplay, a rejection scenario and discovery questions. Scored on resilience, tone and coachability.

  2. 2

    Round 2: Sales Manager Interview30 min

    Culture fit and a talk about the territory. Only for the top scorers from Round 1.

In Goodfit, the AI interview runs the first round for every applicant. Skill tests, coding tests and roleplays can run in Goodfit too. Your team reads the scorecards and joins for the later conversations.

FAQ

SDR hiring questions

What does an SDR do?
An SDR researches target accounts and finds the right person to contact. Each day they run a set of calls, emails and social messages. They start a conversation and check the prospect for need, timing and authority. Then they book a meeting for a closer. They also handle inbound leads and reply fast, while the lead is still warm. They keep the CRM accurate so nobody works the same account twice.
What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR?
The most common split is the type of lead. SDRs handle inbound leads that came to the company. BDRs reach out to accounts that have shown no interest yet. Many companies use the two titles for the same job. Some pick one title for both. If you are comparing offers, ask which leads you would work. Inbound and outbound are very different jobs, with very different rejection rates.
What is the difference between an SDR and an AE?
An SDR opens deals. An account executive closes them. The SDR's job ends when a qualified meeting is booked and held. They are measured on meetings and pipeline created. The AE takes the deal through demo, evaluation, negotiation and signature. The AE is measured on closed revenue. Moving from SDR to AE is the normal promotion path. It usually takes twelve to twenty-four months.
What metrics is an SDR measured on?
The main metric is qualified meetings booked. Usually the AE has to accept each meeting as qualified. Other metrics include pipeline value created and conversion from meeting to opportunity. Meeting-held rate matters too. It shows which SDRs book anyone just to hit the number. Activity counts also matter, such as calls, emails and sequences finished. Activity shows effort, but it is not the goal. An SDR who hits call targets but books no meetings needs help with their calls. More effort will not fix it.
What skills does an SDR need?
The biggest one is being willing to make the next call after a bad one. They need short, clear writing, since a cold email has a few seconds to earn a reply. They need research skill to find a reason to call that fits the account. They need to listen well in the first thirty seconds of a call. They need to be honest about qualification. Booking meetings that go nowhere hurts trust with the AE team. And they need daily discipline. The job is won by steady work across a quarter. One good week is not enough.
Is SDR a good first job in sales?
It is the most common first job in software and B2B sales. It is one of the few that needs no past experience or set degree. The downside is that the work repeats and you hear no a lot. Burnout in the first year is common. SDRs who last build two skills that a whole sales career rests on. They learn to start a conversation with a stranger. They also learn to do it on a schedule.
What interview questions should I ask an SDR candidate?
Describe your product in one line. Give them sixty seconds to cold-pitch it. Then interrupt with an objection and see what they do. Ask how they would research an account before calling. Ask what they do after four rejections in a row. Ask how they decide a lead is not worth chasing, which tests honesty about qualification. Ask them to write a three-line cold email in front of you. Writing is half the job, and it is easy to fake in a portfolio.
How do you hire many SDRs at once?
SDR hiring is high volume. What you need to see is how candidates act, since most have little or no track record to check. Use a structured voice first round. Put every applicant through the same cold pitch and objection. It measures what matters: calm, clarity, and whether they ask questions before pitching. Phone screens cannot reach that many people.

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