SDR KPI’s You Should Be Measuring – [Metrics, Benchmarks, Examples]

Posted on by joran
SDR KPI’s You Should Be Measuring – [Metrics, Benchmarks, Examples]

For many companies, SDR’s are instrumental in driving sales and getting the product out to customers. To evaluate sales development teams’ progress and demonstrate the influence they may have on the company’s bottom line, it’s critical to set clear metrics and targets for them to meet. In this article, we will take a look at important SDR KPI’s to help you measure and improve your teams’ performance.

What is an SDR KPI?

First off, an SDR is an acronym for sales development rep, while a KPI is an acronym for a key performance indicator. When combined together, an SDR KPI is simply a metric that can help you measure your sales rep’s performance in comparison to company or industry benchmarks.

Below are 11 well known SDR KPI’s that are measured by companies:

  • Dials
  • Calls
  • Meetings
  • Emails Sent
  • Opportunities Created
  • Revenue Generated 
  • Activities
  • Sales Qualified Leads
  • Sales Accepted Opportunities
  • Demo’s Completed
  • Revenue Generated

These will of course vary by the industry your company operates in, but these are considered the most standard SDR KPI’s that companies focus on measuring.

Different Types of SDR Metrics?

SDR’s are often separated into two groups: Outbound SDR’s and Inbound SDR’s.

Outbound SDRs are typically in charge of establishing new “cold” accounts with vendors that have never dealt with the company before. They’ll usually be given a list of accounts to contact or a list of industries or verticals to break into, and their approach will be more personalized and targeted.

Recommended Reading: Marketing KPI’s to Help You Measure Performance and Stay Competitive

Filtering, qualifying, and converting inbound leads into sales discussions will often be the focus of inbound teams. They’ll follow up on leads generated by marketing teams, such as e-book downloads, webinar attendance, content syndication leads, website queries, demo requests, and event leads, among other things.

Below are some of the different SDR KPI’s measured for outbound SDR’s vs. inbound SDR’s.

Outbound SDR Metrics

  • Cold Calls Made/ Emails Sent
  • Conversations Had
  • Time Spent on Phone
  • Meetings Scheduled
  • Demos Performed
  • Revenue Generated

Inbound SDR Metrics

  • Calls Taken
  • Emails Answered
  • Appointments Set
  • Quotes Given
  • Contracts Forms Generated
  • Sales Generated

As you can see these slightly differ from one another, but the fact remains that they all point towards generating revenue. As a business, it’s important to measure whether inbound methods or outbound methods convert higher for your reps. Finding this information out will help you focus on improving other KPI’s within your organization.

SDR Metrics

Because sales development teams are so vital in building a sales funnel, it’s critical to know how to set SDR metrics and KPIs that can help you figure out what success looks like and what productivity levels you can expect from them.

Find out industry benchmarks and begin to track how your sales reps are performing. It’s also worth noting that the productivity level of SDR’s will vary based on the type of approach and tools they have at their disposal

Sample Metrics for Inbound and Outbound Teams

Data courtesy of Operatix

  • An inbound SDR should be able to handle roughly 15 leads each day.
  • The conversion rate from an inbound lead to a meeting varies greatly depending on lead
    quality (may range from 5-10% for low intent leads to 75-80% for high intent leads).
  • Outbound SDRs should produce 15 meetings a month, with a drop-out rate at 20%, meaning 12 meetings attained/month. 

These are just some metrics that can help you get started with measuring your SDR’s.

How to measure SDR KPI’s?

Short answer; start using a CRM tool which can do this for you. See some listed here: