SDR

SDRs sit at the top of the sales funnel. Their core responsibilities are outreach (cold calls, emails, social touches), qualifying prospects against defined criteria, and booking meetings for account executives (AEs), who then own the deal through the rest of the sales cycle to close. SDR performance is typically measured by activity volume, meetings booked, and the conversion rate of those meetings into qualified pipeline. The role is distinct from an AE, who focuses on running the sales cycle and negotiating the deal rather than sourcing it. In recent years, many SDR teams have adopted AI tools — including AI SDRs — to handle a larger share of prospecting and initial qualification, often as part of the same sales management function that runs sales force automation more broadly.