Have you ever compared your Business Development Representative team to a baseball organization?
The analogy is more appropriate than you might think.
You’ve got your All-Stars and home run hitters (the ones who consistently set the most sales appointments with qualified decision-makers), your role players and seasoned veterans (the ones you know you can rely on for strong phone calls and quality conversations), and your rookies and minor leaguers (the ones who are new to the profession of B2B lead generation and cold calling and might still be a little raw).
Just as within a baseball organization, all three tiers need regular coaching and training, but it’d be foolish to approach each skill level with the same type of instruction. After all, a baseball team would never coach its minor leaguers the same way it does its All-Stars.
VSA’s Quality and Training team takes this analogy to heart when working with our BDRs and developing the most appropriate coaching regimens.
“What we’re looking at is skill levels, and the different ways we work with BDRs who are new to the role and maybe are only working on one client program, as opposed to those who are being trained on different calling platforms and multiple programs,” says Dawn Stolte, VSA’s Senior VP of Operations. “What we’ve found is that people in that first tier of BDRs are motivated by different things than those in the higher tier—people in the first tier are usually motivated by team incentives, while the higher-level BDRs are more motivated by individual incentives.”
VSA takes pride in the fact that most of our BDRs don’t stay in the first tier for long. And once they start to move up, their growth opportunities aren’t necessarily limited to remaining a BDR. All but one of VSA’s current Program Managers started at the company as callers.
“The goal is to really find people who can go to that next level and to develop them into other roles within the company,” Dawn says. “Some are perfectly fine staying BDRs forever, but with others we want to find out what their career goals are and help them reach those goals.”
Here are the different coaching approaches our Quality and Training team takes with each tier of BDRs:
Tier 1
Since this level of callers generally isn’t as experienced as their peers, it’s important to do everything possible to help them feel comfortable on the phones. One person from the Quality team is assigned to work directly with each BDR in this tier, ensuring individualized, hands-on attention.
This tier of BDRs is coached on fundamental cold calling skills, including offering rebuttals to common objections, increasing calls per hour, improving product knowledge, and basic sales techniques. Role-playing common B2B and B2C telephone scenarios is a popular coaching method at this level.
Notably, many of these BDRs work on a client program in which bonuses are based on team accomplishments, not individual, which helps create a supportive environment marked by camaraderie and shared strategies.
“Really this level is about developing confidence,” Dawn says. “I can think of two BDRs who jumped from this tier almost to the highest level practically overnight just from the confidence they developed. Once you gain confidence calling on one program, it’s easier to go to other, more complex programs and succeed.”
Tier 2
This is our largest group of BDRs, with many on the fringe of moving up to the highest level. At this tier, we stress the art of negotiation in trying to schedule appointments, while refining skills such as objection handling and keeping prospects on the phone. We focus heavily on ways to improve conversion rates, lead qualification, and the overall call quality.
Many of these BDRs are assigned to programs in which we’re working out of our clients’ CRMs, so the coaching focuses on technology and making sure they understand the intricacies of each platform.
Tier 3
For BDRs at this level, we’re looking to train them in complex sales strategies, such as upselling and perhaps even closing deals. These BDRs are also coached in leadership skills, and often given additional responsibilities on a program beyond making phone calls.
Their goals may include mentoring newer BDRs and taking on more challenging strategic accounts.
Conclusion
Regardless of the individual skill level, VSA is committed to helping all our BDRs increase their overall production. After all, the more confident our BDRs are on the phones, the more successful our clients. That means not just coaching and training, but also team-building exercises, get-to-know-you activities, and anything else to help them raise their game and keep morale high.
It’s working—the average tenure of our BDRs exceeds the industry average of 1.8 years, and more significantly, there is only a 3% turnover rate among our top-tier agents.
“We have a very strong BDR pool right now,” Dawn says. “You can see it in the bonuses they’re receiving and the results we’re producing for our clients.”
We’d love to put our BDRs—and the whole VSA team—to work for your business. If you’re looking for help generating quality leads and filling your sales funnel, give us a call. Let’s see if we can hit a few home runs together.