Patrick Mahomes was the 10th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Second quarterback taken.
Tom Brady was a totally different story. Picked 199th back in 2000. Fell all the way to the 6th round!
Fast forward to 2021, Brady now has 7 Super Bowl rings. Patrick Mahomes has one, but at just 25-years-old, there will be plenty more opportunities. And our beloved Chicago Bears passed on both of them…
Recruiting a Top Draft Pick
When you’re out looking for the “next Mahomes” or the “next Tom Brady,” the process is similar to how a VP of Sales recruits for their next star BDR. Granted, there’s no sales combine, but sales leaders look at their current top performing BDR and ask, “How do we find another one just like him? Another five just like her?”
So, you hire a couple people with similar resumes. Next business major comes in, does great, but the other one doesn’t work out. Then you have a music major who slipped to the 6th round. They come in, lead the team in meetings. Wait, should we be hiring all music majors now?
If the emphasis is 100% on recruiting—whether that’s internal or using an external agency—results can start to feel pretty random; especially in the unpredictable role of BDR. Sales leaders are left scratching their heads. Is there any way to make these results more predictable?
Recruiting top talent is important. But don’t short-change your training program
Let’s take it back to Chicago for a second. Bears fans give Mitch Trubisky a hard time because “we could have had Patrick Mahomes” (or Deshaun Watson too, just to add insult to injury). The hindsight’s 20/20 assumption: If you put Mahomes in a Bears uniform, Chicago would automatically have the same success as Kansas City.
But is that accurate?
This belief ignores all the other pieces of the puzzle. The play calls. The coaching. The training. Weight room. Nutrition. Locker room. Do you have good veterans to teach the young star? Is there a playbook? Are practices run efficiently like the New England Patriots or sloppy like the New York Jets?
There have been plenty of first round draft picks, even No. 1 overall picks, who didn’t pan out—not because they weren’t talented, but because they didn’t land in a good system. Likewise, plenty of quarterbacks who were taken later in the draft, landed in a great system, they went on and thrived.
When building your BDR team, same as football, the training piece is incredibly important. You’re teaching reps the art of cold calling, but also your company’s playbook. You’re adjusting to each rep’s individual style. You’re giving them a strong foundation.
With a great training program in place, each new BDR has a shot at taking their skills to the next level.
Recruiting. Training. That takes us 2/3 of the way there. You still need one more piece of the puzzle.
Great management solidifies your BDR Program
Three scenarios:
One of your top BDRs has their first goose egg week. 0 new meetings.
Another one of your BDRs just called on the world’s angriest prospect. They ripped into your BDR, said to never call them again (and a few other things that we can’t put into print). This BDRs confidence is shaken.
And another one of your BDRs, they’ve been struggling for the last 4 weeks. Behind the scenes, they’ve had tough news in their family, but they’re still working hard, trying to turn things around.
Even your best BDRs have that 3-interception game. Or the 3-game losing streak. When this happens, it’s no longer in the training or recruiting realm. Now it’s a question of management.
A key aspect of the manager’s role is to help BDRs continue to improve and guide them out of the rough patches. Also, just like Tampa Bay surrounded Tom Brady with the right talent, great managers make sure their team has all the right tools to be successful. And mentors to pair them with. Across the board, great managers remove obstacles and keep the team running on all cylinders.
Bringing all three pieces together
At Sales Empowerment Group, we offer virtual BDR teams. What this looks like:
Recruiting – We meet with your leadership team, learn what a great candidate resume looks like for your company. Your sales team. Then we go out and source and qualify 2, 5, 10, however many people you’re looking to grow your BDR team.
Training – In normal times, the BDRs work out of one of our four offices (Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Mount Pleasant). Even in this remote work era, they still report to us. We provide the training and we can also create a BDR/SDR playbook for your organization if you don’t have one already in place.
Management – We have experienced BDR managers who also were BDRs so that all of our BDRs have a leadership structure coaches, develops and promotes their career development.
We’ve worked with hundreds of B2B clients over the last 10 years. The standard process is for our clients to have the virtual BDR team through SEG and then ultimately hire the proven reps onto their team as full-time employees. Many of these reps have gone onto become top performing BDRs, Account Executives, Channel Managers, and other sales leadership positions. In this way, SEG is like your sales team’s Farm System. To learn more, you can download our e-books and check out our various case studies. Also feel free to contact us directly by calling 312-283-4653