Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Definition

A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a B2B sales role focused on outbound prospecting — researching target accounts, building lists, and executing outreach sequences to qualify leads and book meetings for account executives. SDRs are the top of the revenue funnel: their pipeline coverage directly determines whether AEs have meetings to close. The SDR role is distinct from a BDR (business development rep) in some organizations, but the terms are increasingly used interchangeably. SDR turnover is high (often 12–18 months), so investment in training and data infrastructure directly impacts pipeline consistency.

Why it matters

SDRs are the most expensive individual contributor role in most B2B sales orgs (salary + tooling + training). Their productivity is directly tied to data quality — an SDR with good data books 3× more meetings than one with bad data. Investing in SDR tooling and data without investing in the SDR role itself is a common mistake that produces expensive automation running on junk data.

Example

A SaaS company has five SDRs each managing a pipeline of 50 target accounts. Each SDR sends 30 personalized emails per day, makes 20 calls, and books 4–6 meetings per week. The SDR team collectively generates 25 qualified opportunities per week, feeding four AEs who close 8–10 deals per month from that pipeline.

How Impossible Data helps

Impossible Data's conference datasets give SDRs pre-qualified lists of event attendees who match their ICP — the highest-leverage input for an SDR's daily outreach workflow.