SDR Operations
Part of Sales development for B2B teams
Defining a sales development team's remit
Define what a sales development team owns, which records it may work, where decisions pass to sales and how to handle exceptions.
A sales development remit states which accounts and enquiries the team may work, what decisions it may make and when another owner takes over. Write it around tasks and decision rights. A goal such as “generate pipeline” does not settle duplicate contact, unsuitable meetings or disputed handoffs.
Specify the inputs
State whether representatives receive inbound enquiries, named outbound accounts or both. May they approach existing customers, former customers or contacts at an account with an active opportunity? Identify who checks ownership and stop requests before work enters the queue.
Set the selection rule using the offer’s service limits and the minimum account information needed to proceed. If a key fact is missing, say whether the representative should research it, ask an owner or leave the record pending. Account size alone may be insufficient when the offer depends on a particular workflow or capability.
Name the decision the team can make
Give the team authority to decide whether an initial conversation deserves another action. The decision may draw on an issue or goal described by the prospect, plausible fit, any known disqualifying requirement and the purpose of further discussion. Do not ask a representative to supply a budget or buying date the prospect has not given.
| Work | Sales development may do | Escalate or hand over when |
|---|---|---|
| Account research | Check fit and form a question to test | Ownership or a service limit is unclear |
| Initial contact | Make permitted contact and explore relevance | The prospect raises a specialist issue or asks for another owner |
| Early assessment | Record what is known, unknown and ruled out | A defined next discussion would help |
| Deal evaluation | Give context to the sales owner | Detailed solution, commercial or contractual decisions begin |
Define what happens at the edges
Assign an owner for recurring cases: a meeting requested without a stated issue, an enquiry with an unresolved technical condition, an existing customer asking about another product and a prospect who wants contact to stop. A useful written answer or respectful close should remain possible when a meeting would add little.
Assign an owner to check the organisation’s contact rules before outreach and to carry stop requests across tools. Account ownership and permission to contact should be treated as separate checks.
Agree on the handoff
The receiving salesperson should help define the minimum record: who spoke, what the prospect said, what the representative inferred, material constraints, the purpose of the proposed discussion and any action the prospect accepted. Decide who can accept or return a handoff and where the reason is recorded. If account management owns an existing customer, involve that owner before arranging a separate sales conversation.
Apply the draft remit to a small set of representative record types and resolve inconsistent ownership decisions in the written rule. Revisit it when the offer, territory or ownership model changes.
