SDR Call Techniques

Table of Contents

Overview

Call Structure
Closing & Next Steps

1. Call Structure

Every call follows the same structure. The order is not rigid, but each stage serves a purpose — skip one and the call loses momentum or ends without a result.

Stage	What happens
1.1 Opening & Framing a call	Introduce yourself, Factorial, and the purpose of the call clearly and confidently within the first 30 seconds.
1.2 Context Awareness & Setting	Show preparation. Reference why you are calling and what you already know about them.
1.3 Discovery & SPIN	Ask structured questions to understand their situation, challenges, and fit. See Section 5 for full detail.
1.4 Value proposition	Connect Factorial's value directly to what the prospect just told you — not a generic pitch.
1.5 Objection Handling	Address pushback calmly and with curiosity. See Section 6 for full detail.
2 Closing & Next Steps	Confirm the demo — specific time, date, invite sent on the call. See Section 7 for full detail.

1.1 Opening & Framing a call

The QA taxonomy scores the opening on two things : whether you introduce yourself and Factorial clearly, and whether you quickly establish the purpose of the call. Both matter.

What a strong opening includes :

Your name and that you are calling from Factorial.
The reason for calling — reference what they did (form submission, content download, free trial) if known.
A direct statement of what you are offering — a short conversation to understand their situation.
Keep it under 30 seconds before inviting them into the conversation.

Instead of :

"Hi, I'm calling from Factorial, we're an HR software company that does payroll, time-off and more..."

Try :

"Hi [Name], this is [Your name] calling from Factorial. I saw you filled in our form earlier — I wanted to reach out quickly and understand what prompted it. Do you have two minutes?"

For Postbound leads, acknowledge the context without over-referencing the content they downloaded — they may not remember it clearly.

1.2 Context Awareness & Setting

Before getting into discovery, show that you have done your homework. Referencing something specific about the prospect's company earns trust and separates a prepared SDR from a cold caller. An SDR who starts by asking the prospect to explain all context from scratch loses credibility from start.

What to reference :

Company size or industry if relevant to your opening.
A recent company event — new hire cycle, expansion, funding round, or news.
Their current tools if visible — it shows preparation and sets up discovery naturally.
The prospect's role and how long they have been in it.

Instead of :

"Can you tell me a bit about your company and how you manage HR today?"

Try :

"I had a look before the call — you're around 80 people in the logistics space, right? I'm curious how you're managing HR at that size, especially as you scale. Is it still mostly manual or do you have something in place?"

1.3 Discovery & SPIN

Discovery is the most important part of the call. If you pitch before you discover, you are guessing. Your goal here is to understand the prospect's situation, pain, and fit — before you say anything about Factorial.

Discovery is where you find out what truly matters to the prospect. Without it, you are pitching blindly — saying the right things about the product and still losing the conversation because nothing connected to what they actually care about.

The four discovery question types

You do not need to use all four types every call. But you always need at least two : Probing and Implication.

Question type	Examples
Opening	Broad, low-pressure questions to understand context: "How are things currently managed?" / "What does your HR setup look like today?"
Probing	Follow-up questions that go deeper into the pain: "What's the most difficult part of that process?" / "How long has that been the case?" / "What have you tried so far?"
Implication	Questions that surface the cost of the problem: "What happens when that breaks down?" / "How does that affect the rest of the team?" / "What's the risk if this isn't fixed before you scale?"
Confirmation	Questions that check understanding and show you listened: "So if I'm understanding correctly, the main challenge is X — is that right?" Always confirm before you pitch.

Discovery questions by topic

Pick 2–3 that match what you already know about the prospect before the call.

Area	Questions
People & headcount	"How are you managing onboarding as you grow?" → "What happens when a new joiner starts and systems aren't ready?"
Time & attendance	"How do you currently track working hours or absences?" → "What's the process when someone disputes their hours or leave balance?"
Payroll & compliance	"How do you handle payroll today — manual, outsourced, or tooled?" → "What happens if there's a payroll error or a labour compliance audit?"
Performance & feedback	"How are performance reviews currently run?" → "What happens if a manager hasn't documented anything ahead of a review?"
Process & scale	"At what point does your current setup start to break?" → "What's the thing that's going to become a real problem as you hire more people?"

The SPIN :

Stage	Goal	Example question
Situation	Understand current reality	How are time-off requests managed today ?
Problem	Identify pain	What’s the hardest part about this process
Implication	Explore the impact	When the requests get lost how does that affect managers and the team
Need-Payoff	Connect to solution value	If everyone could request and approve instantly, what would that change ?

Common business pains to listen for

Loss of data or errors caused by manual HR processes.
Time wasted on approvals, tracking, or documentation.
High operational costs due to HR inefficiency.
Lack of centralisation across HR, payroll, or attendance management.
No employee self-service portal.
No structured recruitment, performance, or expenses management.
Employee turnover without a clear HR platform to support retention.

ICP — Ideal Customer Profile by market

Confirm the company fits the ICP before going deep into discovery. Do not proceed to booking if the company is clearly outside the ICP.

Market	Employee range
Spain	20 – 800 employees
Portugal	15 – 500 employees
Italy	20 – 500 employees
Germany	15 – 500 employees
France	20 – 500 employees

If the company has fewer than the market minimum, the SDR must inform the prospect of Factorial's minimum pricing before booking the demo.

Valid industries include all sectors — manufacturing, hospitality, technology, construction, retail, healthcare, logistics, NGOs, and more.

Exceptions: government entities and companies without digital infrastructure.

Contact authority — who you need

The contact must understand the problem and be able to open doors internally. They do not need to be the final decision-maker.

Contact type	Examples
Valid contacts	C-level (CEO, CFO, COO, Owner), HR Director, HR Manager, HR Specialist, Talent Acquisition Manager, Finance Manager, IT Manager → any role with direct ownership over the processes Factorial covers.
Invalid contacts	Operational or frontline employees, junior admin roles (receptionists, office assistants), interns or trainees without project ownership, frontline supervisors without process authority, junior sales reps with no HR or finance remit.

If you reach the wrong contact: do not disqualify. Work to find the right person within the same company.

Champions, Influencers & Decision-Makers

Role	Who they are and why they matter
Champion	Uses, advocates for, and pushes Factorial internally. Often HR Director or HR Manager. Feels the pain most acutely. This is your primary contact.
Influencer	Shapes perception without making the final decision. Often IT Manager, Project Manager, or Head of Digital Transformation.
Decision-Maker	Approves the purchase. Often CEO, CFO, or HR Director. May not be accessible at SDR stage — the Champion gets you there.

What SDRs catch — What AEs catch

Who catches it

What they catch

SDR catches:

- Contact has no authority.

- The company is outside ICP size.

- No identifiable need at qualification stage.

- Company is invalid (duplicate, shut down, out of segment).

- No budget or timeline confirmed on DR deals.

AE catches:

- Specific technical gaps.

- Pricing misalignment after commercial discussion.

- Prospect decides to delay after hearing the demo.

- Competitive preference identified during AE discovery.

If something was uncertain during qualification — authority level, competing tools, timeline — flag it clearly in your handoff notes so the AE has the full picture.

1.4. Our value Proposition

The value proposition is not a script you memorise. It is something you build in real time — using what the prospect just told you.

Generic — falls flat on every call: "Factorial is an all-in-one HR platform that helps companies manage their people more efficiently. We automate HR processes, reduce admin time, and give you visibility across your workforce."

Tailored — built from what they said:

"Based on what you've told me — you're at 80 people, onboarding is manual, and your HR manager is spending most of her time on admin instead of people work — what we'd actually solve for you is the operational chaos that happens between 50 and 150 headcount. Companies at your stage use Factorial to get ahead of that before it becomes a retention problem."

The bridge: Pain → Insight → Value Proposition

Every tailored value proposition follows the same logic :

Step	What it looks like
Pain	What the prospect told you. "We're growing fast but onboarding is chaotic — new hires wait days for access and managers are overwhelmed."
Insight	What that pain actually means. This company is scaling without operational infrastructure. The cost is time, manager bandwidth, and new hire experience.
Value Proposition	What you say next. "What you're describing is exactly the transition point where companies like yours start automating onboarding — so that headcount growth doesn't create operational chaos."

If you cannot connect the value proposition to something the prospect said, you need more discovery — not a better pitch.

1.5. Objection Handling

An objection is not a rejection. It is a signal that the prospect is engaged enough to push back — which means they are still in the conversation. A silent prospect is far more dangerous than a sceptical one.

The 5-step framework

Step

What to do

Step 1 —

Listen & Accept

Let them finish. Acknowledge the concern before you say anything else:

"I completely understand — thanks for being upfront with me about that."

Step 2 —

Clarify

Ask what the objection actually means:

"Can I ask — when you say it's not the right time, what does that mean specifically for you?"

Step 3 —

Put Context

Normalise the objection:

"That's actually one of the most common things I hear at this stage."

Step 4 —

Answer

Respond directly and calmly — connecting back to what they told you in Step 2.

Step 5 —

Confirm & Proceed

Close the loop before moving on:

"Does that make sense? Are we aligned on this?"

The three objection types

Type	Sounds like	What's really going on
Smokescreen	"I'm too busy" / "Send me info" / "Not looking at anything new"	Low urgency or low trust. → Don't answer at face value — ask one question to keep the conversation open.
Price / Budget	"We don't have budget" / "It's too expensive"	Value hasn't landed yet. → Reframe around the cost of the problem, not the cost of the product.
Product / Fit	"We already have a tool" / "You're missing an integration"	Haven't seen enough relevant functionality. → Probe what they actually need before defending the product.

Common objections — applied

Objection	How to handle it
"We don't have budget"	Clarify: "When you say no budget — does that mean it hasn't been allocated, or it's been looked at and ruled out?" Answer: "What's the current cost of doing this manually — the time, the errors, the risk?" Proceed: "Does it make sense to at least see what the numbers look like?"
"Now isn't the right time"	Clarify: "What's making now not ideal — is it something internal like a project, or more that it's just not on the radar yet?" Context: "Restructures tend to expose exactly the kind of process gaps that create extra work." Proceed: "Would it make sense to book something for when the dust settles?"
"We already use something"	Clarify: "Can I ask what you use? And what made you fill in the form if you already have something running?" Answer: "The question isn't whether to replace it — it's whether what you have now will hold up as you scale." Proceed: "Would it be worth 30 minutes to at least see whether the gap is as big as you think?"
"Not interested"	Do not accept it at face value. Pivot: "Totally understand — is that because the timing isn't right, or you're happy with how things work now?" One more question before you end the call.

2. Closing & Next Steps

A great call means nothing without a confirmed next step. The goal is a specific, confirmed demo — not a vague agreement to talk again. No 'maybe'. No 'I'll check'. A date or nothing.

Closing principles

Principle	What it means in practice
Zero Doubt Rule	Never hang up without a clear yes or no. If the prospect is hesitant, offer two specific options — not an open question. "Would this Friday or next week work better for a 15-minute call?"
Live Calendar Invite	Send the invite while they are still on the phone. "Give me 10 seconds — I'm sending the invite now. Can you check your calendar and confirm?"
Set expectations	"30 minutes, our product specialist will join, and we'll focus on [pain points they mentioned]. Does that work?"
Tentative Hold	If they need to check with someone, do not leave an open loop. "Let's put a tentative hold — easier to cancel than to find a new slot."

Closing language — situations

Situation	What to say
Prospect won't commit to a specific time	"Let's lock it in now while we're both here. Does Thursday at 3pm work, or is another time better for you?"
Prospect says 'I need to check with my team'	"Of course — should I include them on the invite? Or let's put a tentative hold now and I'll send you something to share with them in the meantime."
Prospect agrees but seems unclear about the demo	"Just so you know what to expect — 30 minutes, our product specialist will join, and we'll focus specifically on [pain points]. Does that work?"

Before marking the deal as Meeting Booked — confirm all of this

The correct contact is confirmed to attend — ICP-fit and has internal influence.
Date and time are confirmed — not tentative.
Calendar invite has been sent and confirmed by the prospect.
Handoff notes include B/ANT findings gathered during the call.
Deal must be moved to Meeting Booked at least 24 hours before the demo.
One-Shot exception: if the demo is booked and held same day, notify the AE via Slack immediately at booking.

SDR Call Techniques

Every technique to master before, during, and after the call

1. Call Structure

2. Closing & Next Steps