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title: SDR HI - Role & Performance
description: CRM Knowledge Base
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1. [CRM Knowledge Base](https://hr.factorialhr.com/crm-knowledge-base?hsLang=en)

# SDR HI - Role & Performance

## What good performance looks like as an Inbound SDR

**Table of Contents** 

Overview 

- Introduction

1. The Inbound SDR Role at Factorial
2. Pre-Call Preparation Checklist

 

---

 

### **Introduction**

 

This is your practical guide to the Inbound SDR role at Factorial — from lead assignment to confirmed demo handed to an AE.

It covers call execution, qualification, objection handling, closing, post-call process, and CRM hygiene. Every section reflects the same standards used in QA audits, so what's described here is also what gets measured.

**How to use it:**

- Keep it open during your first weeks; refer back when a situation feels unfamiliar.
- It's not a script — it describes expected behaviour and gives examples. Your delivery should always sound natural.
- Each section maps to a QA scoring area — understanding what's scored (and why) helps you improve faster.
- When a call doesn't go to plan, use the relevant section to adjust next time.

Questions ? Talk to your team lead or use the QA function.

 

---

### **1. The Inbound SDR Role at Factorial**

**1.1 What the role is**

The Inbound SDR team sits within the Marketing organisation at Factorial. Your job is to transform marketing-generated leads into qualified opportunities for the AE team — converting interest into confirmed demos with the right people.

Each lead you receive has a cost behind it — marketing investment, campaign spend, content production. Your role is to make the most of every lead by reaching out quickly, qualifying thoroughly, and handing off cleanly.

**1.2 Lead types you work**

Inbound SDRs handle two types of leads:

| **Lead type** | **What it means** |
| --- | --- |
| **Demo Request (DR)** | High-intent leads — the prospect submitted a form requesting a demo. These leads require the fastest response and full SPIN qualification before booking. |
| **Postbound (PB)** | Lower-intent leads — the prospect engaged with content (webinar, guide, free trial) but did not explicitly request a demo. These require more discovery before qualification, and budget confirmation is not required. |

**1.3 KPIs & What Success Looks Like**

There are two things measured in the IB SDR role: **daily activity** (the inputs you control every day) and **monthly outcome** (Demo Held = a meeting that took place with a relevant contact who agreed to explore Factorial with an AE). Activity makes the outcome possible. The outcome is what you are measured on.

| **Metric** | **What it measures** |
| --- | --- |
| **Demo booking rate** | Leads converted to confirmed demos |
| **Demo held rate** | Confirmed demos that actually took place and converted by AE |
| **AE rejection rate** | Demos disqualified by AEs after the meeting |
| **CRM hygiene** | Accuracy and completeness of deal records and call logging |
| **Inbound response time** | Speed of first outreach attempt after lead assignment |

**Daily Activity Standard**

These are the minimum daily inputs. They are not the goal in themselves — they are the floor that makes the monthly outcome achievable.

| **Metric** | **Daily minimum** |
| --- | --- |
| **Calls** | **≥ 60 / day** |
| **Quality conversations** | ≥ 3 / day (**The more there are the better it is)** |
| **Activities** (calls + emails + LinkedIn) | ≥ 80 / day |
| **Talking time** | ≥ 60 mins / day |

*Note: IB SDR daily activity floors are lower than OB because inbound leads are warmer and require fewer total touches per lead. The numbers above are suggested benchmarks — confirm with your team lead before treating it as final.*

Read these together, not in isolation. High calls with zero quality conversations means you are dialing but not reaching the right people. A single low day is not a signal — a pattern across days is.

 

**Seasonality**

Targets are not flat across the year. Depending on the seasonality of the month, your target moves up or down from the base. Some months carry a higher target — strong commercial periods, post-summer ramp; quieter months carry a lower one.

 

Your team lead will give you the adjusted target for the current month.

 

**What *good looks like “beyond the numbers”***

Hitting *your Demo Held target matters. But how you hit it matters too. These are the qualitative signals that distinguish a high-performing IB SDR from one who is just moving numbers.*

| ***Signal*** | ***What it looks like*** |
| --- | --- |
| ***High qualification rate*** | *Demos that reach Discovery without AE disputes. Low rejection rate.* |
| ***Clean CRM*** | *Notes that give the AE full context. No missing fields, no blank lost reasons.* |
| ***Fast response time*** | *DR leads contacted within SLA window consistently.* |
| ***Low no-show rate*** | *Expectations set correctly on the call — prospects who know what the demo is and why they are attending show up.* |
| ***Consistent cadence*** | *Pipeline worked deliberately — not a burst at month end.* |

**The team supporting you**

1. **Marketing** — generates the leads you work. Budget, campaigns, and content sit here.
2. **Operations** — your CRM setup, pipeline rules, reporting, and tooling.
3. **Sales Enablement** — onboarding, general skill development, and product knowledge training.
4. **Quality Assurance** — audits calls, identifies coaching priorities, and supports skill development specific to inbound SDR work.
5. **Account Executives** — receive qualified demos from you and take prospects through the commercial conversation.

### 2. **Pre-Call Preparation Checklist**

A prepared SDR earns credibility in the first 30 seconds. An unprepared one wastes both their time and the prospect's.

**2.1 Before you dial — always check**

- **Company size** — does it fit the ICP for this market ?
- **Company website** — understand what they do.
- **Contact role** — are they someone who could influence or champion an HR/Finance decision ?
- **Lead origin** — was this a Demo Request or Postbound? That changes your approach.
- **Previous activity** — check the CRM. Has this company been contacted before? Was there a previous deal ?
- **Current tools** — if visible in CRM or LinkedIn, note what HR software they may already use.
- **LinkedIn** — role, seniority, how long in position, any recent company news.

**2.2 Golden Rules — before you create a deal**

Before working a lead, check whether an existing open deal protects it. The rules depend on whether your lead is a Demo Request or any other origin.

| **Rule** | **Demo Request lead** | **Non-Demo Request lead** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Hard-protected stages** **(always blocked, regardless of dates or activity)** | - Engaged or Meeting Booked (OB/Partner SDR pipeline) \- Any active AE stage \- Close Pending Payment or Close Won (Partner Distribution) | Same as Demo Request |
| **Activity-based protection** **—** **other SDR pipelines** | - Deal created \< 15 days + at least 1 attempt: protected. \- Last touchpoint \< 5 days ago: protected. | - Deal created \< 3 days ago: protected regardless. \- Deal created \< 15 days + at least 1 attempt: protected. \- Last touchpoint \< 30 days ago: protected. |
| **Activity-based protection** **—** **Partner Distribution** | - Deal Stage = New AND created \< 15 days: protected. \- Last touchpoint \< 45 days ago: protected. | Same as Demo Request |
| **If none of the above apply** | You can proceed with deal creation. | You can proceed with deal creation. |

For more details, check [Global New Ownership Golden Rules (from 2026)](https://app.notion.com/p/factorialco/Global-New-Ownership-Golden-Rules-from-2026-ed99e39341364c57ad26c037eeb3f471)

Also, [Golden Rules 2026: Partners🤝Sales](https://app.notion.com/p/factorialco/WIP-Golden-Rules-2026-Partners-Sales-2955e6e051ee80888fd2fb474ee68ddf).

**Response time — SLA**

Speed of first contact directly affects conversion. The faster you reach a lead after assignment, the higher the chance of connecting before interest drops or a competitor gets there first.

 

| **Lead type** | **First contact target** |
| --- | --- |
| Demo Request (DR) | Within 20 minutes of assignment *(Velocity assigning the lead to SDRs with a rotation of 5 minutes if no activity)* |
| Postbound (PB) | Within 1 hour, or within the same working day at the latest |

 

Your response time is scored in QA audits. A delayed first contact is flagged as a process adherence issue regardless of what happens on the call itself.

 

**Outreach cadence — IB SDR Touchpoint Benchmark**

Inbound leads are warmer than outbound — they have already engaged with Factorial in some way. That does not mean they pick up on the first call. You still need a structured, multi-channel cadence to get a response.

 

**The IB SDR benchmark is 10–13 touchpoints per lead, run over approximately 2 weeks before a non-responsive deal is considered exhausted. This is lower than the outbound benchmark because inbound leads have already shown intent — fewer touches are needed to qualify genuine interest versus chasing cold accounts.**

 

**Channel split across the cadence:**

| **Channel** | **Touches** | **Share** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 📞 Calls | 6–8 | ~65% |
| ✉️ Email | 2–3 | ~25% |
| 💼 LinkedIn | 1–2 | ~10% |

 

**Calls are the primary channel.** Email and LinkedIn create familiarity between calls — they are not replacements for picking up the phone.

**Recommended cadence (~2 weeks):**

 

| **#** | **Day** | **Channel** | **Focus** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Day 1 | 📞 Call | First attempt — reference their form or content engagement if known. |
| 2 | Day 1 | ✉️ Email | Email 1 — acknowledge their interest, introduce Factorial briefly, propose a short call. |
| 3 | Day 2 | 📞 Call | Different time slot from #1. |
| 4 | Day 3 | 📞 Call | Different time slot from #1 and #2. |
| 5 | Day 4 | 💼 LinkedIn | Connection request — no pitch. |
| 6 | Day 5 | 📞 Call |  |
| 7 | Day 5 | ✉️ Email | Email 3 — social proof or customer case relevant to their industry. Share the product tour and link to the SDR’s agenda. |
| 8 | Day 6 | 📞 Call |  |
| 9 | Day 7 | ✉️ Email | Email 2 — different angle, reference a relevant pain or use case. |
| 10 | Day 9 | 📞 Call |  |
| 11 | Day 11 | 💼 LinkedIn | Value message — share a relevant resource, no pitch. |
| 12 | Day 13 | 📞 Call | Final call of the cadence. |
| **13** | **Day 13** | **✉️ Email** | **Final email of the cadence and move to opportunity lost** |

Check channel

Totals*: ~7 calls · 4 emails · 2 LinkedIn = 13 touches over 2 weeks. Confirm exact numbers with your team lead — these are benchmarks, not fixed rules.*

 

⚠️ *The cadence above is a suggested standard. Confirm touchpoint minimums and timeframes with your team lead or RevOps before treating them as final.*

 

The **one rule that protects your pipeline:** alternate channels and time slots. Seven calls at the same hour are worth far less than seven spread across morning, midday, and afternoon.

 

**CRM review before the call**

- Check the deal stage — is it correctly set to New Qualified Opportunity
- Review any notes from previous interactions or sequences.
- Confirm the contact details are correct (phone, email, role).
- Note any archived or lost reasons from previous deals on this company.

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