If you’ve scrolled through LinkedIn lately, you’ve probably noticed that business development representatives (BDRs) are taking a lot of heat. People are calling out the worst cold emails and outreaches they’ve ever received, and airing them out on social media, making it seem like that’s the norm.
As someone who leads BDR teams, I can honestly share that these posts don’t reflect the great work most BDRs are doing. I’d even argue the role is where so many amazing future marketers get their start. And for today’s marketers, there’s a huge chance to tap into BDR insights, use them to your advantage, and drive performance—which is why I say high-five a BDR, don’t roast them.
The Skills BDRs Build That Marketers Can Use
A BDR’s day is filled with objections, objections, and more objections. That’s why they’re amazing at understanding the solution we bring to the table and how to adjust the messaging fast to fit those objections. If you haven’t worked in a BDR role, here’s a quick inside view of what they’re learning all day.
- Pivoting quickly. BDRs know how to pivot messaging fast when a prospect throws an objection their way. They do this daily, which helps them understand how to adapt the message to fit the prospect.
- Condensing complicated details. The need to send regular outreach messages pushes BDRs to turn complicated solutions into clear, simple value props. They can share the pivots they’re making on the fly with demand-gen teams, which helps keep messaging tight from the top of the funnel to the closing of the deal.
- Creating customer empathy. BDRs are super tapped into your audience. They’re always gathering fresh feedback from prospects about your solution, and they use those insights to speak with emotional intelligence and real empathy about what’s happening in your future customers’ day-to-day lives.
- Developing feedback loops. BDR conversations often spark insights that can lift your marketing. The best BDRs will share this intelligence with marketing, helping you build stronger campaigns and keep the feedback flowing. And to be fair, the best marketing teams will also ask for that feedback.
I always encourage our BDRs to stay curious, and buyer psychology plays a big part in that. It’s about understanding what matters most to prospects and what triggers their buyer cycles. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking those questions directly, and when the answers are shared with marketers, they can make that next campaign much more successful.
High-Performing BDRs Are Strategic, Not Spammy
Recent social media activity might lead you to believe BDRs are KPI-chasing robots, hammering out cold calls and emails without much strategy behind the outreach.
The problem isn’t cold outreaches; it’s poorly done outreaches. Fantastic BDRs know the difference, and they’re actually very strategic. They A/B test messaging to see what resonates with their audiences, and they use intent signals to focus on buyers who are actively in the market for their solution.
In reality, personalized outreaches still open a lot of doors, and it’s nothing like what’s being shared online. For example, if everyone in your organization gets the same message because a BDR is multi-threading an account (that’s sales-speak for reaching out to several people at the same company at once), it will look like we don’t care. And the approach will feel spammy.
Our team, for example, uses ZoomInfo to understand exactly what prospects are looking for, which allows us to personalize our messages. We have default filters that highlight specific features or functions we can solve for, like lead scoring or customer journey. We can also zoom in to see whether a prospect is using a specific platform and customize the message based on their tools.
This intelligence helps a BDR send thoughtful messages or make meaningful calls instead of pushing out generic, spammy pitches. This kind of personalized approach feels very organic, rather than robotic. And it avoids the “commission breath” that makes prospects feel like they’re just another number on a call sheet.
Turning BDR Insights into Marketing Results
BDRs aren’t marketers (at least not yet), but they can offer marketing a lot of information that makes the job easier. Your BDR team is surfacing objections in nearly every conversation. We deal with those objections and address friction points in real time. Marketers benefit from this intelligence because it helps them better understand customer behavior and improve campaign performance by leveraging a direct line to customer insights and feedback.
If you’re considering the best ways to tap into this intelligence, here are a couple of great starting points.
Sit in on calls. Join us for some calls to understand what we’re experiencing on the front lines. You will quickly get a feel for what your buyers care about. And it will sharpen your campaigns by allowing you to include insights straight from the customer’s mouth about what they need, want, and value most. As an aside, tools like Gong Engage can record and make these conversations searchable, adding another layer of insight for your teams.
Listen for tone. A live call gives you context you can’t get elsewhere, and that’s emotion. You can hear the urgency, annoyance, and curiosity, all of which fuel a stronger impact in your marketing.
For marketers, one of my favorite suggestions for improving impact is using your BDRs like a product launch team. Here’s how that can play out:
- Give them plenty of training and enablement so they feel confident and effective when rolling out something new.
- Team up with BDRs to test new messaging. For example, marketing might say, “We’ve tightened this based on the feedback we’ve heard—go give it a spin. Then let’s regroup, look at results together, and see what’s really moving the needle.”
- Celebrate their impact on revenue, not just activity. Show the full story of how the BDR team’s efforts directly impact success across the organization.
At the end of the day, BDRs aren’t just buzzing around inboxes and making calls to hit metrics. They’re learning, listening, and personalizing their outreaches to spark the best possible conversations and results. And the insights they gather along the way are incredibly valuable for marketers and the work you’re doing. When you can tap into that knowledge and recognize BDRs as the foundation of great marketing, you can move closer to the results your team most wants.
Curious about more creative ways to generate and grow pipeline? We’ve gathered our favorite resources for you here.