Sales Development is not Demand Generation.

The job of an SDR is not to generate demand, it's to capture it.

Bringing a product to market happens in stages...

1. You need to build something great and prove PMF
2. You need to educate the market on problem + solution
3. You need to capture the demand

The second step is often confused with Sales Development but relying on SDRs to educate the market is the slowest and most expensive strategy.

Best case scenario prospects are already familiar with your company (problem + solution) BEFORE an SDR reaches out.

Market Education is Demand Generation.

Build these functions in order and watch SDRs thrive.

Skip steps or move out of order and prepare for chaos.

With that said, there is a new element of the modern SDR role that most definitely plays a critical role in demand generation (market education) and that's content creation.

This is one of many reasons why the lines between sales and marketing are becoming blurred more than ever before.

But if you're going to rely on SDRs to educate the market, you must bake those timelines into their role and not expect an overnight success.

Happy Selling,