Episode 29: 5 Questions with Phil Gerard

😎 Building Confidence as an SDR 5 Questions with Phil Gerard Business Development Manager, demandDrive -- Do you know an SDR who just exudes confidence? Someone you could put in any sales situation and expect them to talk their way into a meeting? They’re few and far between. And it’s not for the reasons you think. People assume that confidence is innate. It’s something these reps are born with. And being born confident leads to success in sales. We think it’s quite the opposite. Confidence is a learned skill. It’s something that takes months, even years to fully develop. And a lot of SDRs don’t stay in their role for years, they transition into full-cycle sales or out of the function completely (into management, marketing, revenue, etc.). All of that work…*poof* Gone. Or is it? SDR Managers have (in most cases) spent time as an SDR before running a team. They hold valuable insight into how SDRs can build up the confidence they need to succeed. It’s a matter of lighting the spark and transferring that knowledge to their team. We grabbed Phil Gerard to talk about the role of confidence in sales development. As a current manager and former SDR, he knows a thing or two about the impact that confidence can have on success and how to impart his knowledge to a team. Structure & Questions: Let’s start by defining confidence. In your own words, what does it mean to you? And what’s the difference between a confident rep, and one who isn’t? How did you build up the confidence you have as an SDR? What resources did you leverage to attain the mentality that you have now? In your opinion, how important is confidence to the success of an SDR? What else goes into building up that success? Now that you’re managing reps, how has your view on confidence changed? Is the onus more on the rep or their manager? Let’s finish off with some tactical tips. What do you do to help build up your rep’s confidence?