BDRs · the role
What does a BDR do?
The short answer · updated
A BDR, or business development representative, is an entry-level salesperson who finds companies that could buy, starts conversations with the right people by phone, email and LinkedIn, and books qualified meetings for an account executive to run. BDRs mostly work outbound, into accounts that do not yet know the company, and are usually paid a base salary plus commission.
What is a BDR?
A BDR is a business development representative: the first person in a sales team to speak to a new prospective customer. BDR stands for business development representative, and the job is to turn a list of companies that might buy into meetings with people who are ready to talk. The BDR does not usually close the deal. They hand a qualified meeting to an account executive, a founder or a sales leader, who runs the sale from there.
Government sources file the work under broader titles. The Sales Executive apprenticeship standard lists business development executive among its typical job titles and describes generating new business by contacting prospective customers and qualifying opportunities. That first half of the sales process is the BDR’s whole job.
The title is most common in companies that sell to other businesses through a sales team. The Sales Executive standard names technology, media, pharmaceutical, recruitment, utilities and automotive among the sectors that employ sales executives. Many people start their sales career in the BDR seat.
What a BDR does in a working week
A BDR’s week is research, outreach and follow-up, recorded in the CRM so the rest of the team can see it. Most of it is:
- Account research: choosing companies that fit the ideal customer profile and finding the buyers and influencers inside them.
- Outreach: calls, emails and LinkedIn messages, written for one named person rather than a list, and sent as a planned sequence.
- Follow-up: a first message rarely gets the reply, so a BDR keeps a disciplined cadence without becoming a nuisance.
- Qualification: a short conversation to check there is a real problem, a buyer and a reason to talk now.
- Booking and hand-off: a meeting in the account executive’s diary, with notes on what the prospect said and why they agreed.
- Feedback: telling marketing and the sales leader which messages, segments and titles are working.
BDR vs SDR vs account executive
BDR and SDR are often two names for one job. Where a company splits them, the BDR works outbound, choosing accounts and starting cold, and the SDR, or sales development representative, works inbound interest such as demo requests and trial sign-ups. The skills overlap: the BDR leans on research and writing that earns a reply, the SDR on speed and judgement about fit. The SDR side is on SDR jobs.
The account executive takes the meeting the BDR booked and runs discovery, the demonstration, the proposal and the close. An AE is measured on revenue; a BDR on meetings and the pipeline they create.
The BDR jobs page sets the three seats side by side, with pay and the hiring steps for a permanent BDR.
How a BDR is measured
A BDR is judged on output the business can count: meetings booked, meetings that actually happen, meetings the account executive accepts as qualified, and the value of the pipeline those meetings become. Activity numbers such as calls and emails are inputs, useful for coaching but not the goal.
Plan for a ramp. In The Bridge Group’s 2025 survey of sales development teams, mostly at North American B2B software companies, average ramp time for an SDR was 3.0 months, the lowest since 2010, and average SDR tenure was 1.9 years, the highest since the early 2010s. The report uses the SDR title for the seat; many companies give it the BDR title.
Pay usually combines a base salary with commission on meetings or pipeline, quoted together as on-target earnings. Acas notes that an employee’s entitlement to commission belongs in their written statement of employment particulars, and that total pay, commission included, must meet the National Minimum Wage. For current pay, see BDR jobs.
The rules a BDR works under
Cold outreach is regulated. The ICO’s guidance on business-to-business marketing sets out how the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations apply: before a live marketing call to a business, screen the number against the Corporate Telephone Preference Service and the Telephone Preference Service, say who is calling and display a number. The rule on marketing emails does not apply to companies and other corporate subscribers, but it does to sole traders and some partnerships.
The UK GDPR applies to a business contact’s name and email address, so a BDR needs a lawful basis to use them and must tell people how their details are used. The ICO says this guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check the current version before you build a sequence.
A BDR who understands these rules protects the company’s name as well as its pipeline. For the part-week outbound model and its rules, see fractional SDR.
Skills and qualifications a BDR needs
No degree is required. The National Careers Service lists no formal entry requirements for business development roles, and its routes in include applying directly, a graduate scheme and apprenticeships such as the Sales Executive Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship.
Employers hire BDRs for behaviour more than experience: resilience after rejection, clear and short writing, ease on the phone, curiosity about how a customer’s business works, and the habit of taking coaching between calls.
For a structured view of the skills, the Institute of Sales Professionals publishes a Sales Capability Framework defining the knowledge, skills and behaviours for effective and ethical sales; it is the basis of Ofqual’s specification of sales qualifications.
The usual next step is account executive; others become a BDR team lead or move into sales enablement or RevOps. From there the path runs to sales management and a head of sales.
Permanent, fractional or outsourced BDRs, and how to hire one
A permanent BDR suits a company with a defined market, a sales process someone owns and a steady need for new meetings. Before you hire, name who will take the meetings and agree what counts as qualified.
A fractional or part-time BDR works agreed days, often when outbound is early or narrow, or while a company tests a new segment. See fractional BDR jobs for how that works. Where a BDR works through their own limited company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply: status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
If nobody yet owns the sales process, the first hire is a leader, not a BDR: see fractional head of sales jobs.
We recruit permanent, part-time, fractional, interim and temporary people, from BDRs to non-executive directors. To hire a BDR, every brief gets a shortlist of 3–5 after five-stage vetting, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
Questions people ask
What does BDR stand for?
Business development representative: an entry-level salesperson who finds prospective customers, starts the first conversation and books a qualified meeting for an account executive.
Is a BDR the same as an SDR?
Often, yes: many companies use the two titles for one job. Where they differ, the BDR prospects outbound into new accounts and the SDR qualifies inbound interest. Read the job description. See SDR jobs for the SDR side.
Is a BDR a good first job in sales?
For many people it is the usual first job in B2B sales. It teaches research, outreach, qualification and handling rejection, and the common next step is account executive. Current roles are on BDR jobs.
Do BDRs need a degree?
No. The National Careers Service lists no formal entry requirements for business development roles; apprenticeships and direct applications are common routes in.
How long does a BDR take to ramp?
The Bridge Group’s 2025 survey, mostly of North American B2B software companies, put average SDR ramp time at 3.0 months. Plan a first quarter with training, call shadowing and a manager who listens to calls.
How much does it cost to hire a BDR?
A permanent BDR is paid a base salary plus commission, with the usual employment costs on top; a fractional BDR a day rate. The BDR jobs page sets out current pay. On every shortlist we set out each candidate’s pay or day rate.
How do I hire a BDR?
Name who will take the meetings, agree what a qualified meeting is, write the pay plan, and test candidates on real account research and a short mock call. We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out; see fractional BDR jobs for part-week hires.
