Sales Development Representative

Overview

You're the first dedicated SDR at a 70-year-old manufacturer of industrial nameplates, labels, and identification products. You'll spend your days cold calling plant managers, maintenance supervisors, and procurement teams at manufacturing facilities to introduce custom nameplate solutions. You report directly to Tim (who's hiring you) and work out of their 55,000 sq ft facility in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Established (70+ years), family/founder-owned (14 employees total)

Size: 14 employees

Growth: Unknown—likely stable/slow growth given age and size. Adding first SDR suggests push to modernize GTM.

Market Position: Regional player in a niche industrial category. Competing on quality/customization vs high-volume commodity manufacturers.

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 90% Outbound - You're building the list and making the calls. No marketing team, minimal inbound.
• 10% Referrals/Repeat - Existing customers reordering, word of mouth in industrial sectors

SDR/AE Structure: You set meetings, AE/sales manager closes them. Small team means you'll likely help with follow-up too.

SE Support: None. The product is physical nameplates—demos are samples and spec conversations.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Other nameplate manufacturers (Able Label, ECI, Nameplates For Industry), offshore low-cost suppliers, in-house printing shops at large manufacturers

How They Differentiate: 70 years in business, ISO certified facility, wide range of capabilities (Metalphoto®, aluminum etching, digital printing), made in USA, custom solutions

Common Objections: "We already have a supplier," "Can get it cheaper overseas," "We print our own labels," "Not in the budget right now"

Win Themes: Durability for harsh environments, customization, faster turnaround than overseas, domestic manufacturing for government/military contracts

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Cold Calling (50%) | Emails/LinkedIn (20%) | Research/List Building (15%) | Internal Coordination (15%)

Key Activities

• Cold calling plant managers and procurement: You're targeting manufacturing facilities across construction, energy, mining, transportation, and utilities. Most calls hit voicemail. You're trying to catch maintenance supervisors or plant managers who handle nameplate orders. Expect 50-80 dials/day to book 3-5 conversations.
• Qualifying projects and booking demos: When you get someone, you're asking about their current nameplate supplier, upcoming equipment needs, pain points with durability or compliance labeling. "Demo" is sending samples and having the AE/technical person do a spec call.
• Building target lists: You're researching manufacturing facilities in your territory (likely Midwest heavy), finding the right contacts, updating CRM. No marketing providing lists—you're sourcing everything.
• Coordinating with production/sales: Small company means you'll talk directly to the people who make the nameplates. You'll learn about lead times, material options, and capabilities so you can speak intelligently on calls.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• The product isn't exciting: You're calling about nameplates and labels. Most prospects don't think about this until something breaks or they need a replacement. Low urgency.
• Gatekeepers and voicemail: Plant managers don't sit at desks answering phones. You'll leave a lot of messages and get told "we're all set with our current supplier."
• Long buying cycles for a small product: Even though the product is simple, procurement processes at industrial companies are slow. You'll generate interest that sits for months.
• Building from scratch: No CRM hygiene, no proven scripts, no marketing support. You're figuring out what works as you go.
• In-office in a small Iowa town: Mount Vernon has 4,500 people. You're in the facility every day, not remote. If you want coffee shops and nightlife, this isn't it.

What Success Looks Like

• Booking 15-20 qualified meetings per month (plant managers/procurement who have nameplate needs)
• Generating 8-12 opportunities that turn into quotes
• Building a repeatable outbound process (lists, scripts, cadences) that didn't exist before
• Learning industrial manufacturing sales—good foundation if you want to sell to factories long-term

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• Plant/Facility Managers (manage equipment, order replacement parts/nameplates)
• Procurement/Purchasing (handle vendor relationships for components)
• Maintenance Supervisors (deal with worn/damaged nameplates day-to-day)

What They Care About:

• Durability: Will it hold up in extreme temps, UV exposure, chemical environments?
• Compliance: Does it meet OSHA, UL, or military spec requirements?
• Lead time: Can you turn it around faster than their current supplier or offshore?
• Cost: Not always the deciding factor, but price-sensitive on high-volume reorders.
• Customization: Can you do odd sizes, materials, attachment methods?

Requirements

• Recent college grad or 0-2 years experience—they want to train you their way
• Comfortable making 50+ cold calls per day to people who don't want to talk to you
• Coachable and competitive—Tim mentioned this specifically, likely means he's hands-on and expects you to hit activity metrics
• Willing to work in-office in Mount Vernon, Iowa (no remote flexibility)
• Interest in learning industrial/manufacturing sales (this is B2B to factories, not tech SaaS)
• Valid driver's license helpful (small company, might need to deliver samples or visit local prospects)