Overview
You're an SDR at Common Room, qualifying leads for a GTM intelligence platform that captures signals across communities, product usage, and social channels. You're calling and emailing RevOps leaders, Marketing Ops, and sales executives at B2B SaaS companies, trying to book demos. The manager emphasizes testing messaging and building AI workflows over pure call volume.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | Outbound SDR |
| Sales Motion | Outbound-heavy with some inbound support |
| Deal Complexity | Consultative - multi-stakeholder buy |
| Sales Cycle | N/A (you book meetings, AEs close) |
| Deal Size | N/A for SDR role |
| Quota (est.) | Likely 15-25 qualified meetings/month |
Company Context
Stage: Series B (147 employees suggests well-funded growth stage)
Size: 147 employees
Growth: Actively hiring for SDR team, indicates expansion
Market Position: Competing in crowded GTM intelligence/intent data space against players like 6sense, ZoomInfo, Qualified
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- 30% Inbound - Website demos, content downloads, probably lower intent
- 70% Outbound - Cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, email sequences to target accounts
- Minimal partner/referral volume at this stage
SDR/AE Structure: Dedicated SDR team feeding pipeline to AEs
SE Support: Likely shared SE pool for technical demos (product involves AI agents and integrations)
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: 6sense, ZoomInfo, Qualified, Koala, Correlated (signal/intent data is crowded)
How They Differentiate: Focus on community signals (Slack, Discord, social) + AI agents vs just intent data
Common Objections: "We already use ZoomInfo", "How is this different from 6sense?", "We don't have community presence", pricing concerns
Win Themes: Unique signal sources, AI-powered automation, modern approach to GTM intelligence
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
Prospecting (50%) | Follow-up/Nurture (30%) | Internal/Admin (20%)
Key Activities
- Cold calling: 40-60 dials per day to RevOps, Marketing Ops, and sales leaders at B2B SaaS companies. Most don't answer. You're leaving voicemails and trying to catch people between meetings.
- Email sequences: Writing and testing outbound sequences. Manager wants you experimenting with messaging, so you're A/B testing subject lines and personalization approaches rather than blasting the same template.
- LinkedIn outreach: Connection requests and InMails to target accounts. You're researching who owns GTM tech stack and signal intelligence initiatives.
- Building AI agents: This team actually has you experimenting with AI tools (probably using their own product) to automate research, personalize outreach, or qualify leads faster. You share what works in team syncs.
- Demo qualification: Pre-call research on companies you've booked, making sure they're actually a fit before passing to AEs. You're disqualifying leads that don't have community presence or aren't in B2B SaaS.
- Friday Fishbowl: Team social/learning session where you probably review what worked/didn't work that week.
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- The market is saturated - everyone's being pitched intent data and GTM intelligence tools. Standing out is tough.
- You're often reaching people who already have a solution (6sense, ZoomInfo) and convincing them to look at another tool is an uphill battle.
- Explaining the value of "community signals" to companies without active Slack communities or Discord servers is challenging.
- This is still high-volume prospecting - you need to hit activity metrics even with the experimentation emphasis.
- You're selling into technical buyers (RevOps, Marketing Ops) who ask detailed questions you may not be able to answer on the first call.
What Success Looks Like
- Booking 15-25 qualified meetings per month that show up and convert to pipeline
- AEs accepting 70%+ of your meetings as qualified (not getting them bounced back)
- Finding messaging hooks that work and sharing them with the team
- Building repeatable outbound motions using AI tools that increase your efficiency
Who You're Selling To
Primary Buyers:
- VP/Director of Revenue Operations (owns GTM tech stack)
- VP/Director of Marketing Operations (owns intent data and signal tools)
- CRO/VP Sales at smaller B2B SaaS companies (100-500 employees)
What They Care About:
- Reducing CAC and improving conversion rates with better targeting
- Getting signals that competitors don't have (community activity, social engagement)
- Consolidating tools and reducing MarTech stack bloat
- AI automation to make their teams more efficient
- Integration with existing stack (Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Salesloft)
Requirements
- 1-2 years in SDR/BDR role (or proven ability to handle high rejection)
- Familiarity with GTM tools - you need to understand how Salesforce, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator work
- Comfortable with B2B SaaS buying processes and talking to technical stakeholders
- Self-directed enough to experiment with messaging and AI tools without constant oversight
- Coachable - manager emphasizes learning and iteration
- Thick skin for cold calling into a crowded market