Overview
You're prospecting into companies that are hiring or planning to hire internationally, trying to book qualified meetings for AEs. You work a mix of inbound leads (demo requests from the website) and outbound (cold outreach to companies showing expansion signals). Your main job is figuring out if they're serious about hiring abroad in the next 3-6 months or just researching.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | SDR - outbound + inbound lead qualification |
| Sales Motion | Balanced - nurture inbound demo requests, cold outreach to expansion-stage companies |
| Deal Complexity | Discovery/qualification only |
| Sales Cycle | Your part: 1-3 touches to book meeting |
| Deal Size | N/A - you don't own revenue |
| Quota (est.) | 15-25 qualified meetings/month |
Company Context
Stage: Late-stage private (14,589 employees)
Size: ~14,600 employees globally
Growth: New CBO suggests GTM ramp-up and hiring across sales org
Market Position: Established brand in global employment space - prospects have likely heard of Remote or competitors like Deel
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- 50% Inbound - demo requests from website, content downloads, people researching "how to hire in Germany" who fill out forms
- 50% Outbound - cold prospecting into companies with 50-500 employees, targeting VP HR, CFO, or founders at companies posting jobs in new countries
SDR/AE Structure: You book meetings, hand off to AEs for discovery and full sales cycle
SE Support: Not relevant to your role
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: Deel, Rippling, Oyster, traditional PEOs/EORs
How They Differentiate: Compliance infrastructure and country coverage depth
Common Objections:
- "We're just researching for now"
- "We already use [Gusto/ADP/Rippling] for payroll"
- "We only need contractors, not full employees"
- "Not ready to hire internationally yet"
Your Job: Separate tire-kickers from companies actually hiring abroad in next 90 days
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
Outbound Research/Calling (40%) | Inbound Lead Follow-up (35%) | Admin/CRM (25%)
Key Activities
- Researching target accounts: You're looking for signals - companies with remote-first job posts, recent funding, LinkedIn profiles showing international hires, "Now Hiring in X Country" announcements. Building lists of 30-50 accounts to work each week.
- Cold calling and emailing: You're calling HR leaders and finance teams, leaving voicemails that mostly go unreturned, sending sequences about global hiring complexity. Response rates are low - maybe 2-5% for cold outbound.
- Qualifying inbound leads: Someone filled out a "Book a Demo" form. You call them to figure out: Are they actually hiring internationally? How many countries? What's the timeline? Who else is involved? Half of inbound leads are students, consultants, or people just browsing.
- Booking meetings: When you find someone real, you're coordinating calendars to get them on the phone with an AE. You send calendar invites, write handoff notes in Salesforce, and follow up if they no-show.
- CRM hygiene: Logging every call, email, and meeting in Salesforce. Updating lead statuses. Your manager tracks activity metrics closely (calls/day, emails sent, connect rate, meeting-to-show ratio).
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- Low response rates: You're leaving 40-50 voicemails a day. Most people don't call back. Email open rates are 20-30%, reply rates are 2-5%. You get ghosted constantly.
- Tire-kickers: Lots of inbound leads are early-stage - someone researching "how to hire remotely" who won't actually need EOR services for 6-12 months. You spend time qualifying them out.
- Repetitive grind: You're saying the same thing 50 times a day. "Hi, I'm calling from Remote about global hiring..." It's monotonous. The wins (booked meetings) are spaced out.
- Activity pressure: You're measured on dials, emails sent, and meetings booked. If you have a slow week, it's very visible. You need to hit 50-80 activities per day to stay on track.
What Success Looks Like
- Booking 15-25 qualified meetings per month that show up and convert to opportunities for AEs
- Maintaining a 60%+ meeting-to-show rate (people you book actually attend)
- Getting 2-3 meetings per week to convert into pipeline for your paired AE
Who You're Selling To
Primary Targets:
- VP/Director of HR or People Ops at 50-500 person companies
- CFOs or Heads of Finance at earlier-stage companies (Series A/B)
- Founders at companies expanding internationally for the first time
What They Care About:
- Immediate hiring need: "We just got approval to hire a developer in Portugal - how fast can we do this?"
- Compliance risk: "We don't want to mess up local labor laws"
- Cost vs. setting up entity: "Is it cheaper to use an EOR or set up our own subsidiary?"
Requirements
- 0-2 years in sales or SDR role (this is often an entry-level position)
- High activity tolerance - comfortable making 50+ calls per day
- Strong qualification skills - can separate real opportunities from researchers
- Organized and disciplined with CRM hygiene and follow-up
- Resilience to rejection and low response rates