Overview
You manage 8 SDRs prospecting into independent retail buyers and brand suppliers for Faire's wholesale marketplace platform. Two SDRs are joining this week, so onboarding and ramping new hires while maintaining team output is immediate. You report to the Head of Sales and shape how the SDR function operates.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | SDR Manager (player-coach, enablement-heavy) |
| Sales Motion | Outbound prospecting into two-sided marketplace |
| Deal Complexity | Consultative - educating buyers on new procurement method |
| Sales Cycle | N/A (focused on qualified meeting generation) |
| Deal Size | N/A (SDRs set meetings for AEs) |
| Quota (est.) | Team quota: ~60-80 qualified meetings/month |
Company Context
Stage: Late-stage venture-backed (likely Series D+)
Size: ~1,500 employees
Growth: Still hiring across sales, specifically enterprise and SDR teams
Market Position: Leader in B2B wholesale marketplace space, competing against traditional wholesale distributors and direct brand relationships
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- 60% Outbound - SDRs prospecting into both retailers and brands
- 30% Inbound - marketplace generates some natural interest from web traffic
- 10% Referrals - existing buyers/sellers recommending the platform
SDR/AE Structure: Dedicated SDR team feeding enterprise and mid-market AE teams
SE Support: Limited SE involvement at SDR stage
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: Traditional wholesale distributors, direct brand-to-retailer relationships, emerging wholesale marketplaces
How They Differentiate: Net 60-day payment terms for retailers, returns on unsold inventory, data-driven discovery for retailers
Common Objections: "We have existing brand relationships," "60-day terms sound risky," "Our current process works fine"
Win Themes: Payment flexibility, risk reduction through returns, access to curated brands retailers can't find elsewhere
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
1:1s & Coaching (35%) | Enablement & Training (25%) | Pipeline Review (20%) | Hiring/Admin (20%)
Key Activities
- Weekly 1:1s with 8 reps: Review their numbers (calls, connects, meetings set), listen to call recordings, diagnose why conversion rates are slipping, coach on messaging
- Onboard 2 new SDRs starting this week: Get them through product training, teach them the pitch for both retailer and brand sides of marketplace, shadow calls, ramp them to quota over 60-90 days
- Build enablement that actually helps: Not just playbooks that sit in Notion. Real objection handling for "we already have suppliers," email templates that get responses, call scripts that don't sound robotic
- Daily pipeline monitoring: Which reps are trending behind on activity? Who's getting connects but not converting to meetings? Where are handoffs to AEs breaking down?
- Design the SDR function alongside Head of Sales: Decide on comp structure, define what counts as a qualified meeting, build career paths, determine team size and structure
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- You're managing during onboarding: Two brand new SDRs starting this week means you're splitting time between ramping them and maintaining output from the existing 6
- Two-sided marketplace complexity: Your SDRs prospect into both retailers (boutique owners, buyers) AND brands (supplier onboarding). Different personas, different pitches, different objections. Harder to master than single buyer persona
- Morale management in a grind role: SDRs do repetitive work with lots of rejection. Keeping energy high when most calls go to voicemail and most emails get ignored is constant work
- Building while running: This isn't a stable team you're optimizing. You're actively shaping what the function should be, which means making decisions without perfect information
- Quota pressure cascades down: If your SDRs miss their meeting quotas, AEs have pipeline gaps, and that pressure rolls back to you
What Success Looks Like
- Team consistently hits 60-80 qualified meetings/month that actually show up and convert for AEs
- Your 2 new hires ramp to 80% of quota by month 3
- SDRs get promoted to AE roles (Christopher mentioned investing in development)
- You build systems (enablement, coaching cadences, QA processes) that make the team less dependent on you personally
- AEs actually want the meetings your team sets (not garbage handoffs)
Who You're Managing SDRs To Prospect Into
Primary Prospects (Retailer Side):
- Independent boutique owners
- Retail buyers at small chains (3-20 locations)
- Gift shop owners, specialty store operators
Primary Prospects (Brand Side):
- Emerging CPG brands
- Artisan product makers
- Small wholesale suppliers looking for retailer distribution
What They Care About:
- Retailers: Unique inventory, payment terms flexibility, reducing risk on untested products
- Brands: Access to retailers, streamlined ordering, getting discovered by new buyers
Requirements
- Managed an SDR team before (3-10 reps) - this isn't a first-time manager role
- Built enablement or training programs that measurably improved rep performance
- Know what good prospecting looks like - you've done the SDR job yourself and crushed it
- Comfortable with ambiguity - you're architecting how this function should work, not inheriting a playbook
- Can coach on both metrics (activity) and quality (messaging, objection handling)
- Based in San Francisco - hybrid role requires in-office presence