Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Overview

You prospect into security and IT organizations to book demos for BlinkOps' security workflow automation platform. Most of your day is cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, and email sequences trying to get 15-20 minutes with VPs of Security, CISOs, and Security Engineering Directors. You pass qualified meetings to Account Executives who run the sales cycle.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Growth stage (118 employees suggests Series B/C range)

Size: 118 employees

Growth: Actively hiring multiple SDRs, which signals expansion

Market Position: Security automation is a competitive space (competing with tools like Tines, Torq, Swimlane). They've got an AI angle (Blink Copilot) and support code/low-code/no-code, which is a differentiator.

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 80-90% Outbound - You're doing the hunting. Cold calls, cold emails, LinkedIn messages to targeted accounts
• 10-20% Inbound - Some website form fills and demo requests, but this is primarily an outbound motion

SDR/AE Structure: You're a dedicated SDR. You book it, AEs close it. Clean handoff structure.

SE Support: Not your concern - SEs support AEs in the sales cycle after your handoff.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Tines, Torq, Swimlane, Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR, Splunk SOAR

How They Differentiate: The code/low-code/no-code flexibility is the main pitch. AI-powered workflow generation (Copilot) is newer. 30,000+ pre-built actions in their library.

Common Objections: "We already have a SOAR tool", "We built our own scripts", "Not a priority right now", "Send me info" (brush-off)

Win Themes: Ease of use, speed to value, doesn't require heavy engineering resources

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Cold Outreach (60%) | Research & List Building (20%) | Meetings & Handoffs (15%) | Internal (5%)

Key Activities

• Cold Calling: 50-70 dials per day to security leaders. Most go to voicemail. You're trying to catch someone between meetings or get past a gatekeeper. You're selling a 15-minute conversation, not the product.
• Email Sequences: Multi-touch sequences (6-8 emails over 3-4 weeks). You're testing different subject lines and value props. Response rates are typically 1-3%.
• LinkedIn Outreach: Connection requests and InMails to prospects. You need to sound human, not like a bot. Most people ignore you.
• Account Research: Before calling, you look up what tools they use (from job postings, tech stack databases), recent security incidents they might have had, company news. This takes time but improves your connection rate.
• Meeting Qualification: When someone agrees to talk, you run through BANT-style questions to make sure they're worth an AE's time. Manager will ask: Do they have budget authority? Is there a real pain point? What's the timeline?
• AE Handoffs: Slack the AE, send a meeting recap, make sure the prospect shows up. If they no-show, you're re-booking.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Rejection Volume: You get told no, hung up on, or ignored 95%+ of the time. CISOs and security leaders are bombarded with vendor pitches. Most don't even listen to your voicemail.
• Senior Buyer Access: You're calling VP and C-level people. They have gatekeepers (EAs, chiefs of staff). Getting through is hard. When you do reach them, they're often in back-to-back meetings and short with you.
• "Just Send Info" Brush-offs: Everyone asks you to send an email instead of talking. If you just send it, they ghost. You have to navigate this tactfully without being pushy.
• No-Shows: You book a meeting, the prospect doesn't show up. Now you have to re-engage. It's deflating and the AE is annoyed.
• Repetitive Grind: You're saying similar things 50-70 times per day. The calls blur together. It's monotonous.
• Quota Pressure: If you miss your meeting quota two months in a row, you're likely on a PIP. There's not much room for excuses in this role.

What Success Looks Like

• 15-20 qualified meetings booked per month that AEs accept (not junk leads)
• 50%+ show rate on the meetings you book
• 20-30% conversion of your meetings to pipeline opportunities (AE's job to close, but they track where opps came from)
• Promotion to AE in 12-18 months if you consistently hit quota and show you can handle complex conversations

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• VP of Security / CISO (decision maker, budget holder)
• Director of Security Operations / Security Engineering (day-to-day user, influencer)
• Head of IT / CTO (sometimes involved if security rolls up to them)

What They Care About:

• Reducing manual work: Security teams are drowning in alerts and repetitive tasks. They want automation that actually works.
• Speed to value: They don't want a 6-month implementation. They want to automate a workflow in days.
• Doesn't require engineering resources: Many security teams don't have dedicated engineers. Low-code/no-code matters.
• Integrations: Does it work with their existing stack? (Splunk, Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, etc.)
• ROI: Can they justify the cost? They're looking at headcount savings or incident response time reduction.

Requirements

• Comfort with rejection: If you take things personally or need a lot of positive reinforcement, this will break you. You need thick skin.
• Curiosity about security: You don't need to be technical, but you should understand why security teams are overwhelmed and what automation solves. Ask good questions.
• Persistence without being annoying: There's a fine line between following up and stalking. You need to read social cues and know when to back off.
• Coachability: Meg (the hiring manager) is a seasoned SDR leader. She'll have strong opinions on your talk tracks, email copy, and call structure. You need to take feedback and iterate.
• Self-motivation in a remote role: No one is watching you dial. You either hit activity numbers or you don't. Remote work requires discipline.
• 1-2 years in a sales or customer-facing role is likely expected, though they might take a sharp entry-level person who shows hunger.