SDR/BDR

Overview

You cold call and email property management companies to book qualified meetings for Account Executives. You're reaching out to operations directors, VPs of marketing, and leasing managers at companies that manage apartment complexes. Most of your day is leaving voicemails, getting blocked by office managers, and explaining what Funnel does to people who've never heard of you. This is an outbound grind in a market that doesn't move fast.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Late-stage (173 employees, established product)

Size: 173 employees

Growth: VP of Sales building new team—you'd be an early SDR hire helping establish outbound motion

Market Position: Challenger in multifamily property management software—educating a market that doesn't actively shop for CRM solutions

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 80% Pure cold outbound - you're building target account lists from scratch using property management databases, LinkedIn, and industry directories
• 15% Event follow-up - following up with people who visited booth at NMHC or Apartmentalize conferences
• 5% Inbound inquiries - warm leads from website, though volume is low and quality is inconsistent

SDR/AE Structure: You're likely one of the first SDRs as the VP builds the team. You'll work closely with 2-3 AEs initially, eventually growing to support a larger sales team.

SE Support: Not relevant for your role—you book meetings, AEs handle demos.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: You're not competing directly, but prospects will say "we already use [Yardi/RealPage/Salesforce]" and you need to position why they should even take a meeting.

How You Position It: "We're multifamily-specific, not a general CRM you have to customize. AI handles the repetitive renter inquiries so your team can focus on touring and closing leases."

Common Brush-offs:

• "Send me some information" (translation: not interested)
• "We're all set with our current system"
• "Call me back next quarter"
• "I'm not the right person" (then they won't tell you who is)

How You Counter: Focus on specific pain points (leads going to voicemail, slow response times hurting occupancy, staff drowning in repetitive questions). Get them curious enough to give you 15 minutes.

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Cold Calling (50%) | Emails & LinkedIn (25%) | Research & Admin (25%)

Key Activities

• Building Target Account Lists: Research property management companies using databases like NMHC property management company directory, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and industry lists. You're looking for companies managing 500+ units. Document decision-makers (Director of Ops, VP Marketing, Leasing Director) in your CRM. Lots of data entry.

• Cold Calling (50-70 calls/day): Dial through your list trying to reach decision-makers. Most calls go to a front desk receptionist who won't transfer you. When you do get someone, you have about 20 seconds to say why they should care before they say "email me" and hang up. You're trying to book 3-4 meetings per week to hit quota.

• Email Sequences and LinkedIn Outreach: Send personalized emails referencing their properties ("I saw your portfolio includes [X property]") and pain points common to multifamily. Follow up 4-6 times over 2-3 weeks. LinkedIn connection requests often go ignored, but some prospects are more responsive there than email.

• Qualifying and Handing Off: When someone agrees to a meeting, you're asking qualifying questions: How many units do they manage? What's their current process for tracking leasing leads? Who else should join the call? Then you hand off to an AE and hope it turns into an opportunity (that's how you get credit).

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Gatekeepers everywhere: Most property management companies have office managers who screen calls religiously. You'll rarely get through to decision-makers on the first try. A lot of your day is leaving voicemails that don't get returned.

• This market doesn't move urgently: Property management companies renew leases annually and think in long cycles. "We're too busy right now" is constant (busy season is spring/summer when people move). Creating urgency is nearly impossible—you're planting seeds for AEs to nurture months later.

• High rejection, low conversion: You'll make 50-70 calls a day and book maybe 1-2 meetings on a good week. Most conversations are 30 seconds before they hang up. You need thick skin and the ability to not take "no" personally, because you'll hear it 40+ times a day.

What Success Looks Like

• Booking 15-20 qualified meetings per month (companies with 500+ units, decision-maker on the call, active pain acknowledged)
• 30-40% of your meetings turning into opportunities that AEs work (if your qualification is good)
• Getting better at pattern recognition—learning which titles respond better, what pain points resonate, what time of day/week to call

Who You're Calling

Primary Targets:

• Director/VP of Operations at property management companies (often the best entry point—they own occupancy and efficiency metrics)
• VP/Director of Marketing (cares about lead conversion and renter experience)
• Regional Managers (oversee multiple properties, feel the pain of inconsistent processes)

What They Care About:

• Not wasting time on sales calls (you need to be concise)
• Whether this is actually relevant to their specific challenges (not generic CRM pitch)
• Proof that other property management companies use this (social proof matters in this industry)
• Minimal disruption to current operations (they're worried about implementation burden)

Requirements

• 0-2 years of sales experience (SDR, BDR, or adjacent role like recruiting/lead gen)
• Comfortable making 50+ cold calls per day and hearing "no" constantly
• Coachable—willing to iterate on messaging, test new approaches, and take feedback
• Self-motivated—you'll have days with no meetings booked and need to keep dialing
• Strong communication skills—you have 20 seconds to hook someone's attention on a cold call
• Bonus: familiarity with real estate, property management, or B2B sales to operations/marketing buyers