SDR (Experimental Sales Development Rep)

Overview

You're an SDR for Mediafly, selling revenue enablement software to enterprise sales leaders at manufacturing, CPG, life sciences, and tech companies. You report to the SVP of Revenue Enablement (who co-founded ExecVision and Vorsight), and your role is half classic prospecting, half testing ground for new AI and modern sales development tactics. When you find something that works, it gets documented and shared as LinkedIn tips.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Established (142 employees, mature product)

Size: 142 employees

Growth: Unknown hiring velocity, but stable presence in revenue enablement space

Market Position: Operates in a crowded enablement category alongside Highspot, Seismic, Showpad. Differentiator is integrated platform (content + value selling + coaching).

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• Mostly outbound - you're building lists and finding your own prospects
• Some inbound from marketing to enterprise accounts (conferences, content)
• Reporting to enablement leadership suggests focus on strategic accounts, not high-volume SMB

SDR/AE Structure: You're the SDR, booking meetings for AEs who run full enterprise cycles

SE Support: Unknown, but enablement platforms typically need SEs for technical demos

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Highspot, Seismic, Showpad, Lessonly (now Seismic Learning), Mindtickle

How They Differentiate: End-to-end platform that combines content management, value selling tools, and coaching/learning in one system vs point solutions

Common Objections: "We already use [Highspot/Seismic]", "Our CRM does some of this", "What's wrong with shared drives and PowerPoint?"

Win Themes: Consolidation (replacing 3-4 tools), AI capabilities, proven ROI in manufacturing/CPG/life sciences

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Prospecting/Research (40%) | Testing New Approaches (30%) | Meetings/Handoffs (20%) | Reporting/Analysis (10%)

Key Activities

• Outbound prospecting: Building lists of VPs of Sales, CROs, Heads of Enablement at mid-market and enterprise companies. You're finding people whose sales teams use outdated content management or have no formal enablement function.
• A/B testing everything: Your manager wants data on what works. You'll test different email copy, call scripts, LinkedIn messages, send times, AI SDR tools, and document results. No "gut feeling" allowed—you measure everything.
• Running experiments with AI: You'll use AI tools (autonomous agents, AI email writers, AI researchers) to see what actually books meetings. Some will feel weird at first. Some won't work. You'll find out what does.
• Discovery/qualification calls: When someone responds, you're doing 15-20 minute calls to understand their enablement pain points, qualify budget/authority, and set up full AE demos.
• Weekly sync on learnings: Reviewing what worked and didn't work with your manager, who will post successful tactics as LinkedIn content.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Your prospects are senior (VPs, CROs) and very busy. Most emails get ignored. Most calls go to voicemail. You need thick skin.
• Revenue enablement is a "nice to have" for many companies until they hit serious growth pain. Lots of "not a priority right now" responses.
• You're in a crowded market. Many prospects already have Highspot or Seismic and need convincing to switch.
• The experimental nature means you'll try things that fail. Some AI tools will be clunky. Some new approaches will bomb. That's the point, but it can feel inefficient.
• You report to enablement, not sales leadership, which means you might not have as much AE facetime or sales floor energy as typical SDR roles.

What Success Looks Like

• Booking 15-25 qualified meetings per month with genuine buying interest (not just "tell me more" curiosity)
• Identifying 2-3 highly effective prospecting tactics that become repeatable plays for the team
• Discoveries where prospects say "yes, we have this pain" and can articulate budget/timeline

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• VP of Sales / CRO (economic buyer)
• VP/Director of Sales Enablement (champion and day-to-day user)
• VP of Revenue Operations (sometimes the champion)

What They Care About:

• Reps wasting time searching for the right content or presenting outdated decks
• Inability to track what content actually drives deals
• No consistent onboarding or coaching for new sales hires
• Proving ROI of enablement spend to the CFO
• Consolidating tech stack and reducing vendor count

Requirements

• Comfort with ambiguity—this isn't a paint-by-numbers SDR role with fixed cadences
• Willingness to try new tools and approaches (including AI) without dismissing them
• Data-driven mindset: you need to track what you're testing and report results honestly
• Thick skin for outbound rejection at the VP/C-level
• Curiosity about sales development as a craft, not just "a stepping stone to AE"
• Strong written and verbal communication (you're reaching busy executives)
• Eagerness to learn from a leader who's built sales tech companies and thinks deeply about this work