Business Development Representative (BDR)

Overview

You're a BDR at Docebo prospecting into HR, Learning & Development, and Talent leaders at companies with 500+ employees. You're selling meetings for AEs who demo Docebo's AI-powered learning management system—think corporate training software that competes with Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, and newer players. You'll spend most of your day on the phone or writing personalized emails trying to get busy executives to take a 30-minute call.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Public company (NASDAQ: DCBO)

Size: ~1,020 employees globally

Growth: Just acquired 365Talents (skills intelligence platform), recently had their best outbound quarter, actively hiring BDRs

Market Position: Established player in a crowded LMS market—competing against legacy vendors (Cornerstone, SAP) and modern platforms (360Learning, Degreed). They're positioning on AI features and enterprise scalability.

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 80%+ Outbound—cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, email sequences to targeted accounts
• 20% Inbound—some website demos, content downloads, but this team is built for outbound
• Partners—likely some channel/reseller activity but not your focus as a BDR

SDR/AE Structure: Dedicated BDR team feeding AEs. You don't run your own deals—you hand off qualified meetings and move on.

SE Support: AEs likely have Solutions Consultants/SEs for technical demos, but you won't interact with them much.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors:

• Legacy LMS: Cornerstone OnDemand, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle Learning
• Modern platforms: 360Learning, Degreed, EdCast
• Niche players in specific industries

How They Differentiate: AI-powered features (content creation, virtual coaching, analytics), multi-audience capability (employees, customers, partners from one platform), enterprise scalability

Common Objections:

• "We already have an LMS" (switching costs are high)
• "We're in a contract for 18 more months"
• "Learning tech isn't a priority right now"
• "Can your team call me next quarter?"

Win Themes: Companies frustrated with legacy systems, growing fast and outgrowing current platform, need to train multiple audiences (employees + customers), want better analytics/AI

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Prospecting (60%) | Meeting Prep/Follow-up (20%) | Internal Meetings (20%)

Key Activities

• Cold Calling: 50-80 dials per day to CHROs, VPs of L&D, Heads of Training, Talent Development Directors. Most go to voicemail. You're trying to catch them live and get 2 minutes to explain why they should look at Docebo. Expect a lot of "send me an email" and gatekeepers.

• Email Sequences: Writing and sending personalized emails using AI tools and templates. You'll research companies on LinkedIn, check their job postings (hiring = training needs), and craft messages about scaling training programs or replacing legacy systems. Response rates are typically 1-3%.

• LinkedIn Outreach: Connecting with targets, sending InMails, engaging with their posts. The AI-assisted motion the manager mentions likely means you're using tools like Outreach.io, SalesLoft, or Docebo's own tech to automate parts of this.

• Meeting Handoffs: When you book a meeting, you write a quick summary of the conversation, the prospect's pain points, and what they care about. Then you schedule the AE and move on. You don't attend the demo unless you're shadowing for training.

• Account Research: Before calling into an account, you're looking at their tech stack (what LMS they use now), headcount growth, recent news, LinkedIn posts from L&D leaders. This takes 5-10 minutes per account if you're doing it right.

• Team Syncs: Daily standups, weekly 1-on-1s with your manager, pipeline reviews, training sessions on new messaging or objection handling. The manager is clearly hands-on about building team process.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Rejection Volume: You'll get hung up on, ignored, and told "not interested" 40+ times per day. Most people don't want to talk to you. L&D leaders are bombarded by vendors, and many companies just renewed their LMS contract.

• Long Buying Cycles (for context): Even though you're just booking meetings, you need to understand that LMS deals take 4-8 months to close. Prospects will say "call me in Q3" constantly. Your job is to stay persistent without being annoying.

• Quota Pressure: You need 15-25 qualified meetings per month. If you have a bad week (holidays, prospects ghosting, budget freezes), you're behind and need to make it up. The "accelerators" in the comp plan mean you can earn more by exceeding quota, but also that there's pressure to hit the number.

• Gatekeepers: Getting past executive assistants to reach the VP of Learning is a skill. Many CHROs don't take cold calls. You'll spend time leaving voicemails and trying to find email addresses.

• Meeting Quality Disputes: Sometimes AEs will push back that a meeting you booked wasn't qualified (wrong buyer, no budget, just fishing for info). You'll need to get better at qualifying on the first call.

What Success Looks Like

• Hitting Meeting Quota: 15-25 qualified meetings per month consistently
• Conversion Rate: AEs convert 20-30% of your meetings into opportunities (this is out of your control but reflects your quality)
• Promotion Timeline: Top BDRs move to AE roles in 12-18 months (the manager emphasizes this path)
• Activity Metrics: 60+ calls/day, 30+ emails/day, 4-6 conversations with decision-makers per day

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• VP of Learning & Development / Chief Learning Officer (enterprise)
• Head of Talent Development / Training Manager (mid-market)
• CHRO or VP of HR (if L&D reports to them)

What They Care About:

• Replacing outdated LMS that employees hate using
• Scaling training programs as company grows (especially post-acquisition or international expansion)
• Better analytics—proving training ROI to leadership
• Reducing time to create training content (AI content creation is a hook)
• Supporting multiple audiences (employees, customers, partners) without buying separate systems
• Compliance and reporting requirements in regulated industries

Requirements

• Comfortable making 60-80 cold calls per day and hearing "no" constantly
• Ability to research accounts and personalize outreach (you're not just reading scripts)
• Coachable—manager is clearly building a process-driven team with AI tools
• Competitive and quota-driven—comp plan rewards overperformance
• Interest in learning enterprise software sales (this is a training ground for AE roles)
• No prior experience required, but you need to ramp fast—most BDR teams expect productivity within 60-90 days
• Willingness to work in a high-activity, metrics-driven environment (daily/weekly pipeline reviews)