Overview
You're calling and emailing people who run customer experience, market research, or employee engagement programs to book demos for Account Executives. Alchemer sells survey and feedback software that competes with tools like Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey. You'll be working leads across multiple industries (software, retail, financial services) trying to get people interested enough to take a 30-minute product demo.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | SDR - Meeting setter for AE team |
| Sales Motion | Likely balanced (some inbound from website, mostly outbound) |
| Deal Complexity | Transactional to consultative (varies by buyer size) |
| Sales Cycle | N/A (you hand off after booking) |
| Deal Size | N/A (you're measured on meetings, not deals) |
| Quota (est.) | 15-25 qualified meetings/month |
Company Context
Stage: Mature/Established (225 employees, been around for years)
Size: 225 employees
Growth: Actively hiring, manager promotes internally
Market Position: Mid-market player in crowded survey/feedback space - competing against Qualtrics (enterprise), SurveyMonkey (SMB), and newer players
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- ~30-40% Inbound - Website form fills, free trial sign-ups, content downloads (quality varies - many tire-kickers)
- ~50-60% Outbound - Cold calls, LinkedIn, email sequences to target personas
- ~10% Referrals/Partners - Existing customers, integration partners
SDR/AE Structure: Dedicated SDR team feeding qualified meetings to AEs
SE Support: Likely shared SE pool for technical demos (you just book the initial meeting)
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: Qualtrics (enterprise leader), SurveyMonkey (SMB), Typeform, Google Forms (free alternative)
How They Differentiate: Alchemer positions as the flexible middle ground - more powerful than SurveyMonkey, more affordable/easier than Qualtrics. Strong integration story and workflow automation.
Common Objections: "We already use SurveyMonkey", "Qualtrics is our enterprise standard", "Can't we just use Google Forms?", "Budget is frozen"
Win Themes: Integration flexibility, ease of use compared to Qualtrics, better analytics than basic tools, workflow automation
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
Cold Calling (40%) | Email/LinkedIn (30%) | Follow-ups (20%) | Admin/Meetings (10%)
Key Activities
- Cold calling: 50-70 dials per day to CX managers, research directors, HR leads depending on your territory. Most don't pick up. You're looking for people who are frustrated with their current survey tool or manually collecting feedback.
- Email sequences: You're running 3-5 touch campaigns (call, email, LinkedIn, email, call pattern). Writing brief, personalized messages about their specific use case. Open rates are low, reply rates lower.
- Inbound follow-up: Calling website leads within 5 minutes of form submission. Many are doing research and not ready to talk. You're qualifying if they have budget, timeline, and actual need vs. browsing.
- Internal coordination: Daily stand-ups, pipeline reviews with manager, handoff meetings with AEs when you book something. Updating Salesforce after every interaction.
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- Most people already have a survey tool (even if it's just Google Forms) so you're competing against "good enough" and status quo
- Getting past gatekeepers when calling into mid-market and enterprise companies
- Inbound leads are mixed quality - lots of students, consultants, people doing one-off surveys with no budget
- The feedback/survey category isn't exciting - you're not selling cutting-edge AI or solving urgent pain, you're pitching better surveys
- Repetitive grind - making 50+ calls per day saying similar things, getting mostly voicemail and rejection
- You don't control what happens after you book the meeting - if the AE has a bad demo, it reflects on your qualification
What Success Looks Like
- Booking 15-25 qualified meetings per month that AEs accept (not just any meeting - they have to meet criteria)
- 40-50% of your booked meetings show up for the demo
- AEs converting 20-30% of your meetings into next steps (not complaining about lead quality)
- Promotion to AE within 12-18 months if you consistently hit quota (like the person you're replacing)
Who You're Selling To
Primary Buyers:
- Customer Experience Managers (mid-market companies trying to measure NPS, CSAT)
- Market Research Directors (need tools for customer surveys, product feedback)
- HR/People Ops Leaders (employee engagement surveys, pulse checks)
- Product Managers (collecting user feedback, feature requests)
What They Care About:
- Can they build surveys without needing IT or a developer
- Does it integrate with their CRM, support desk, or other tools
- Can they automate workflows (trigger actions based on responses)
- Reporting - do they get dashboards execs will actually look at
- Price compared to their current tool or Qualtrics enterprise licensing
Requirements
- 1-2 years in a customer-facing role (SDR, retail, hospitality, inside sales) - they'll consider hungry entry-level if you have good communication
- Comfortable making 50+ cold calls per day without getting demoralized
- Coachable - Brandon emphasizes hands-on coaching, so you need to take feedback and adjust
- Disciplined with CRM hygiene and process - they have clear performance standards you need to follow
- Self-motivated in remote environment - no one's watching you dial, you have to manage your own activity
- Basic tech literacy to demo how survey software could solve their problem (even though you're not doing the full demo)