[GTM glossary](/glossary.txt) Sales development

Sales Development & Prospecting

# Sales development

In short

Sales development is the part of a sales organization that handles the front of the funnel: researching target accounts, reaching out, and qualifying interest before an account executive (AE) takes over. The work is usually done by sales development representatives (SDRs) and business development representatives (BDRs).

The goal is a steady flow of qualified meetings and opportunities. Sales development is a specialized role because outreach, qualification, and closing call for different skills and different daily rhythms.

## What sales development does

* **Research and list-building:** choosing which accounts and contacts to target.
* **Outreach:** email, phone, LinkedIn, and other channels, usually in structured sequences.
* **Qualification:** confirming need, authority, timing, and fit before a handoff.
* **Handoff:** booking a meeting and passing context to the AE.

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## How a sales development team is organized

Teams are usually split by motion. Inbound reps follow up on leads who raised their hand. Outbound reps contact accounts that never asked. Some teams pair each SDR with one or two AEs; others pool reps by segment or region.

A manager typically owns coaching, targets, and the rules for which accounts belong to whom. Clear territory and account ownership rules prevent two reps from contacting the same buyer.

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## Metrics that matter

* **Activity:** calls, emails, and touches per day. Useful as a diagnostic, not a goal on its own.
* **Conversion:** reply rate, meetings booked, and meeting-to-opportunity rate.
* **Quality:** how many accepted meetings turn into pipeline, and how many AEs reject.
* **Speed:** time to first touch on inbound leads.

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## Common mistakes

* Measuring only activity volume, which rewards noise over relevance.
* Handing off meetings without notes, so the AE repeats discovery.
* Sending the same message to every account instead of tailoring it to a segment.
* No feedback loop from AEs on lead quality.

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## Sales development FAQs

**What is sales development?**

Sales development is the team and process that find new prospects, reach out to them, and qualify their interest before passing them to an account executive. It focuses on the top of the funnel and on generating qualified meetings.

**What does a sales development team do?**

A sales development team researches target accounts, contacts prospects by email, phone, and social channels, qualifies need and timing, and books meetings for account executives. Some reps handle inbound leads, others run outbound campaigns.

**Is sales development the same as sales?**

Sales development is one part of sales. It covers prospecting and qualification, while closing, negotiation, and contract work belong to account executives. Many companies keep the two separate so each role can specialize.

**How do you measure sales development success?**

Look at conversion through the funnel: reply rate, meetings booked, show rate, and meetings that become qualified opportunities. Activity counts help with diagnosis, but pipeline created and accepted by account executives is the clearer signal.

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## More related phrases

* [Sales qualified lead](/glossary/sales-qualified-lead.txt)
* [Account-based sales development](/glossary/account-based-sales-development.txt)
* [Business development](/glossary/business-development.txt)

## Similar phrases

* [Sales development representative (SDR)](/glossary/sales-development-representative.txt)  
A sales development representative (SDR) is a sales role that prospects and qualifies leads, then books meetings for account executives to run.
* [Sales prospecting](/glossary/sales-prospecting.txt)  
Sales prospecting is the process of identifying and contacting potential buyers to start conversations that could turn into qualified sales opportunities.
* [Outbound sales](/glossary/outbound-sales.txt)  
Outbound sales is a sales approach where reps start the conversation by contacting selected prospects through email, phone, and social, instead of waiting for inquiries.
* [Meetings booked](/glossary/meetings-booked.txt)  
Meetings booked counts the qualified conversations an SDR or outbound program schedules with prospects, and is the core output metric for prospecting teams.
* [Lead development representative (LDR)](/glossary/lead-development-representative.txt)  
A lead development representative (LDR) researches, contacts, and qualifies leads, then passes sales-ready opportunities to account executives; the role is similar to an SDR with different naming.