Train SDRs Like Musicians: Master the Parts Before You Chase Speed

New SDRs have an overwhelming number of things to learn to become proficient.

When training them I use the analogy of learning a piece of music to help understand the process to proficiency.

Musicians are taught to take a new piece of music and break it down into parts: vs, chorus, bridge; or just phrase by phrase.

They work at each part a bit to get a good sense of it. Then they put it together but play it continuously at a slow tempo — so it sounds like the song, if slow.

As they get more proficient they add speed until it’s at performance speed.

We approach learning the SDR role in a similar manner.

We break down each part and learn the basics. For example, the ICP and problems they have, how to research leads, the core usage of the tech stack, the value and core message, and a basic talk track.

We put that together into a daily workflow and go slow but execute each core part with quality.

The key is that each part is being done to a minimal standard. It doesn’t need to be fast yet. It just needs to be cohesive (so it sounds like the song, just slower).

With time and practice the SDRs get faster until they’re at full performance speed.

This approach and workflow is often the real initial challenge to overcome. Reps want to have a good grasp of the workflow and fluency in each component.

Help them learn each part — slowly — and then speed up over time.

This ensures quality, consistency and confidence. A slow song still sounds like the song. They can and will speed up.

But if parts of the song get bungled everyone can hear it. 

So if you’re leading an SDR team or are an SDR, break the workflow into parts, learn the parts well enough to execute slowly and daily.

Speed will come with time.