Here’s something most new SDR managers don’t realize until they’re knee-deep in the role: managing SDRs isn’t about being the best rep who got promoted. It’s about making everyone else better.
I’ve seen too many high-performing reps step into management and struggle because they tried to manage the way they sold. They focused on their own numbers, micromanaged every dial, or worse, completely checked out and let the team run on autopilot.
The reality? SDR management is fundamentally a coaching role. If you’re not spending at least half your time developing your team, you’re not doing the job right.
What Does an SDR Manager Actually Do?
Let’s break down where your time should go. In an ideal world, you’re spending about 50% of your time on coaching activities. That means one-on-ones, call reviews, role plays, and real-time support when your reps need it. Another 30% goes to operations like team meetings, reporting, process improvements, and working with other departments. The remaining 20% is leadership stuff like hiring, strategy, culture building, and stakeholder management.
Now, here’s the reality check: if you’re managing more than 8-10 SDRs, something’s going to suffer. And that something is usually coaching. The sweet spot is 6-8 reps per manager. At that ratio, you can give everyone the attention they need. Push it to 10+, and you’re basically just a glorified activity monitor.
Your Daily Rhythm as an SDR Manager
Every great SDR manager I know has a consistent daily rhythm. It starts with a morning standup that actually matters.
Your morning huddle should take 10-15 minutes max. Each rep shares yesterday’s highlight, today’s focus, and any blockers they’re facing. You acknowledge quick wins, make necessary announcements, and set the energy for the day. The key is keeping it tight. Two minutes per person, tops. Stand up during the meeting to keep people from settling in for a long chat.
Throughout the day, you’re monitoring activity but not in a Big Brother way. You’re checking dashboards, keeping an eye on call volume, watching email sending. You’re looking for intervention points. Did someone fall behind on their activity by 10 AM? Are there multiple bounces or technical issues? Long gaps between touches? Signs of disengagement? That’s when you jump in with support.
End the day with a quick mental check. Did the team hit activity targets? Any fires that need addressing? Wins to celebrate? What’s tomorrow looking like?
The Art of the Weekly One-on-One
If you take nothing else from this guide, get this: never cancel your one-on-ones. Seriously. Your reps plan their week around these meetings. When you cancel, you’re telling them they’re not a priority.
A solid 30-minute one-on-one follows a simple structure. Start with five minutes of genuine human connection. Ask how they’re actually doing. Any personal updates? This isn’t small talk, it’s building trust.
Next, spend 10 minutes reviewing the numbers versus goals. What worked this week? What challenges came up? Let them talk. You’re listening more than speaking here.
The middle 10 minutes is where the magic happens. Focus on developing one specific skill. Maybe you review a call together, run a role play, or provide targeted feedback on their messaging. One skill. Not their entire game. Just one thing they can actually improve this week.
Wrap up the last five minutes with planning. What’s the focus for next week? What support do they need from you? What are the specific action items? Write them down and follow up on them next time.
The reps who feel heard in their one-on-ones are the ones who stick around. The reps who feel like it’s just a metrics interrogation start polishing their resumes.
Weekly Team Meetings That Don’t Suck
I’ve sat through a lot of terrible team meetings. You know the ones. An hour of the manager droning through a PowerPoint while everyone zones out.
Great team meetings follow a rhythm. Start with 10 minutes of wins. Celebrate successes, share what’s working, recognize effort. Make people feel good about being on the team.
Then spend 10 minutes on metrics. Where’s the team at? Who’s leading the board? What are the trends? Keep it high-level and forward-looking, not a public flogging of who’s behind.
The meat of the meeting is 20-30 minutes of actual skill development. Bring in a guest speaker from the AE team. Role play a common objection. Break down a new playbook. This is where your reps actually get better.
Wrap up with five minutes of announcements and you’re done. Everyone leaves having learned something, feeling recognized, and clear on what matters.
Coaching Techniques That Actually Work
Let’s talk about call coaching because this is where most managers either shine or completely whiff.
When you’re listening to calls live, stay muted and take notes on specific behaviors. As soon as the call ends, debrief while it’s fresh. Focus on one or two improvements max, and make sure you praise what worked. Nobody gets better from a feedback dump of 47 things they did wrong.
For recorded call reviews, have the rep select the call. You listen together, pause at key moments, and ask, “What would you do differently here?” Then you role play the improvement. This approach makes them the expert on their own development rather than you being the sage on the stage.
When you’re giving feedback, use the Situation-Behavior-Impact model. Instead of saying “you talk too much,” try this: “On that call with ABC Corp, when you interrupted while they were explaining their challenge, it meant you missed key information about their timeline.” Specific situation, specific behavior, specific impact.
Then feed forward. “Next time, try counting to three after they finish speaking before you respond.” Give them something actionable to implement on the next call.
Managing Different Performance Levels
Here’s a mistake I see constantly: treating all reps the same. Your top performers need different management than your middle tier, and your underperformers need a completely different approach.
Your top 20% performers need autonomy and growth opportunities. You’re still meeting with them weekly, but you’re focusing on leadership development, giving them stretch projects, and fast-tracking their promotion path. They don’t need you to coach their cold call structure. They need you to help them become closers or future managers.
The solid middle 60% is where you do your classic SDR management. Consistent coaching, clear improvement areas, recognition for wins, and a visible path to the top tier. These reps benefit most from your skill development focus.
The bottom 20% requires intensive intervention. You need to diagnose the root cause first. Is it an activity issue? Are they just not doing the work? That’s about accountability and possibly motivation. Is it a skill issue? They’re grinding but not converting? That needs training and practice. Is it a will issue? They’re disengaged or have attitude problems? That needs a serious conversation about whether this is the right fit.
If it’s a fit issue, where they’re just not cut out for SDR work despite coaching, you need to have the honest conversation sooner rather than later. Dragging it out helps nobody.
When to Use a Performance Improvement Plan
PIPs get a bad rap as “documentation before firing,” and honestly, sometimes they are. But they can also be a genuine tool for getting someone back on track.
Use a PIP when someone’s been consistently missing quota for two or more months, when skill issues aren’t improving despite coaching, or when there are attitude or effort concerns. Make it crystal clear: here’s where you are, here’s where you need to be, here’s the support we’re providing, and here’s what happens if we don’t see improvement.
Set specific milestones for each week. Week one targets, week two targets, building toward the final goal in week four. If they’re not hitting those milestones, you have your answer. If they are, you’ve turned around an underperformer and that’s a win.
Keeping Your Team Motivated
Recognition matters more than most managers think. You don’t need a massive budget. You need to be intentional.
Daily shoutouts in your standup. A Slack channel for wins. Updating leaderboards. Personal praise from you. These cost nothing and mean everything.
Monthly awards for top performer, most improved, best collaboration, creative approach. Quarterly celebrations and president’s club tracking for those who are crushing it.
Competitions can be great if you do them right. Focus on team versus team competitions, not just individual rankings. Make them achievable by multiple people, not just one winner. Focus on controllable metrics like activity or specific behaviors, not just outcomes. Keep the atmosphere fun, not cutthroat.
SPIFFs work when they’re simple, frequent, and achievable. First meeting of the day gets $25. Meeting booked from a call gets $50. Enterprise meeting gets $100. Most meetings in a week gets $200. Team hits quota, everyone goes to lunch. Mix individual and team incentives so people want to help each other win.
Building Career Paths
The number one reason top SDRs leave is lack of a clear path forward. If your best rep has been crushing quota for 14 months and still has no visibility into when they’ll get promoted, they’re getting LinkedIn messages from your competitors.
A typical timeline is 12-18 months as an SDR before moving to AE. The requirements should be transparent: 12+ months in role, four or more months at or above quota, demonstrated discovery skills, manager recommendation, passed AE assessment, and positive feedback from AEs on handoffs.
But not everyone wants to close. Some of your best SDRs might make incredible SDR managers. Others might thrive in marketing or customer success. Have quarterly career conversations where you ask: Where do you want to be in one to two years? What skills do you need to develop? What’s the path to get there? How can I support you?
When your reps know you’re invested in their future beyond just hitting this month’s quota, they stick around and bring their best effort.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Managing by numbers only is the fastest way to kill team morale. Yes, you need to hit your numbers. But if you’re only talking about metrics and never about the person behind them, you’re not leading, you’re just counting.
Inconsistent one-on-ones send the message that your reps aren’t important. Protect that time like it’s a meeting with the CEO because to your reps, you are the CEO of their work life.
Using a one-size-fits-all approach ignores the reality that different people need different things. Your top performer needs autonomy. Your struggling rep needs structure. Your middle-of-the-pack person needs clear growth areas. Adapt your style.
Avoiding hard conversations lets problems fester until they explode. Address issues early and directly. Your job isn’t to be everyone’s friend, it’s to make them successful, and sometimes that means uncomfortable conversations.
Finally, stop developing yourself and you’ll quickly become obsolete. Read, take courses, find mentors, ask your reps for feedback on your management. The best managers are obsessive about their own growth.
Key Takeaways
Being a great SDR manager comes down to a few fundamental principles. First, remember that coaching is your primary job. You’re not here to be the best rep anymore. You’re here to make everyone else better.
Daily engagement prevents small problems from becoming big ones. Stay close to your team without micromanaging. Know when to jump in and when to let them figure it out.
Balance accountability with support and development. Hold people to high standards while giving them the tools and coaching to reach those standards.
Recognize that top performers need different management than struggling reps. Tailor your approach to where each person is and where they’re trying to go.
Finally, understand that culture and retention matter as much as quota. You can hit your number this quarter by burning people out, but you won’t hit it next quarter when half your team quits.
Your job is to make your reps successful. Do that consistently, and the numbers take care of themselves.
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