How to make great SDR hires for FinTech & Enterprise sales

Last month, our CEO and founder, Alex, shared how we use a scorecard-driven process to consistently hire top-performing SDRs in a LinkedIn Live session.

Because we build and run SDR teams for other companies, making hiring mistakes is not an option.

Here are some key moments from this session:

Sales success recipe

07:35

Before getting into the hiring specifics, Alex broke down what successful SDR teams are built on:

“You can break it down into three key elements essentially, which is you have people who are performing the work, you have processes that make the work more efficient, and technology that helps people perform their work and automate the processes.”- Alex

People make or break your sales. You can have great tech and a solid playbook, but if the wrong people are running it, it won’t work.

On the flip side, great people can succeed even without perfect systems.

What happens when you get sales hiring wrong?

09:24

When you get SDR hiring wrong, a few things happen (none of them good):

• People don’t hit their targets
• Revenue goals are missed
• Managers get bogged down in performance management
• Turnover increases
• Morale drops

“My experience has been that the easiest way to be a better leader and a manager in a business is just to get better at hiring people.” – Alex

Key elements for getting sales hiring right

10:46

The Delta-v approach boils down to three pillars:

1. Create the right hiring scorecard – What traits predict success?
2. Design a process to assess those traits
3. Build a value proposition that attracts the right people.

Enterprise-grade SDR hiring scorecard

11:58

Delta-v hires SDRs based on a clear set of traits that predict performance, and if a candidate doesn’t meet all of them, we don’t make the hire.

Here’s the scorecard:

• Intelligence – Can understand and explain complex topics
• Curiosity – Genuinely interested in learning and improving
• Great communication – Clear and concise, written and verbal
• Coachability – Can take feedback and apply it
• Track record of past performance – Has done hard things and stuck with them
• Competitiveness – Wants to win, hates losing
• Motivation to make money – Not just saying it, but living it (ask how they spend money)
• Wants to be in sales – Not just “trying it out”

Outbound sales compensation

32:12

When it comes to compensation, Alex recommends keeping it simple:

• 70/30 split (base/commission) for SDRs
• Commission per qualified meeting held
• Flat rate — no overcomplicated formulas
• Uncapped — top reps should be able to earn more than their parents.

Sales hiring process

34:30

On average, we phone screen 40 candidates to make 1 hire. Here’s a bit more about the process:

1. Application screening – CV, cover letter, and questionnaire (screen out ChatGPT answers)
2. 15-minute phone screen – Test for curiosity, motivation, verbal communication
3. First interview – Scorecard-based behavioural questions
4. Homework task – Prospecting research and email writing
5. Simulation day – Roleplays, coaching tests, and topgrading interview

Motivating factors that sell a role

42:00

Alex breaks this into three types of “opportunities that sell a role”:

• Opportunities to learn – Training, exposure to new verticals or products
• Opportunities to take responsibility – Own campaigns, mentor others, lead initiatives
• Opportunities to change function – For example, move from another industry into tech sales or from selling to SMB to enterprise.

“Nobody cares if you’re nice people, if you have free lunches, or if you do Friday drinks or things like that… people want to know what’s in it for them.” – Alex