At a glance:
- Old metrics focus on activity (calls/emails) – new metrics focus on impact (qualified meetings/conversions)
- Success looks like: 12 quality meetings monthly, 70% show-up rate, strong pipeline conversion
- Bottom line: Quality over quantity wins in modern sales development
You’ve got your trusty SDR dashboard showing calls made, emails sent, and meetings booked. It’s comfortable. It’s familiar… but it’s also probably outdated.
I had my wake-up call last year when one of our SDRs was crushing her activity metrics but somehow wasn’t generating quality opportunities. She was hitting 300+ calls daily, sending perfectly crafted emails, but crickets from the sales team about her leads.
That’s when it hit me: we were measuring the wrong things.
Table of contents
The Old School Metrics
Remember when we thought the earth was flat? (Some still do tbf) That’s kind of like still focusing solely on:
- Number of calls made
- Emails sent
- LinkedIn connections
- Total meetings booked
Why Traditional Metrics Are Dead
Here’s the truth: your 250 calls per day mean nothing if they’re not leading to meaningful conversations.
The key to scaling sales isn’t just about more activity – it’s about better targeting and better conversations.
The New SDR Metrics That Actually Matter
1. Quality Over Quantity
Instead of just tracking total meetings booked (amateur hour), we’re now looking at:
- Percentage of meetings that actually happen (aim for 70%+ sat rate)
- Meetings that convert to opportunities (this is where the magic happens)
2. The “Are They Actually Ready?” Metrics
We’ve started tracking:
- Customer fit scoring (because not all leads are created equal)
- Multi-touch attribution (because that first cold call rarely does the trick)
- Response rates by channel (spoiler: it’s not just about LinkedIn anymore)
3. The “Show Me The Money” Metrics
These are the ones your CEO actually cares about:
- Percentage of opportunities that advance past first AE meeting
- Pipeline size
- Average deal size of converted opportunities
The Reality Check: What Good Actually Looks Like
At Punch!, we’ve found that successful SDRs should be hitting:
- 12 qualified meetings per month (once ramped)
- 70% minimum sat meeting percentage
- 80% coaching scorecard achievement (this of course is specific to our own coaching scorecard..hit us up and we’ll share it with you)
Why This Evolution Matters
I learned this the hard way after spending three months chasing vanity metrics with a previous team – modern SDR success isn’t about activity volume. It’s about impact.
Think of it like this: would you rather have an SDR who makes 300 calls a day but generates leads that go nowhere, or one who makes 100 strategic calls and generates 5 solid opportunities?
How to Evolve Your Metrics
- Start tracking conversation quality (use call recordings, you won’t regret it)
- Implement a proper lead scoring system
- Focus on conversion rates at each pipeline stage
- Measure time spent in discovery
The Bottom Line
The evolution of SDR metrics isn’t just about tracking different numbers – it’s about fundamentally changing how we think about sales development. It’s about moving from quantity to quality, from activity to impact, from “spray and pray” to strategic engagement.
So, what’s it going to be? Are you ready to evolve your metrics, or are you comfortable being the last person using MySpace? (I miss those days)
