How to Handle the BDR Sales Hand-off

“We broke our inside sales team into two groups – BDRs who prospect and qualify leads and Sales Execs who present and close. The problem is with the hand-off from BDR to Sales Execs. How do you get the prospect re-focused and back in the game? Our process is to set up a call once the lead is qualified, so there is a little bit of a time lapse there.”

BDR Sales (Business Development Representative)

A lot of companies are going to BDR Sales (Business Development Representative Role) model and I am a fan of it for the right situations.

The challenge companies can have with this type of sales process is what I call “the hand-off” – It’s where the BDR sales rep has qualified the prospect and has now scheduled a call between the sales executive and the prospect.

The most common problem is that the sales executive call doesn’t have the same “juice” that was created on the sales call between the BDR and the prospect and the call goes downhill, fast.

Often times what happens is the BDR and the prospect strike a common chord as the BDR did his/her job in qualifying, uncovering, and getting the prospect to recognize a problem.

Some companies have the policy to turn the call over right then and there once the lead is qualified in order to avoid losing the prospect’s interest, however, the same problem often happens as a third party (the sales executive, the BDR, and the prospect) enters the picture… that natural rapport/comfort level that was generated is now interrupted.

Most sales executives make the mistake of trying to recapture or recreate a rapport with the prospect. I say, “mistake” because prospects are very busy (and have 1,000 other salespeople calling them for their time, etc). Trying to rebuild rapport wastes valuable time.

The Warm Call Sales Script

What I’ve found to work best when the inside sales executive has the prospect on the phone is to say this at the beginning of the call:

“(Prospect’s Name) Before we get started, would it be OK if I quickly recap my understanding of your conversation with (BDR Name) to make sure we are all on the same page, would that be OK?”

I have only had one prospect say to me “No” but he quickly followed it up with “We’re ready to sign-up” (No need to walk past the close – but I’ll save that for a different blog post/newsletter).

The Re-Cap Warm Call Sales Script Play

The warm call sales script play is an essential part of making “the hand-off” a success. And it starts long before the account exec ever picks up the phone and calls the “qualified prospect”. It actually starts with the BDR.

BDRs need to do more than simply ask, “are you the decision-maker” and “what are you currently using to solve ________?”

Your BDRs need to be trained on what sales questions to ask, when to ask them, how to ask them, why to ask them, and then shown where to put that info in the CRM so the sales executive can quickly glance at the information and get up to speed before making the call.

Do it right and you’ll see closing rates rise.

– Michael Pedone

Michael Pedone teaches inside sales teams how to pick up the phone and close business. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales training company.

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