If you're hiring an SDR, South Africa is the best place to look, and I don't say that lightly. I've hired SDRs across five continents, worked in sales myself, and coached sales teams, and South African reps have consistently come out on top.

This isn't just my opinion. Large companies like Throxy and KnowBe4 hire South African sales reps, and I've observed that South African SDRs usually outperform US-based reps.

If you're serious about hiring sales talent, there's no better place to look. Below, I'll walk through when you actually need an SDR, what they do, whether to use an agency, and how to find and onboard the right one.

Before we dive into how to hire an SDR, let's first cover some indicators that you need to hire one:

  • Your time as a founder is better spent elsewhere, or you don't have the time.
  • You know the target customer you want the SDR to go after.
  • You already know how to sell your product or service, and you've made some sales.

Reality check: I strongly advise against hiring a sales rep until you have some real sales and proven product-market fit. The number one reason sales hires don't succeed is that business owners aren't ready for an SDR.

What does an SDR do?

SDRs play a multifaceted role in the sales process, with key responsibilities that include:

  • Prospecting and researching potential leads: Skilled SDRs are excellent at researching new leads, finding the decision-maker, and understanding their business.
  • Outreach through various channels: SDRs use many communication channels like phone calls, emails, text messages, and social media to initiate conversations with potential leads.
  • Qualifying leads: SDRs use predefined criteria for a qualified lead to ensure the lead is a suitable and likely customer. This keeps the sales team focused on the right customers.
  • Booking discovery calls or meetings: The ultimate goal for an SDR is to set up a qualified meeting.

What are the limitations of an SDR?

From my experience, it's rare to find a full-cycle sales rep who's actually good at both outbound sales (cold calling, cold emails, DMs, etc.) and closing (getting on a sales call and collecting payment). This is mainly because sales takes lots of practice and repetition, and a salesperson who focuses on one specialty will outperform one who is a generalist. It's the same reason that in baseball (my favorite sport for analogies), the pitcher is usually a terrible hitter.

Now, does that mean you can't hire a full-cycle sales rep? No. It just means the number of booked sales calls or the closing ratio might be lower than if you hired a specialist for each role. If you're a small company, I recommend you hire an SDR and do the closing yourself until you can afford a closer.

Should I use an agency or hire a sales rep myself?

Of course, I might be biased in thinking you should hire them yourself via our platform, but I'll give you my honest take from being in the managed service and recruitment agency space for 3 years now.

When should you use an agency? Agencies are good if you don't know how to manage a sales rep, or if you don't have the bandwidth to interview and hire talent. The agency should already have a roster of people, or recruit talent for you, so you don't have to. They'll usually take care of payroll as well.

Myth: Agencies have better sales talent than what I can find on my own.

Truth: Most high-performing sales reps want to work directly for the company they're working with. The pay is better for them when they work direct (no middleman taking a cut), and there are better opportunities for advancement with the companies themselves.

The other downside is the cost. Agencies usually charge 3 to 5 times what the employee actually makes, and they don't include commission in that. Since sales is directly related to ROI, this seriously cuts into the SDR's revenue.

Unless you just want to try them out, I recommend going the direct-hire route. You'll save on cost, access better talent, and have more control over their pay.

How to find the perfect SDR candidate

  • Create a job description: The job description should accurately define the responsibilities, scope of the role, and the skills and experience required. Include benefits and growth opportunities to attract the right candidates. To make sure the candidate is actually reading the job description, you can add specific instructions to weed out those who don't follow them, such as asking them to send a video introduction.
  • Interview and evaluate the candidate: Go beyond the standard interview and test the candidate's sales skills. A great way to do this is to set up a mock sales call and test how the candidate responds to specific objections. You'll also be able to see how well the SDR handles live questions under pressure.
  • Arrange interviews with multiple people on your team: I recommend 2 to 3 rounds of interviews. Have your sales manager or another senior team member run an interview and give you feedback on the candidate. It's always good to get a second opinion.

Making an offer and onboarding

Once you've identified the candidate you want to hire, send the offer right away. A big mistake I've seen is employers waiting too long to see if a better candidate comes around, only for the candidate they liked to accept another job. You want to evaluate your options, but when you find a good one, make the offer quickly.

How do I structure compensation? It's important to have a stable base salary plus commission incentives in your offer. Aim for a 60:40 base-to-commission ratio. There are no strict rules on the exact ratio, but I wouldn't offer anything below 50:50. Serious SDR candidates won't even consider your offer if it's commission-only, and that's not competitive with the market.

During onboarding, it's imperative that your new SDR understands the product or service, your company's culture, your target buyers, and the real value proposition. Giving them a phone and telling them to start dialing on day one is a mistake. The first week should be about learning, mentorship, and understanding the product and the objections they'll receive. The best salespeople truly believe in the value of the offering themselves.

Ready to hire? You can browse pre-vetted South African SDRs on Find Talent, or post your role and let qualified candidates come to you. Either way, you're hiring direct: better talent, lower cost, and full control over their pay.