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Business development representative (BDR)

A business development representative (BDR) is a salesperson who starts conversations with companies that have not shown interest yet, mostly through outbound email, calls and social messages, and hands the qualified ones to an account executive. Many companies use BDR for outbound prospecting and SDR for inbound leads.

Updated October 2026 · 4 min read · GetSales team

What a BDR does

A BDR starts from a list of accounts that fit, where nobody has asked to hear from them yet. The work runs in a loop.

  1. Pick the accounts. Companies that match the ideal customer profile, then the people at each who own the problem and the one who signs.
  2. Find a reason to write now. A new office, a hire in the team you sell to, a product launch, a post about the problem.
  3. Run the sequence. Several touches by email, phone and social messages, spaced over a few weeks, each adding something.
  4. Qualify the reply. Check fit, need and timing, then put a meeting on an account executive's calendar with notes they can read in a minute.

Because nobody asked, the list carries the work. A wrong title or a dead email wastes every touch that follows, so BDRs spend real time building and checking lists. In GetSales, a person already in any table of your workspace is not added again, and you can put your customers on your stoplist in Settings, one by one or from a CSV.

BDR vs SDR

There is no standard split. A common one:

Common use BDR SDR
Starts from Accounts that have shown no interest yet Inbound leads: demo requests, trial sign-ups, forms
First touch Outbound email, calls and social messages A fast answer to someone who reached out
Measured on Meetings held with accounts that fit Speed to answer and meetings from inbound

The model the split comes from used the names the other way. Aaron Ross, who started an outbound prospecting group at Salesforce.com, says outbound prospectors are commonly called sales development reps or new business development reps, and inbound qualifiers market response reps.1 Read the job description before you compare two salaries or two teams.

The email rules a BDR works under

  • United States. The CAN-SPAM Act covers business-to-business email with no exception. Each message needs a true sender and subject line, a clear note that it is an ad, a valid postal address and a way to opt out, and an opt-out has to be honored within 10 business days.2
  • United Kingdom. Under PECR you may email staff of companies and other corporate bodies without consent, if you say who you are and give a valid opt-out address. Sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals and need consent or, for existing customers, the soft opt-in. The UK GDPR applies once you hold a named person's details.3

Sources

  1. David Skok, For Entrepreneurs, An Argument for Specialized Sales Teams: An Interview with Aaron Ross, January 2012. Read 28 October 2026.
  2. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business, August 2023, edited January 2024. Read 28 October 2026.
  3. Information Commissioner's Office, Business-to-business marketing, no date stated, marked as under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. Read 28 October 2026.

Last updated: October 2026

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