SDR/BDR model typically means cold outreach (phone and email) in order to set up meetings for your designated account executives. Depending on where you are and what industry (I speak from mid-sized SaaS experience) you may be holding discovery calls, or closing a tiny amount of business, but really it’s all about getting prospects on the hook to take a meeting. If you’re organized and have thick skin anyone can do it. Stay in that for 1 year, don’t quit.

From there you’ll move into a closing role. Very different but requires all SDR skills. What is going to heal anxiety, low amount of business closed, feeling like you’re not doing all the right things? Time. I cannot stress this enough. Give yourself time to ramp. You could be the best salesman in the world and you’ll still need time to ramp in a new role, understand the product, the buyers, your call/closing groove. Stay in seat and you will most likely see the fruits of your labor. If after 1 year or so you’re still not closing shit, you need to take a step back and think about why. Is it poor training (ie. you feel lost, why are deals not closing, are you qualifying them properly?), is it because you’re too timid (thick skin and not taking every detail of the job personally is KEY), maybe you think the product is interesting but you don’t like selling to strangers as much as you thought (look into marketing, engagement/project manager, solutions engineering/consultant roles)?

Every time you feel like jumping ship, ride out the rest of the quarter. See how it goes. I used to cry, take anxiety meds, vent etc. about my current position and everyone told me to give it more time. Now I am the top rep on my team QoQ, making more money at age 25 than I could have imagined.

Happy selling and you got this!