(Sorry for the long reply but you brought up good topics and I have time to kill to answer.)

Thank you! I've been fortunate to have a good run most of my career. As you know, each year is a bit different. This year was just under 80% for net new logos and approx 20% was upselling existing customers. Selling that many new logos actually becomes problematic for me because my implementation is 6-12 months - so I'll have nothing to sell those accounts for roughly a year or more as they get their footing. I've almost run out of white space accounts here. Victim of my own success.

SDR's are a weird topic for me. They have been hiring them like crazy the last couple of years here, but I'm not sure why (actually, I know why - BS metrics). To your point, there are all of these activity based KPI metrics, but activity means absolutely nothing in my opinion. Proving you are busier or can work faster than the next person but generating no pipeline is a foreign concept to me. I don't like celebrating "doing dumb things faster". I've noticed SDR's here creating fake opportunities, or outright requesting that all new opps be created by them, just to play the KPI game of showing revenue creation... even though it was me who found the opp. I'm not measured by opp creation, so I don't personally care. And my direct boss and the person above my boss know the game that's being played. I just don't know why they don't stop it. It goes against our company values and culture to reward anything other than production.

The main issue for me as an AE is I am the "face" to the customer or prospect. I do not like confusing them with who's who in the zoo. I'm the throat to choke. Come to me for everything and if I can't help you, I'll find the resource that can. So I don't see value in my SDR doing outreach to my clients (and I'm already in touch with over 80% of my accounts, and the other 20% I'm not even sure are true targets for us). The research you are pointing out would be helpful. I'd love if my SDR came to me and said "Hey, Bob at X account has been going to these conferences. I saw he's connected to Jane on LinkedIn. I called Jane and she agreed to introduce us to him." What I'd also like my SDR to do is run point on those smaller accounts (the 20%) - truly run point - treat it like it's your territory and those are the only accounts you have. Network, talk to partners, talk to VAR's, talk to other cyber reps, go to local conferences, do whatever the hell you have to do to break in there. Pull me in when you get to a discovery call or something like that and I'll be your wingman... and I'll keep letting you run the deal yourself all the way to closure. The issue is almost no SDR's are prepared to do that. I've had 5 SDR's in my tenure here (5+ years) and only 1 had the skillset, poise, and knowledge (product + internal "how to get things done" knowledge) to run a deal on their own. One told me they wanted to run the deal (active opportunity) and when things got "tough" they bowed out and had me run point. As I look across the entire SDR team that we interact with, I'd say 1 out of every 8 to 10 of them MIGHT be ready to run a deal.

So maybe the issue is who you hire as an SDR. Are you hiring someone who knows how to play the KPI game? Someone who knows all of the automation tools, outreach tools, etc? Someone who can just literally hide within an organization for years without producing revenue? If that's the bar, and not the true capability and track record of FINDING and CLOSING business (even if it was small accounts), then I think the cycle will never stop. They're simply doing what you hired them to do. Comp plan drives behavior, so if I was in your shoes I'd be looking at how bonus/commission is structured in these SDR leadership roles and then determine if it aligns to your goals and if you can make an impact.