Glossary
What is a BDR?
A salesperson who generates new pipeline, often through outbound prospecting. Many companies use the title interchangeably with SDR.
Definition
A BDR (business development representative) is a salesperson who creates new sales opportunities, usually by prospecting accounts that haven't shown interest yet and booking meetings for a closer. The title overlaps heavily with SDR. Some companies treat them as the same job, while others use BDR specifically for outbound or account-based prospecting.
What a BDR does
The core work matches an SDR's: pick target accounts, find the right people, reach out through email, LinkedIn and phone, qualify interest and hand a booked meeting to an account executive. Where companies do separate the roles, the BDR side tends to lean toward cold outbound, deeper research per account and larger or named accounts.
BDR vs SDR: how companies actually use the titles
There's no single industry standard. You'll commonly see these patterns:
- Same role, different name. Common at small companies. The title reflects habit or what read better on a job post.
- Inbound vs outbound. SDRs follow up on leads who came to you (demo requests, trial signups), and BDRs prospect cold accounts.
- Reversed. Some teams call outbound reps SDRs and use BDR for partnerships or channel development.
- Seniority or segment. BDR as the senior or enterprise version of the role.
When hiring or benchmarking, compare the actual responsibilities and targets, not the acronym.
An example
Say a cybersecurity vendor sells to hospitals. Its BDR gets 60 named health systems for the quarter. For each one she maps the security chief, the IT director and the compliance lead, watches for trigger events like a new executive hire, and runs a tailored sequence to each person. Her target is qualified meetings with those accounts, not reply volume.
Common mistakes
- Comparing pay or quota across companies by title alone.
- Giving one rep both inbound and outbound with no priorities. Inbound leads go cold while outbound work gets done, or the reverse.
- Measuring a BDR on activity counts when the job is to open specific accounts.
How Siela AI uses it
Siela AI's AI SDR covers the outbound prospecting side of the role: it targets the roles, industries, company sizes and locations you set, uses signals like recent job changes, funding and hiring, and reaches out on LinkedIn, X and email from your own accounts.
Questions
What does BDR stand for?
BDR stands for business development representative. In most B2B sales teams it's a prospecting role: the BDR finds and contacts potential customers, qualifies their interest and books meetings that an account executive then works toward a closed deal.
Which is more senior, BDR or SDR?
Neither, by default. At most companies they're peer roles or the same role. A few companies treat BDR as the more senior or enterprise-focused title, and others treat it the opposite way, so seniority depends entirely on each company's own career ladder.
Do BDRs close deals?
Usually not. A BDR's job typically ends when a qualified meeting is booked and handed to an account executive. At very small companies one person may prospect and close, but that role is closer to a full-cycle account executive than a BDR.
Less jargon, more conversations.
Siela AI finds people with a fresh reason to talk, reaches them on LinkedIn, X and email from your own accounts, and keeps your social going.