How SDRs and AEs Align

Strong SDR-AE interlock is underrated. In 32 years, I’ve led hundreds of SDRs and AEs.

The thing that still gets me is when they don’t help each other. It hurts pipeline, win rates, and the morale you need to keep winning.

Most of the damage is self-inflicted, which means the fix is self-directed. Interlock is the standard. Gears only turn when the teeth line up. One tooth off and nothing moves.

Economist Sherwin Rosen wrote, “Hearing a succession of mediocre singers does not add up to a single outstanding performance.”

A week of tepid meetings doesn’t add up to one qualified opportunity. A thousand activities inside a broken system don’t add up to a viable pipeline.

Here are 7 things that work:

1. Put it in writing.
   Commit to two things: you will win big, and you will win together. Then trade what usually stays private. How you’re measured and how you’re paid.
2. Agree on the targets, then rank them.
   Which accounts change your year if they say yes? A ranked list of 25 beats an unranked list of 200.
3. Put a timer on the list.
   Count the selling days left. Watch the KPIs that lead: meetings held against meetings set, second calls booked. Track engagement across that list.
4. Set the rhythm.
   Thirty minutes, same day, every week. What moved, what stalled, what you need from me. Own what you dropped, out loud.
5. Prep before you dial.
   Who are we calling, and why now? What objective is blocked, and by what problem? Is the value worth our price? Who signs? Avoid the “second first meeting.”
6. Room the call together.
   Family physicians call this team rooming. One of you talks, the other captures in the CRM as it happens. The chart is written before the call ends.
7. Debrief while it’s warm.
   Same day. How did we add value to the buyer? Who owns the next step, and by when? Detail depreciates by the hour.

Most of this gets done today with AI and tools, but none of it builds trust.

Go analog! Pick up the phone. Get in the field together. Grab lunch or a beverage. Be a team of humans.

Who was the best partner you ever had, and what did they do?