“I dumped our BDRs” shared a disruptive CMO from a $650mil SaaS brand, “And, guess what? We’re exceeding our revenue goals.” “It was painful for those reps,” the CMO explained, “but in retrospect, it was an easy decision--their cost exceeded their value and we had better ways to spend that money.”

Easy, perhaps. But it raised several questions in my mind:

• Why aren’t BDRs paying out?
  
• Why aren’t more CMOs ditching their BDRs?
  
• What did this CMO do with the BDR budget?
  

The Broken BDR Model

Brand development representatives (BDRs) are typically expected to turn “suspects” into “prospects.” They follow up on inbound form fills or names captured at trade shows. They reach out via email, social media, texts, and phone calls. It’s usually an unfun job with high failure rates. And for good reason.

The BDR role is built on a faulty premise.

When you and I visit a website and provide an email address to unlock a piece of content, 99% of the time we do so begrudgingly and with trepidation. We know a rep will try to contact us, a rep we don’t want to speak with that day or maybe ever! We just wanted that content. If we were interested in speaking with someone, we would do so on our schedule. And the effort to contact us is annoying. Off-putting. Maybe even interest-killing.

BDRs don’t fit into how most of us buy products and services for our businesses. When we recognize a need, we do our homework. Search the web. Read reviews. Confer with colleagues. Talk to analysts. We create a short list of brands we already trust and ones we discover through research.

When ready, we’ll ask for a demo or to speak with an expert. If it’s a complex purchase, we’ll involve multiple people at our company and want multiple conversations with specialists and other customers. At no point do we want to speak with individuals who can’t bring value to the conversation.

The BDR Safety Net that’s Dragging CMOs Down

If BDRs are ill-conceived, then why aren’t more CMOs just saying “no?” The first answer is that at some companies BDRs are adding value. [If that’s the case for you, I’d love to hear from you.] Another is that no one bothered to do an ROI assessment. The most likely answer is that having BDRs is standard operating procedure, particularly for SaaS brands. It’s the way Marketing tries to push leads down the funnel. Tries. And fails. Way too often.

How One CMO’s Bold Reallocation Supercharged Customer Marketing

So, how did our disruptive CMO reallocate the BDR budget? Most of the money went into customer marketing. These dollars were used to help customers get the most value out of their current software via in-person events, webinars, and customized content. By focusing on current customers, they increased their c-sat scores, reduced churn rates, and bumped up advocacy. 75% of their revenue growth came from existing customers who bought more.

And, how did they secure the 25% of revenue growth from new customers? Experienced salespeople did their job. They knew their category. They knew the pain points. The value proposition they shared (when asked) was consistent with what the prospects discovered on their own. They anticipated all of the prospect’s questions. They were helpful. Not pushy. And they sure as heck didn’t send unsolicited emails or texts.

If your BDRs can do that, congrats. That’s awesome. If not, make sure what they are doing is budget-worthy.

Written by Drew Neisser