Relevant Experience doesn't mean industry experience.
It means sales alignment: deal size, volume size, industry experience, buyer knowledge, hunter v account manager, buyer familiarity, company maturity.
And it ties directly into how quickly a sales rep will ramp up.
OpenAI hired a Head of Sales Development in March at $350,000 for what the posting called a true 0 to 1 build.
Anthropic posted a BDR Manager to build & scale a team of 8 to 12 BDRs.
39% of the top 200 AI companies with open GTM roles are hiring SDRs or SDR leaders right now, most of them outbound & enterprise.
These are the companies building the models that were supposed to replace the SDR.
Make of that what you will.
Determination is the hardest DRIVEN™ dimension to fake in an interview.
Here's how to test it:
"Tell me about a period where you were significantly behind quota. Walk me through exactly what you did."
High performers get specific:
activities they added, calls they made..
The most expensive hire in a company is a bad sales rep:
→ 3–6 months ramp time lost
→ pipeline that never gets built
→ deals that stall or die
→ customers who had a bad experience
→ cost to recruit, hire, train a replacement
Ave. cost of a bad sales hire -
$75 –$150K 😱
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