SDR to AE: Mastering the Role Transition

If you’re aiming to transition from SDR to AE, the first step is to show consistent competency in your current role. How often are you hitting your quotas? Do you take feedback well and use it to improve? Is your time management on point?

Gartner found that 83.4% of SDRs fail to hit their numbers consistently, and a big reason is poor time management.

Time Management: The Key to SDR Success (and AE Readiness)

Your ability to manage your time effectively can make or break your performance. The same with your chances of moving from SDR to AE. Disorganisation leads to burnout, missed tasks, and wasted opportunities.

The best SDRs break their work into focused blocks, avoiding the chaos of jumping between calls, emails, and outreach all day. Here’s how you can do it:

• Break down your quotas into weekly and daily targets. This gives you clear, realistic goals to hit within a set timeframe.
• Use your calendar strategically. Block time for high-impact tasks and balance them with other responsibilities. This keeps you focused on what matters most and prepares you for the bigger responsibilities of an AE role.

Coachability: The Traits That Set You Up for Success

Natural talent is important, but coachability matters even more. SDRs face rejection every day, so hearing “no” is part of the job. But if you’re not open to feedback and willing to adjust your approach, your skills won’t improve quickly.

Managers and leaders look for SDRs who are hungry for feedback and eager to improve. Those who take correction seriously and act on it show they’re ready for the bigger challenges that come with the SDR to AE transition.

Did you know? The average SDR has about 3.6 quality conversations per day. Each one counts. If you nail these interactions, you’re building the foundation you need to move to AE.

Preparing for the AE Role: What You Need to Know

If you’re serious about transitioning from SDR to AE, you need to start building AE skills long before you ask for the promotion.

Product Mastery: More Than Just Features

AEs don’t just know the product, they understand it inside and out. They can explain not just what it does, but how it solves real problems for customers.

To prepare for the move from SDR to AE:

• Go beyond the basics. Learn the ins and outs of your product’s features, but also understand the outcomes it creates for customers across a broad range of use cases.
• Anticipate objections. Think about the concerns prospects might have and practice turning those concerns into opportunities.
• Build compelling value propositions. Your goal is to create messages that resonate with prospects and make them want to buy.

Shadowing AEs: Learn from the Best

One of the best ways to prepare for the transition is to shadow your AEs. This gives you a front-row seat to the full sales cycle from discovery to close.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• How deals are managed after the first demo.
• How AEs communicate with prospects.
• What a day in the life of an AE really looks like.
• How to write emails that move deals forward.

When transitioning from SDR to AE, real experience is everything. If you can, take on small deals or close opportunities you’ve sourced yourself. There’s no better way to prove you’re ready for the AE role than by actually doing it.

Associate Director of Salient Group, Michael Moreno, states: “Being an SDR can be about generating pipeline. An AE is about carrying the number. The reps who succeed in making the jump are already acting like AEs. They self-enable, run tight discovery, qualify harder, and are obsessed over deal mechanics, not just booking meetings”.

Timing Your Move from SDR to AE

Timing is everything. Research shows that top-performing SDRs often seek promotion in just 4-6 months. But the key is to stay in the SDR role longer and keep crushing your current role while building AE skills on the side.

The transition from SDR to AE isn’t something that happens; you have to make it happen. There are no shortcuts. You need to master the basics first, then layer on AE skills. Your current performance and future preparation have to run in parallel. Do both well, and the promotion will feel like a natural next step.

Build Your Sales Career with Salient

At Salient, we’re one of APAC’s top SaaS and sales recruitment agencies. With over 15 years of experience, we’ve helped startups and scale-ups place top sales talent, including SDRs ready to make the leap to AE.

Ready to grow your sales career? Drop us a line at info@salientgroup.com.au. We’ll be in touch within 24 hours.