One thing that sets Acuity apart from other cloud accounting companies is that we have an outbound sales team. Since the team was implemented in 2014, it’s become a huge part of our success. We’ve evolved and learned a lot about what strategies work best for us. This department has been a stepping stone for some of our team members and it’s only up from here!

To give some insight into the sales role, we sat down with one of our SDRs, Seth McEntire, who has been with the company since August 2017. Read what he has to say about his day-to-day duties.

What exactly does a sales development representative do?

An SDR role at Acuity summed up is to generate, as well as help qualify prospective leads. The way we go about contacting these leads is through a series of emails, phone calls, and social media touches.  With those, we are the prospects first point of contact with Acuity so our first impression is extremely important. If we do not do a good job at understanding their current pain points and relaying the value that we can offer, then we can miss out on a potential client.  

What’s your typical daily routine like?

My day starts around 8:00 in the morning. When I first get into work, the first two things I do is check my email to follow up with prospects that have replied and prepare a new list of potential clients to reach out to for the day. After that, I move directly into prospecting for new clients for the next day. That process can be a little time consuming so it usually takes me to lunch time.  

After lunch, I go directly into making phone calls to the clients that I emailed the days before. This usually takes a little over an hour to complete. After that, I’ll finish my day by responding to emails, reaching out to prospects who have shown interest in the past, and preparing myself for success the following day.

What’s the biggest problem that you encounter on a regular basis as an SDR?

I would say the biggest problem that we face on a daily basis would be the lack of prospect response. On our end, we can only do so much as far as outreach goes. In saying that, we do make sure to do our part and make a reasonable amount of touches via email and phone calls of a cycle of roughly 10-14 days. When we reach the end of those cycles and still haven’t been given a response, we can assume they are simply not interested or the timing isn’t right.  But that’s not to say that they won’t reach out later down the road.

What methods do you use to stay productive?

One of the biggest things our SDR team does to help us stay motivated and productive is to set goals, personal and team.  Setting goals is a great way for us to not be content with where we are but to push for where we want to be.

Then personally, I create an internal to-do list to keep me on track.  I don’t like to write it down for some reason, but going into the day I’ll think about what I need to get done and work throughout the day to complete those tasks.

And finally, what do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy a lot of things about my job but if I have to pick one, it would be the flexibility that comes with working here.  Life happens, and our two guys up top (Kenji and Matthew) understand that. They both have created an environment and workspace that allows for growth in my career while not missing out on the important things that happen outside of work.  

Okay, I can’t pick just one because simply, I work with some great people.  Our office is always a fun place to be and that makes coming to work everyday easy.