As a Sales Development Representative (SDR) for Sisu, you will ensure an engaging and addictive experience for customers using our growth automation software platform. Customers will see amazing changes in their life and business as a result of using our solutions, however, it is a change in their business that requires effort to make a reality. That’s where you come in, to help consult, demonstrate and inspire them to use Sisu to make this change.This is what you can expect working at Sisu and many fast growing SaaS, software startups;
This is what you can expect from the SDR role specifically:
2023 SDR Commission Plan and Terms - Version 1.0
If a lead exists in Salesforce and was created by another rep, but has little to no activity, you may petition your manager to have it count as a Cold Outbound deal. Two scenarios where this may make sense are 1) the lead exists because of a bulk data import in the past, and has never actually been worked or 2) the lead was sourced by our lead harvesting team as a cold lead and has only been worked lightly by another rep.
3.1. Sourcing Mix: It is vital for your success in this role that you can consistently source your own deals from a variety of sources, and you are always heavily engaged in prospecting.
The goal in this role is that you form the foundation of skills to promote to an Outbound AE role within 6-9 months. As an Outbound AE, you will not receive inbound leads—for that reason, it’s critical that you learn to source your own business and own your pipeline.
You should expect this to be a grueling amount of work. Prospecting is difficult. It is this—your ability to perfect what most salespeople shy away from, and that so few are able to do consistently over time—that makes your contribution in this role so valuable and so rare.Â
Closing Commission: Commission is calculated based on the MRR of the opportunities you created (opportunities are created when demos are set). You’ll earn accelerators in months where you produced more qualified demos, and those accelerators will apply to all closed/won opportunities in that month.
The monthly accelerators are as follows:
The graph below shows you the compensation reflecting from a 500 MRR deal (which is about our average deal size):Â

4. Quota and Standard: The expectation is that you will personally schedule 40 held, qualified demos each month. Qualified demos are prospects/accounts who are not Sisu clients and match our ideal customer profile (ICP). While we would love to see you achieve Stretch and Grit goals consistently, you will be considered a great asset to the team as you hit Quota consistently.
Separate from Quota is the Standard for this role. We define Standard as the minimum level of performance the company can tolerate for continued employment.
There are two main standards for SDRs once fully ramped:
1. Demos Scheduled & Held: 30 qualified demos held/month OR within 20% of the top producing SDR in a given month (if you meet either of these, you are meeting standard). If you fall below this standard in any given month, you will be put on notice. If you fall below this standard in consecutive months, you will be let go.
2. Speed to Lead: A sub 5-minute Business-Hour Speed to Call (BHS2C) on leads/accounts distributed to you by the marketing team. With leads being a vital resource to the company, this is monitored weekly. If you fall under this standard in a given week, you will be put on notice. If you fall below this standard in consecutive weeks, you will be let go.
a. You may request to be taken off of lead flow to accommodate your schedule, but if you are on lead flow, you are expected to take special care of the leads you are given.
b. Special exceptions will be made if there is an exceptional lead flow at a given period of time, i.e. 100 leads suddenly sign up for a webinar within 5 minutes of each other—however, it is your responsibility to stay on top of this and proactively point it out to leadership.
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c. Business Hour Speed to Call starts counting from the time you receive the lead, but it only counts during SDR team business hours.
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i. If you received a lead at 10:00 AM during business hours, and called it at 10:02 AM during business hours, your BHS2C would be 2 minutes.
ii. If you received a lead at 2:00 AM (outside of business hours) and called it at 9:05 AM the next day, your BHS2C would be 5 minutes.
iii. If you call a lead outside of business hours, your BHS2C will be logged as 1 second.Â
5. Quota Relief: At a lot of companies, unlimited paid time off is lackluster. It’s just a way to get employees to take less. That’s why, at Sisu, in addition to Unlimited Paid Time Off, we set the expectation that you should take at least 15 days each year and still be able to reach your goals. We back up this expectation with our Quota Relief Policy. If you take a day off, you can focus on recharging that day without stressing about missing your number. You’ll receive credit towards your quota based on your average daily production over the last 3 months, for up to 5 days each month and 15 total days throughout the year. You cannot request and receive quota relief in the same month. In such scenarios, the relief would be applied the following month.
5.1 Ramping: Ramping is a period where team members are learning and are not subject to carry a full quota/standard for production for a short period of time. During ramping, you are not expected to carry a full quota. It’s a time to learn the ropes. The best way to take advantage of ramping, however, is to act like it’s not there.
You’ll ramp through your first 3 full months with the company. So, for example, if your start date is September 15, Month 1 would be October and Month 4 (where you’ll be expected to carry a full quota) would be February.
Team members who go on parental leave or any other approved leave from the company will have two full months of ramping upon their return, and will be paid on any invoices during that period (and during their leave itself) as if they had hit quota in that month.
All deals that you close during ramping will be paid at Quota commission rates (unless, of course, you achieve a higher level in that month)—so take advantage of ramping and close some deals!
6. Performance measurement and commission payment timing: Performance to Quota will be evaluated on the 20th of the following month. This allows our clients to add users and upgrade plans, which will positively affect your performance percentage to plan. It will also ensure that any accounts that do not last at least 20 days in an “active” state are not counted towards plan attainment. Commission payments will be paid following the receipt of payment from the customer and only upon the approval of the VP of Revenue. Commission payments will be made two payroll cycles after the close of the month. So, for example, September performance would be evaluated on October 20, and September commissions would be paid on November 5. For tax purposes you may request or the CFO may recommend that the commission payment is paid as a separate payment, still during the regular payroll cycle.
7. Commission reporting: You and the VP of Revenue will have access to reporting to view and determine your assigned monthly total sales and commission accrued and paid.
8. Separation: In the event of separation/termination of employment from Sisu, commission payments will continue to be the financial obligation of Sisu for a period of 90 days after your date of separation.
9. Plan subject to change: Plans described herein are subject to change.