When to hire your first SDR for a field team
Most field orgs hire an SDR too early, too late, or for the wrong reason. Here's the short version of when it's actually time.
Field reps are expensive. SDRs are cheap. So the temptation is to hire an SDR to "feed" the field reps. Sometimes this works. Usually it doesn't, because the average SDR has never seen the territory they're prospecting into.
The wrong reason to hire an SDR
"Our reps aren't prospecting enough." That's a rep problem, an incentive problem, or a territory problem. Hiring an SDR to plug the gap gives you a cold call factory disconnected from field reality.
The right reason
Your reps are out of capacity. They're running ten to fifteen meetings a week and turning away inbound leads because there's no time to qualify them. At this point an SDR earns their seat — not by cold-prospecting but by handling inbound, scheduling, and pre-visit research.
What the first SDR should actually do
First year: handle every inbound lead, qualify it, book a meeting on the nearest rep's calendar that aligns with their existing route.
Pre-visit research: pull order history, account context, open issues. The rep walks in already informed.
Follow-up admin: send recap emails, confirm next-step meetings, track the paperwork until signature.
If the SDR wants to graduate to outbound prospecting, that's a year-two conversation after they understand the territory.
The anti-pattern
A 22-year-old with a headset, sitting in a different state, calling a list of companies the field reps have never heard of. Three months in, the field reps are annoyed by the "leads" the SDR generates. The SDR is annoyed that nobody takes their meetings. You pay everyone to be frustrated. Don't do this.