Putting your most experienced sales people on lead generation/business development

If your inside sales team is like most, then the mantra is to hire BDRs out of college and build a program to promote from within…  Terms like “pound the phones” are often used to describe the role of a true outbound business development professional.  At the Silicon Valley Chapter meeting for the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals in Los Gatos, CA today, that methodology was challenged and put to the test.  In fact, out of 45+ attendees today, a good 1/3rd raised their hand to say that they have changed their model to put more experienced sales professionals on the up-front lead qualification than they had traditionally.

Intuitively it makes sense, doesn’t it, that you’d want someone who can handle objections and “sell” business value and a reason for the meeting than someone trying to learn business 101?  As a sales professional, it makes sense to screen prospects “in” vs. screening them out, right?

If you have thoughts and ideas on this subject, please post to this blog.  There are certainly pros and cons to both models.