An Overview Of Confusing Tech Sales Job Titles Like AE And SDR
Tech sales job titles can be confusing.
Like, what’s with all the acronyms?
SDR, BDR, ADR …
AE, ISR …
Here’s a list of the most common tech sales jobs:
| Title | Acronym | Type |
| Sales Development Representative | SDR | Pre-sale |
| Business Development Representative | BDR | Pre-sale |
| Account Development Representative | ADR | Pre-sale |
| Account Executive | AE | Selling |
| Inside Sales Rep | ISR | Selling |
| Customer Service / Support / Success | CS | Post-sale |
| Account Management | AM | Post-sale |
Now you probably have even more questions …
- Which of those tech sales jobs are entry level?
- What’s the difference between SDRs and AEs?
- What do “pre-sale” and “post-sale” mean?
Don’t worry! We’ll answer all that and more in this post.
Pre-sale job titles
Pre-sale roles (SDR, BDR, ADR) are responsible for generating new leads and opportunities—qualifying inbound leads, making outbound cold calls, and sending mass outbound email campaigns.
SDR, BDR, and ADR are all similar (ADR is less commonly used). These are the typical entry-level roles in tech sales.
The main responsibility of these roles is to move leads through the sales pipeline toward other members of the sales team that have more “closing” experience (i.e., AEs).
This is achieved by two main tasks:
- Qualifying inbound marketing leads
- Prospecting for outbound leads
Some say SDRs are tasked with inbound qualifying and BDRs are tasked with outbound prospecting, and some say it’s the other way around. It’s an ongoing debate. Read more about that here. But in any case, SDRs and BDRs are not responsible for closing deals.
Selling job titles
Selling roles (AE, ISR) are responsible for doing the actual selling—pitching and closing new business, following up on past pitched accounts, getting contracts signed, and collecting credit cards and bank accounts.
Now, remember we said that SDRs and BDRs are sending qualified leads to AEs (members of the sales team that have “closing” experience), and therefore AE seems like a more senior role.
In most cases, this is true. But not always. It depends on the deal size.
At companies with smaller deal sizes (e.g., companies with SMB clientele, as opposed to Enterprise clientele), there are sometimes entry-level AE positions available. In a situation like this, the AE manages the full sales cycle from prospecting to closing.
Smaller deal size means more transactions. If you’re only catching minnows, you’re going to have to dip your line in the water a lot more often to catch enough to feed the village. On the other hand, if you’re catching whales, you might only need to catch one or two per year.
More transactions means more selling conversations and more selling conversations means more AEs. In a lot of cases, the unit economics don’t make sense to hire SDRs or BDRs for these AEs, so the AEs end up being responsible for their own prospecting and qualifying.
This is a great way to start your tech sales career, as you would be able to gain closing experience right out of the gate.
Most typically, however, the AE position is a senior role reserved for sales professionals with closing experience and in-depth knowledge of the product and industry.
ISR is a less common job title in tech sales and just generally means you’ll be doing “inside” sales (phone and email) as opposed to “outside” sales (traveling, door-to-door).
Post-sale job titles
Post-sale roles (CS, AM) are responsible for managing accounts after the sale is made—resolving customer issues, processing renewals, and upselling.
After the deal is closed, new customers still need help through the onboarding process. And the issues don’t stop after onboarding—missed payments, cancellations, delayed deliveries, user errors, etc.
CS and AM are essential parts of the sales team that allow AEs to hand off customer service issues so that they can focus on closing more new business. Some AMs are also responsible for bringing in new revenue by upselling current customers.
Click here to read more about the difference between Account Manager and Account Executive.
Summary
The responsibilities assigned to each of these tech sales job titles are not always consistent across companies (similar to the situation with SDR vs. BDR mentioned above).
In order to make sure you’re on the same page in terms of the responsibilities that go along with each job title, here are some questions that you can ask the company:
- How does the position compare to the same position at other companies?
- How does the company get new leads?
- Are new leads coming from inbound or outbound?
- Do AEs prospect for their own leads?
- What’s the relationship between SDRs and AEs in your organization?
- What’s the average deal size?
- How long is the average sales cycle?
It might not seem important, but the job title you have displayed on your resume and LinkedIn profile sends a message to the tech sales labor market about your seniority level, experience, and skillset.
If you pick the wrong title, you might be passed on by recruiters. So make sure you choose the tech sales job title above that aligns with your expectations and career goals.
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