Business Development Representative (BDR)
A business development representative (BDR) is a salesperson who finds and contacts new potential customers through outbound prospecting and books qualified meetings for account executives.
Also called: BDR, business development rep
Why it matters
BDRs create pipeline that would not arrive on its own. They build target lists, research accounts, and run multichannel outreach by email, phone and LinkedIn to start conversations with buyers who have not raised their hand. Their work is usually measured by meetings held and opportunities accepted by the sales team, not by closed revenue.
The line between BDR and SDR depends on the company. A common split gives SDRs inbound leads and BDRs outbound prospecting, but many teams use the titles interchangeably. Both differ from an account executive, who runs discovery, demos and negotiation after the meeting is booked, and owns the deal until it closes.
Example
A logistics software company assigns a BDR to mid-sized manufacturers in the Midwest. She builds a list of 200 companies, finds the operations directors, and runs a sequence of emails, calls and LinkedIn messages that reference each plant's shipping volume. Each week she books several first meetings and passes them to the regional account executive.
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