Have at least a potential of 20+ users (to ensure the sales reps were looking for large enough opportunities); Have no fundamental “red flags” or deal-breakers; The Sales Development Rep clearly generated (no poaching from “inbound” leads or other SDRs). You must have clear guidelines and rules for reps to follow to help them ensure they are generating quality leads that are worth the company’s time. An all too common mistake is letting the pressure of “Just get leads in!” stop reps from disqualifying small deals that are not profitable enough. There is an opportunity cost to small deals—they waste time and resources that could be spent looking for or working on larger ones. When An SDR Should Pass An Opportunity To An AE Fundamentally, when the Sales Development Rep feels it is worth the Account Executive’s time, that the Account Executive would want to engage this deal, they pass the opportunity over. There were three guidelines for this: 1. Does the company fit our ideal client profile? 2. Are we speaking with someone with influence or power? 3. Is there a clear interest in a next step, usually in the form of a scoping or discovery call with an Account Executive? The opportunity is created and passed to the Account Executive still as a “Stage 1: New Prospect” opportunity. Even when passed to the Account Executive, it is not upgraded yet, and the Sales Development Rep is not compensated for it yet —not until it is re-qualified by the Account Executive. How To Pass An Opportunity Smoothly Best: Hot-transfer the lead to the salesperson. Okay: Schedule a time on the calendars of your sales rep and the new lead