Effective SDR Onboarding Plan: Reply’s 2-Month Roadmap for 2025

Effective SDR Onboarding Plan: Reply’s 2-Month Roadmap for 2025

Back when I started my career as an SDR, no one bothered to explain what my role actually was. I was told to find potential users for our product — without any clear ICP, best practices, playbooks, or templates.

As a result, it took me around a year (and a great deal of trial and error) to figure it all out on my own. That’s why, as an SDR leader, I always offer as much support and resources as possible to help our new hires with smooth and quick onboarding.

Last year, we added 5 new SDRs to our team at Reply using our own onboarding process we created and polished along the way. And I would like to share some of our best practices (plus a detailed action plan) with you, fellow SDR leaders. So, let’s dive right in.

Why is onboarding so important in sales development?

In the world of sales, the role of an SDR is often considered an entry-level position. As a result, most newbie sales reps have little to no experience and understanding of sales in general. They require professional training and continuous coaching to achieve the hoped-for results.

According to The Bridge Group Report, the average SDR ramp-up time is 3.1 months. The average tenure, on the other hand, is just 1.8 years. This means your SDRs will only have around a year and a half to perform at their best. 

You might be wondering: What’s the point in spending so much time and effort on your employee ramp up? Wouldn’t it be better to cut the onboarding and try to get the most out of your new hire before they decide to leave?

That is a common — but very dangerous — fallacy.

First of all, you should consider employee training an investment with guaranteed ROI. A well-trained SDR who has all the necessary tools and resources at hand can easily outperform any other sales rep.

Proper onboarding can also significantly reduce the overall ramp-up time. As a result, your SDRs will become productive and reach the quota faster.

On top of that, your hires will also be more likely to stay with you longer if you help them improve and foster their professional growth. The same Bridge Group Report finds that proper training and development offered by the employer will keep 86% of millennials from leaving their current position.

Another common mistake is to think that onboarding is only required when hiring inexperienced SDRs. Even if you’re not new to sales development, every business is different, with its specific ICPs, sales processes, tools, and preferred tactics. 

Sure, the amount of time and training involved will be significantly different. But you will still have to familiarize your new hires with the product and target audience as well as break down the nuances of the existing processes and tools.

Key elements of a successful SDR onboarding process

Whether it’s a one-week crash course or a 3-month “advanced SDR studies” program, there are certain things that define a successful onboarding process. Here are some of the most important aspects of an effective SDR ramp-up.

Structure
An effective process is always well-planned and documented. Sure, you can adjust some details if needed, but the core should always remain intact. Having this solid foundation can help you build a consistent and scalable process for every one of your new team members. This will also be useful if there are other people involved in the process.

Feedback
Regular check-ins with your new hires are nonnegotiable. This is how you stay on the same page and keep track of the progress. Feedback, on the other hand, is often overlooked, especially if it’s the employee’s feedback concerning your process. When onboarding your SDRs, give AND ask for honest feedback regularly and act upon it as you move forward.

Mentorship
Telling the new hires what to do and how to do it is a losing tactic. A better approach would be to offer ongoing sales coaching while also offering some freedom to try and figure things out on their own. In this case, consider assigning peer mentors to coach the new hires to avoid their feeling pressured by senior management.

Resources
Personal guidance is important, but so is self-education. Give your SDRs some sort of knowledge base to refer to when they have questions or want to revisit the things you’ve covered during your coaching sessions. You can as well include some collateral reading resources for those who want to dig deeper. In this case, also make sure to give your employees enough time to do that.

Practice
You can coach your new hires on how to find and dial a prospect. You can even provide a ready-to-use script and have them memorize it verbatim. Yet, picking up a phone and talking to a real human is quite a different story. Let your SDRs apply their knowledge and sharpen their skills in practice early on. Sure, they will make mistakes. But it’s only practice that makes perfect, right?

Is remote onboarding any different?

Technology has enabled us to effectively collaborate, work, and learn, all while staying miles away from each other. Yet, onboarding typically requires closer contact between the SDRs and their mentors. It also might pose some extra challenges for you.

But there are a few things to make your remote onboarding as effective as in-person training:

  • Use video calls as much as possible. A quick text chat might seem more time-efficient, but it won’t give you an idea of how your trainee feels.
  • Have an extensive shared knowledge base always available to everyone so your SDRs can first try to find the answers on their own rather than asking for your help.
  • Invest in sales training tools, at least for things like call shadowing and conversation recordings.
  • Set measurable milestones and realistic goals to keep track of the employee’s progress at each step.

But most importantly, don’t try to micromanage your new hires. Allow them some space to get creative and show initiative. Being able to work autonomously without close supervision is a must for remote workspaces.

Moreover, if you have to ask or remind your new hire to do basic stuff once, it’s a bad sign. If you have to do that again, you’re probably wasting each other’s time.

Remote vs. in-person SDR onboarding: what’s the difference?

Alright, let’s break it down. Remote vs. in-person sales onboarding plan—it’s like the difference between watching a concert on a livestream and being in the crowd. 

Both can be epic, but the experience? Totally different vibes—here is the table to prove it:

Aspect In-person onboarding Remote onboarding
Interaction Instant feedback, casual chats by the coffee machine Scheduled check-ins, Slack messages, and Zoom calls
Learning style Over-the-shoulder coaching, team energy Self-paced videos, live Zoom sessions, task-based learning
Connection building Team lunches, desk-side chats Virtual happy hours, buddy systems
Flexibility Less flexible—location and schedule-bound Learn-anywhere-anytime freedom
Costs Travel, lodging, office space Tech tools, software subscriptions
Challenges Logistics-heavy, depends on shadowing Risk of isolation, harder to recreate organic moments
Best use case Ideal for bonding, fast feedback, and hands-on training Perfect for remote teams or globally dispersed SDRs

And let’s see in details.

The in-person magic

When you onboard SDRs in person, you’ve got the power of proximity on your side. 

Picture this: a new hire sitting next to a seasoned pro, overhearing their calls, picking up on subtle cues, and immediately asking, “Why’d you say that?” It’s instant feedback central. 

Plus, you can gather the whole squad in a room, role-play some cold calls, and let the collective energy do its thing. And let’s not forget the impromptu coffee chats that build camaraderie.

The downside? 

It’s logistically heavier. Not everyone can pack up and move for a job or show up to HQ for weeks. Also, in-person onboarding can sometimes over-rely on shadowing, which isn’t always the most structured approach.

The remote playbook

On the flip side, remote onboarding is like running SDR bootcamp in the cloud. With the right tools (and SDR onboarding checklist), you can design a structured, repeatable experience: think self-paced video modules, interactive Zoom training, and CRMs filled with bite-sized tasks to tackle. 

The big win here? Flexibility. Your new hire in Austin can learn at their pace, while your SDR in Berlin starts their day at a reasonable hour.

The challenge, though, is keeping the personal connection alive. 

It’s easy to feel like an SDR on a digital island, especially if your Slack messages don’t always get immediate responses. And yes, recreating those organic “overhearing a call” moments? 

Tough, but not impossible. (Pro tip: Record real-life sales calls and build a library of “greatest hits” for your team to learn from.)

Bridging the gap

Here’s the truth: the best SDR and BDR onboarding plan often mixes both worlds. If you can swing it, a hybrid approach works wonders. Maybe you fly your new SDRs in for a week of in-person bonding and foundational training, then transition them to remote learning. 

Or, if fully remote is your jam, amp up the connection factor. Schedule weekly 1:1s, organize virtual happy hours, and set up a buddy system to give new hires a go-to person for quick questions.

At the end of the day, the real difference between remote and in-person onboarding is the medium, not the mission. The goal is the same: give your SDRs the tools, confidence, and support they need to crush their targets—and maybe even have fun while they’re at it. 

Whether it’s over a conference room table or a Zoom call, effective onboarding is all about making them feel ready to rock.

The 2-month plan for effective SDR ramp-up

You might have all the resources in the world, but simply piling tons of information on your new hires won’t do any good. You have to break it down into easily-digestible chunks and put them into a logical order. That is where an SDR onboarding plan comes into play.

At Reply, we’ve developed our own process to help ramp up our new hires. The process covers the first 3 months at the company. Let’s briefly go through the key milestones and related action points (listed under ✅).

Reply’s 6-Week SDR Onboarding Plan

Growing your SDR team?

Struggling to get your new hires up to speed?

Follow this step-by-step plan to streamline the SDR onboarding process and help your employees ramp up their productivity in under 2 months.

Week 1 — Getting started

The first week of onboarding is completely dedicated to helping your new hires get acclimated, learn as much as possible about the role and company itself, and provide the required tools and resources for their future work. The process consists of the following steps: 

Important: We recommend wrapping up every day with a Q&A session and starting every new day with a brief recap of the previous day.

Day 1: Start with the intro call to get to know your new hire, then move on to explain the general company info, including values and beliefs, as well as the current team structure and roles. Provide access to company-wide as well as sales-specific tools.

  • ✅  Set up the required tools.
  • ✅  Create the email signature.
  • ✅  Meet the team (schedule quick 1-on-1 calls).

Day 2: Take a deeper dive into the team structure and the role of an SDR within the company. Walk through the CRM and explore the internal knowledge base. 

  • ✅  Go through the selected materials in the knowledge base.
  • ✅  Set up a LinkedIn profile and follow the required influencers.

Day 3: Get familiar with the key ideal customer profile and the types of buyer personas. Walk through the sales engagement platform (key features, entities, touchpoints) and the rest of the tech stack.

  • ✅  Generate one ICP using the provided resources.
  • ✅  Watch educational videos on SEP.
  • ✅  Go through the key sales tech categories (and 3-5 top tools in each one).

Day 4: Reiterate what your product is. Learn about the key competitors and product pricing.

  • ✅  Conduct in-depth competitor analysis.

Day 5: Have a weekly recap meeting. Explore additional products (if any). Introduce the new hires to the key meetings and their agenda. Talk about the current state of sales development and its future outlook.

Outbound sales, meet your match

From newbie SDRs to sales veterans, Reply.io makes cold outreach effortless and effective. Try it and crush your goals!

Let’s crush it!
sales onboarding plan

Common mistakes to avoid during SDR onboarding

Let’s be real: onboarding an SDR isn’t just about handing them a headset and a script. It’s about setting them up to thrive. But even with the best intentions, there are some classic pitfalls teams fall into. 

Let’s call them out so you can steer clear.

1. Throwing them into the deep end

You hire a new SDR, and on day two, you’re like, “Cool, here’s your lead list—start dialing!” Yikes. Yes, SDRs are supposed to be scrappy, but dropping them into the trenches without proper preparation is a surefire way to tank confidence.

Fix it: Build a ramp-up plan that eases them into the role. Start with shadowing calls, then role-playing, and finally, let them make those first dials with coaching on standby.

2. Overloading them with info

“Here’s everything about our product, sales process, CRM, personas, and tech stack. Oh, and don’t forget to memorize the company history!” SDRs aren’t sponges—they’re humans. 

Firehosing them with too much information upfront only leaves them overwhelmed and struggling to retain the important stuff.

Fix it: Break the onboarding into digestible chunks. Focus on the need-to-know first, like understanding the ICP (ideal customer profile), mastering key tools, and perfecting the pitch.

3. Skipping the personal connection

In a rush to get them productive, it’s easy to forget that SDRs are people first, employees second. If you don’t make an effort to connect personally, they’ll feel like just another cog in the sales machine. 

That’s a recipe for disengagement.

Fix it: Introduce them to the team, set up a buddy system, and make time for casual conversations. A Slack channel for memes? Highly encouraged.

4. Neglecting product training

Ever heard an SDR fumble through a product explanation on a call? It’s painful. If they don’t really understand what they’re selling, how can they convey confidence to a prospect?

Fix it: Run regular product training sessions. Use simple examples, give them hands-on experience (demos, trials, etc.), and quiz them with real-world scenarios.

5. Lack of feedback

Some managers think, “If they’re not making mistakes, they’re doing fine.” But SDRs are like plants—they need consistent feedback to grow. 

Without it, they’ll keep making the same errors, or worse, think they’re crushing it when they’re not.

Fix it: Schedule frequent 1:1s to review calls, celebrate wins, and provide constructive criticism. Feedback isn’t just about what to improve—it’s also about reinforcing what they’re doing right.

6. No clear goals

Telling your SDRs, “Just hit quota!” without breaking it down is like telling someone to “climb Everest” with no map. 

Vague expectations lead to frustration and missed targets.

Fix it: Set clear, achievable milestones for their first 30, 60, and 90 days. For example:

  • Week 1: Shadow 10 calls and practice objection handling.
  • Month 1: Book five meetings.
  • Month 2: Hit 50% of quota.

7. Underestimating culture

Onboarding isn’t just about teaching them what to do; it’s about showing them how things get done around here. If you skip the culture piece, they’ll struggle to fit in and align with your team’s vibe.

Fix it: Share your team’s values, norms, and quirks. Encourage them to participate in team activities, whether it’s a Friday wrap-up meeting or a virtual trivia night.

8. One-size-fits-all approach

No two SDRs are the same. 

Some are fresh out of college; others are switching careers. If your onboarding plan doesn’t adapt to their experience level, you’ll either bore them or leave them behind.

Fix it: Personalize their onboarding. Assess their starting point and tweak the plan to match—whether they need extra coaching or more advanced challenges.

How to measure if your SDR onboarding is working

So, you’ve spent time crafting the ultimate onboarding plan. Awesome! But how do you know if it’s actually, you know, working

Let’s talk about the metrics, milestones, and signals that show your SDR onboarding is on point (or if it needs a tune-up).

Metric What to Measure Why It Matters
Ramp-up speed – Time to first meeting booked

– Time to first deal contribution

– Time to 50% of quota

Shows how quickly SDRs are getting productive. Long ramp times might mean unclear training or goals.
Activity metrics – How many calls should an sdr make

– How many email should an sdr send

– Demos scheduled in the first month

Tracks effort levels. High activity = momentum, but balance quantity with quality.
Meeting-to-opportunity conversion rates – Ratio of meetings booked to qualified opportunities

– AE feedback on lead quality

Measures how well SDRs are qualifying leads and setting AEs up for success.
Knowledge retention – Quiz scores on product knowledge or sales techniques

– Role-play performance

Tests if SDRs are absorbing and applying what they’ve learned.
Feedback from new SDRs – Survey responses: “What helped most?”, “Where did you feel unprepared?”, etc.

– Informal check-ins

Offers direct insight into what’s working and what needs improvement.
Attrition rates – SDR retention at 3 and 6 months

– Exit interview feedback

High attrition can signal a need for better onboarding or clearer expectations.
Pipeline contribution – Qualified leads generated

– Dollar value of pipeline attributed to new SDRs

The ultimate measure of success: SDRs actively fueling the pipeline with high-quality leads.
Team feedback – Manager and AE feedback on new SDRs’ skills, knowledge, and team fit Gives a broader perspective on how well new SDRs are integrating and performing.

The best SDR onboarding doesn’t just check boxes—it drives results. If your ramp-up is quick, your team’s excited, and your new reps are crushing activity goals, you’re golden. And if not? Don’t sweat it. Use the data to refine your plan and keep iterating. Onboarding is a journey, not a destination.

Supercharge your SDR strategy

Reply.io empowers SDRs at every level with automation, personalization, and results that speak for themselves.

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What’s next: ramp up your SDR productivity

It’s no coincidence that we touch on personal productivity within the final stages of our SDR onboarding process. As a remote team, we put a lot of emphasis on our work efficiency, even more so when it comes to sales development. 

Getting caught up in the daily routine activities, SDRs might risk wasting around 41% of their time on tasks that aren’t even related to sales. And it’s your job as a team leader to help them optimize their efforts. 

For example, here are some of the tips and tools I am offering to our new hires to help them get up to speed.

  • Document your ideas. It’s so easy to forget them and get distracted. I recommend using Notion for this purpose. You can also use Airtable to store and organize more structured data (resources, templates, contacts, etc.)
  • Automate manual tasks. This might be as simple as auto-copying the selected text or taking better screenshots on Mac — routine activities like this might turn into the main productivity drain.
  • Organize your workspace. Tools like Workona or more complex “work OS” solutions like Slapdash can help you keep your virtual workspace in order and avoid switching back and forth between the apps to speed up your daily activities.

You can also encourage your team to try different time management techniques, e.g., time blocking. However, leave it up to them to choose how they want to manage their time. Unless there are some obvious performance issues, they can work at their own pace.

Wrapping up

Sales development is a very dynamic market. There are new trends, tools, techniques, and channels emerging every month. Taking that into account, I would recommend these two things to all sales development leaders:

  1. Review your onboarding process and educational materials every 6-9 months to keep them up to date.
  2. Build a culture of continuous learning within your team and encourage your SDRs to come up with creative ideas, share their knowledge, and improve their skills.

That’s how to build a solid foundation for scaling your team in the future.

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