Understanding different sales roles

Sales roles in teams of 20–50: overview

Understanding the different sales roles is essential for optimizing sales strategies and ensuring seamless collaboration within teams of 20-50 people. 

In this blog post we'll explore four key sales roles:

• Sales Development Representative (SDR)
• Business Development Representative (BDR), 
• Account Executive (AE), and 
• Account Manager (AM).

Explaining their responsibilities and how they contribute to business success.

👉🏼 Try folk now to centralize role-based pipelines and ensure SDR-to-AE handoffs never slip.

What is a Sales Development Representative (SDR)?

SDRs serve as the first point of contact for potential clients, focusing primarily on lead generation and qualification. Their role is to identify promising prospects and pass them on to the sales team for further engagement.

Primary responsibilities

• Conducting cold outreach via email and phone calls.
• Evaluating inbound and outbound leads to determine fit.
• Scheduling meetings between prospects and Account Executives.

Impact on business growth

SDRs ensure a steady stream of qualified leads, helping Account Executives concentrate on closing deals rather than sourcing new prospects. For medium-sized sales teams managing multiple prospects, folk CRM provides the perfect solution to track lead qualification rates and streamline the handoff process between SDRs and AEs. Their KPIs include number of outbound calls/emails made, lead qualification rate, number of meetings booked and conversion rate of qualified leads to opportunities.

What is a Business Development Representative (BDR)?

BDRs specialize in identifying strategic opportunities, often working on outbound sales and partnership development to expand the company's reach.

Primary responsibilities

• Initiating conversations with high-value prospects.
• Collaborating with marketing teams to refine target personas.
• Exploring partnerships that align with long-term business growth.

Impact on business growth

By targeting high-value opportunities, BDRs help businesses expand into new markets and strengthen their competitive edge. Their KPIs include number of high-value prospects engaged, number of strategic partnerships identified, outreach response rates, revenue influenced through partnerships.

What is an Account Executive (AE)?

AEs take over once leads have been qualified, focusing on closing deals and converting prospects into paying customers.

Primary responsibilities

• Conducting product demonstrations and sales meetings.
• Handling negotiations and addressing customer concerns.
• Managing the full sales cycle to secure new clients.

Impact on business growth

AEs play a crucial role in revenue generation by effectively turning prospects into long-term customers through strategic selling techniques. Their KPIs include the number of deals closed, average deal size, sales cycle length, win rate percentage.

What is an Account Manager (AM)?

After a sale is completed, AMs step in to nurture client relationships, ensuring continued satisfaction and identifying opportunities for expansion. 

Primary responsibilities

• Maintaining strong relationships with existing customers.
• Identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
• Acting as the main point of contact for client inquiries and support.

Impact on business growth

By focusing on customer retention and expansion, AMs contribute to sustained revenue growth and long-term business success. Their KPIs include customer retention rate, net revenue retention, number of upsell/cross-sell opportunities closed and customer satisfaction scores (CSAT or NPS).

Why these roles are essential in any sales team

A well-balanced sales team ensures that businesses can effectively attract, convert, and retain customers. Here's why each role is vital:

• SDRs drive initial prospecting efforts, keeping the pipeline filled with potential clients,
• BDRs take a strategic approach to outbound sales and partnerships, identifying high-value opportunities,
• AEs close deals and bring revenue into the business, ensuring a strong financial foundation,
• AMs sustain long-term relationships, increasing customer lifetime value and reducing churn.

How to structure a high-performing sales team

To maximize sales efficiency, businesses should structure their sales team based on their unique needs and market demands. For sales managers overseeing teams of 20-50 people, folk CRM offers the ideal platform to coordinate these different roles while maintaining visibility across the entire sales process. Some key factors to consider include:

• The complexity of the product or service being sold,
• The length of the sales cycle,
• The target audience and customer buying behavior,
• The size of the sales team and available resources.

The collaborative sales process

When these roles work together, they create a seamless customer experience from first contact to long-term retention, ultimately leading to business growth and stability. A collaborative process might look like the this:

• SDRs and BDRs identify and qualify leads.
• AEs convert these leads into paying customers.
• AMs ensure long-term satisfaction and continued business growth.

This way you can create a seamless workflow that maximizes revenue potential. 

Common sales role misconceptions

As your team collaborates more closely together, make sure you avoid these common misconceptions. 

• SDR vs. BDR: While both generate leads, BDRs focus on strategic outbound sales.
• AE vs. AM: AEs handle new client acquisition, while AMs focus on ongoing relationships.
• Can one person do multiple roles? The short answer is yes, but while startups may consolidate roles, you may find that specialized functions can increase efficiency in larger organizations.

Best practices for sales teams

The best sales leaders incentivize their teams without tying rewards directly to conversion rate goals. Instead, they focus on growth, feedback, and overall performance. For medium-sized sales teams, folk CRM enables sales managers to implement these best practices by providing clear visibility into each role's contribution to overall team success.

• Align sales roles with overall business objectives.
• Measure success based on meaningful outcomes rather than vanity metrics.
• Ensure collaboration between roles to ensure a seamless customer journey.

Conclusion

Understanding and defining each sales role is essential to building a successful sales team. By ensuring clear responsibilities and fostering collaboration, businesses can improve their sales pipeline, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive sustainable growth.

👉🏼 Try folk now to track role-specific KPIs for SDRs, BDRs, AEs, and AMs and improve team performance.

More resources

• What is a SDR in sales (Sales Development Representative)?
• Top 9 B2B lead generation techniques for 2025
• Sales metrics 101: 17 key sales metrics to follow in 2025

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FAQ

What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR?

SDRs qualify leads and book meetings for AEs. BDRs drive strategic outbound and partnerships to open high‑value opportunities. SDRs focus on fit and readiness; BDRs focus on market expansion.

What is the difference between an Account Executive and an Account Manager?

AEs run demos, manage the sales cycle, negotiate, and close new business. AMs support existing customers, drive adoption, and grow accounts through upsell and cross‑sell, focusing on retention and expansion.

How should a sales team of 20–50 be structured?

Define SDR, BDR, AE, and AM roles across the funnel; set clear SLAs and handoff criteria; align headcount to deal size and cycle length; centralize pipeline and KPIs in a CRM like folk for visibility and collaboration.

What KPIs should SDRs, BDRs, AEs, and AMs track?

SDR: activities, qualification rate, meetings. BDR: high‑value engagements, partnerships, reply rate. AE: win rate, avg deal size, cycle length. AM: retention, NRR, upsell/cross‑sell.