SDR/AE Prospecting & Lead Management Process?

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Marketing “oldie” but SDR/AE process newbie here. I’m working on re-vamping our lead management process and am wondering if anyone out there would be willing to share their advice and/or how they do it. Here’s some context:

We’re a super small team. We outsource SDRs. Our in-house AEs are expected to do their own prospecting. As in, they’re expected to be hunters and anything that comes from SDRs/marketing is gravy. We’re using HubSpot sales & marketing hubs (professional level on both). We’re not necessarily doing enterprise sales here, we mainly sell into small/mid-sized public/non-profit orgs, but looking to move upstream + scale more efficiently (which is part of the reason for needing the re-org).

Currently, our lead management set-up is super simple. All contacts, no matter what stage, are assigned to the AE based on states in their territory.

From a marketing perspective, contacts are segmented and worked based on lifecycle stage and/or different content/email/online engagement signals. Basically anything that’s not an active oppty is sent over to SDRs (outsourced, more on that later) to try to set meetings.

AEs are expected to prospect on their own but are more or less left up to their own devices regarding who to reach out to, when, how, etc. They do get notifications when one of their assigned contacts lands on specific “high intent” pages on the website, downloads content, etc. Most will follow up with those contacts, but usually pretty poorly/generically.

I’ve very recently taken the SDR function over to marketing from sales. I have one person on staff who came over from sales to marketing as part of this transition who is effectively an SDR manager in charge of managing the outsourced SDR team. The outsourced SDR team is local (not like telemarketing from the Philippines or anything like that—they’re truly SDRs). It’s a pretty high-performing vendor that we’ve been working with on and off for a while and overall we’re happy with them (I can share info with anyone who is interested if you want).

Additionally, SDR manager is also going to start being in charge of basically a strategic account development role themselves. So, working with AEs to develop a strategic accounts list and start going after those accounts very specifically, with the expectation of doing their own prospecting, emailing, calling, etc. to book meetings and open opptys with.

OK, so my main question is: Is anyone willing to share how they assign/segment their contacts between SDRs and AEs, specifically where AEs are expected to be prospecting heavily, so we’re not burning out contacts?

Additional/related questions: Do you only assign a certain segment to AEs and, if so, how do you determine who gets assigned? What accounts and/or contacts are your AEs expected to prospect into vs. SDRs? At what point in the process do you make the ownership switch from SDR to AE? What happens when a contact no-shows a meeting—is it SDR or AE that is responsible for follow-up (or does it depend on the account)?

Do you use any sort of process where an AE can “check out” accounts/contacts for their own prospecting or do they only get what you give them based on your assignment criteria?

I’ve read a bunch of books, articles, etc. on the idea behind SDR & AE relationships, but few discuss it in the context of when AEs are also expected to prospect (though, nearly everyone seems to agree that AEs should be doing at least some prospecting). Any practical/real-world examples and processes are greatly appreciated for this newbie. Thanks!

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Hi @ktfritchen

Thank you for reaching out and for all that details!

I want to tag some of our experts here - @Josh @jolle @coldrickjack do you have any thoughts to share with @ktfritchen on this?

Thank you!

Best

Tiphaine

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Thanks for the mention, @TitiCuisset!

And excellent questions and framing, @ktfritchen!

So, I am not in a sales position and have never led a sales team, but I’ve been in the agency space for a while and have seen a bunch of approaches. I also love process and team alignment. I don’t know if I can answer all of your questions (and I’m sure you have unique relationships and situations in your company), but I’m going to share what I would do if I were in your shoes!

From what I’ve seen, SDRs are typically responsible for prospecting, outreach, and appointment setting. AEs take it from there, get it into the pipeline, and (hopefully) close it. At the same time, you should have some support from marketing:

  • Automated nurturing emails from marketing that educate leads and encourage them to take the next step (downloading an eBook, scheduling a meeting, whatever offer is relevant to their journey stage)
  • Follow-up emails for meetings by outcome
  • Follow-up emails for stuck deals in the pipeline
  • Lead generation campaigns to feed BDRs and AEs

Leads are typically distributed geographically by territory, with SDRs owning the “earlier” funnel stages (basically pre-appointment) and AEs taking over once a lead has been warmed up (appointment scheduled) or if the lead is a target account. Since your SDRs are not in-house, their job should be getting cold and lukewarm leads to talk with your AEs (with the help of marketing of course). Since your AEs are the closest ones to the business, the majority of their time should be spent working the qualified leads handed to them from SDRs/marketing. There will of course be time spent servicing clients and prospecting target accounts, but they should have plenty to work in the pipeline.

If you’re burning through leads so quickly that you need both BDRs and AEs to prospect, that makes me wonder what your qualification process looks like. Are leads actually ready to talk to you? You mentioned that AEs tend to reach out generically, so that’s probably doing more harm than good. And what happens to leads thare are unresponsive? Are they nurtured and followed up with regularly, or are they chilling in your CRM? I’m not sure how much marketing automation you have in place, but if any of these sound like issues you’re having, it would be worth exploring how you could optimize your lead intake and nurturing process.

That’s not what you’re asking though, so I’ll assume everything’s good there (just wanted to call it out in case it’s helpful)!

In terms of segmentation, SDRs would get cold/lukewarm leads and AEs would focus on generating leads within their target accounts. Leads could be assigned by territory or evenly rotated to the team (there’s a cool lead rotation feature in HubSpot workflows that does a great job of this). SDRs book meetings and AEs take it from there.

If the lead no-shows or cancels, it’s on the SDR to reschedule (unless the AE is the one who originally scheduled the meeting). That’s what they’re the best at doing, so they should continue owning it. And HubSpot should be set up very intentionally so that the right tasks, reminders, and automation are in place.

Of course, if you see a big name come through the SDR pile, it’s totally fair to pass that to an AE to work personally as long as the outreach is personalized to that account. If the AE is going to use the same generic language as with any other outreach, you may be better off sending them through the SDR! I don’t know if it would necessarily be fair for an AE to cherry pick leads, but I do think it would be fair for someone (like your SDR manager) to screen SDR leads and identify the “VIP” ones that should immediately be passed to the AE team.

I say all of this not knowing how your SDRs and AEs are compensated, what kind of personalities you’re dealing with, how easily your team will adopt new processes, and what your sales-marketing alignment looks like. It goes without saying (and you’ve probably already done this), but talk with your SDRs, AEs, and marketing team. Figure out:

  • What’s working the best at getting leads to book meetings and proceed through the pipeline
  • What messaging, content, and other resources are the best at answering questions and addressing concerns
  • What lead sources are consistently producing the most qualified leads
  • What emails/calls/texts your best SDRs and AEs are using

I think your internal conversations will tell you a ton about what works best for your customers and your team so you can divvy up responsibilities and the lead pool from there.

Hopefully this was helpful! Looking forward to hearing thoughts from other users!

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This is why observation skills are critical.
great write-up mind if I share it?

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I understand that .xslx files are capatable with hubspot but i cannot upload mine for some reason. I dont know how to edit an excel word document to fit the criteria of the importing process.

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you must have solved this by now but if not.

Upload to HubSpot

  1. Go to Contacts > Import.
  2. Select Start an import.
  3. Either choose File from computer or Opt out list.
  4. Click next and choose whether you have multiple files or not.
  5. Select One object or Multiple objects.
  6. Choose the object you want to import.
  7. Attach your file.
    How do I import data into HubSpot?
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Hi @ktfritchen,

Revamping your SDR/AE lead management process when AEs are prospecting too can definitely be tricky. What I’ve seen work in similar setups is to start by defining clear boundaries for who works which contacts. For example, you might let SDRs own net new leads (inbound or cold outreach) and no-show follow-ups, while AEs prospect into strategic accounts or high-value targets you assign to them. That way, you avoid overlap and don’t burn out your contact database.
Since you’re using HubSpot, you can set up workflows that assign contacts based on lifecycle stage, intent signals, or territory. Some teams also use lead routing tools like LeadAngel or LeanData when they want more flexibility or account-based logic. If AEs are “checking out” accounts to prospect, it helps to have a system (even a simple shared sheet or report) where they can mark what they’re working so SDRs don’t hit the same accounts at the same time.
On ownership handoff, typically, SDRs stay on no-show follow-up because they’re still trying to book that first real meeting. But if the account is strategic or already showing strong intent, you might have the AE step in sooner.
The key is to map out these rules clearly, write them down, and review them with both teams so everyone’s on the same page.

I hope this answer will help you resolve your issue!

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This is a really common challenge when AEs are still expected to prospect while SDRs are also in play. A big part of the problem usually comes down to ownership and clarity—who should work what, and when.

One thing that can really help here is setting up a proper lead routing process. HubSpot has some native tools for this, but once you start mixing SDR prospecting, AE self-sourcing, and marketing-generated leads, it can get messy pretty quickly. That’s where dedicated lead routing tools come in.

Tools like LeadAngel or LeanData can plug into your CRM and handle things like:

  • Assigning leads automatically based on territory, account lists, or intent signals
  • Making sure SDRs and AEs aren’t stepping on each other’s toes
  • Matching leads to the right accounts so you’re not burning contacts with duplicate outreach
  • Defining that clean handoff point between SDR and AE

Even if your team is small, having that structure in place makes prospecting more consistent and helps avoid the “free-for-all” feeling. AEs can still prospect strategically into their accounts, while SDRs focus on inbound or marketing-generated leads, without losing track of who owns what.