Inbound Capacity Planning for SDR Teams
We get often the question of how much Inbound SDR Teams can actually do. And this is a really good question. Capacity planning for SDR but also BDR Teams is crucial for your success as a leader and also for the success of your team. The following blog post summarizes a capacity planning model for inbound. For inbound, the capacity planning relies on the number of inbound leads, for outbound the capacity planning relies on the number of outbound campaigns that are executed. Learn here more about the inbound capacity planning.
Assumptions
Realistic Case: 60 Inbound Leads per week (= 12 leads per day, assuming including phone number and leads in the industry you can sell into)
Every lead should get multiple touches. I would recommend using the Agoge Sequence.
Let's calculate this through:
Areas of Calculation
1) Initial Outreach and Initial Calling
- 1x Emails (only first step manual, every other step automated)
- 1x LinkedIn connection
- 1x Call attempt
= 60 new leads per week without any responses
Every lead including email, LinkedIn, calling takes at least 10min to research, prospect, message, call preparation and calling if your SDR is already experienced, got onboarded correctly and knows the tools and processes
Total of 600min or 10h for initial outreach (= 60 leads * 10min)
2) Email Responses due to email sequences
-> assuming 20% response rate out of the Agoge Sequence = 48 responses to handle every week. Every response needs 10min work and back and worth as well as calling the lead again and having ideally a conversation
Total of 480min or 8h for responses and calls after responses (= 240 emails * 20% response rate * 10min each)
3) Follow Up LinkedIn Messages
- 4x LinkedIn (assuming everything manual)
Every LinkedIn message takes at least 5min to research, prospect, message, pick up the old conversation etc. Assuming the response rate is also 20%.
Total of 240min or 4h for LinkedIn follow up messages (60 connections every week * 20% = 12 messages by 3 messages over time = 36 messages per week)
4) Follow Up Calls and successful connected Calls
- 4x Calls per lead over the inbound process (every call manual)
240 call attempts per week, each call takes 1min to prep and execute.
240min or 4h for Call Attempts (1min per call attempt * 4 calls * 60 leads)
Assuming 24 calls get connected for a conversation (= 10%, rather conservative calculation). A conversation takes ideally at least 5-10 min to book a formal follow up meeting.
Additional 240min or 4h for real conversations with leads.
5) Scheduled Qualification Meetings
Out of the 60 leads, at least 7% will be scheduled meetings and real demo calls.
Total of 240min or 4h for qualified lead meetings.
Total Inbound Capacity
600min or 10h for 1) Initial outreach and initial calling.
480min or 8h for 2) Email responses due to email sequences.
240min or 4h for 3) Follow up with LinkedIn messages.
240min or 4h for 4) Call attempts.
240min or 4h for 4) Successfully connected calls.
240min or 4h for 5) scheduled lead qualification meetings
240min or 4h for Admin work
2,280min or 38h for Inbound SDR handling 60 Leads
Summary
Every inbound SDR can handle between 50-100 leads depending on your industry and the complexity of your qualification requirements and the type of your buyers. I would recommend having the absolute maximum at 100 leads per inbound SDR per week. But pls remember, every number above 60 leads per week per inbound SDR will decrease the quality of your outreaches and the quality of your calls.
Inbound Capacity Calculator:
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