What Is a BDR? Business Development Representative Explained

A Business Development Representative (BDR) is a sales professional responsible for generating new business opportunities through outbound prospecting. BDRs are typically the first people in the sales process - they identify potential customers, reach out cold, and qualify them before passing them to Account Executives (AEs) to close.

BDR vs SDR: What's the Difference?

The terms BDR and SDR are often used interchangeably, but in many companies they have distinct meanings:

	BDR	SDR
Focus	Outbound (cold prospecting)	Inbound (qualifying warm leads)
Leads source	Self-generated (LinkedIn, Apollo, etc.)	Marketing-generated (content, ads, events)
Difficulty	Higher - cold outreach from scratch	Lower - leads already showed interest
Comp	Slightly higher base	Slightly lower base

In practice, many German startups use the two titles interchangeably - especially at early-stage companies where one person does both inbound and outbound.

What Does a BDR Actually Do Day-to-Day?

A typical BDR day at a Berlin or Munich startup looks like:

• Morning: Research and build a prospect list (LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo.io, company websites)
• Mid-morning: Send personalised outreach emails (Lemlist, Outreach, HubSpot Sequences)
• Afternoon: Follow up on previous outreach, LinkedIn connection requests and messages
• End of day: Cold calls (phone prospecting is growing again in German B2B)
• Throughout: Log all activity in CRM (usually HubSpot or Salesforce)

Key Metrics BDRs Are Measured On

• Activities per day - typically 40–80 touches (emails + calls + LinkedIn)
• Response rate - industry average is 5–15% for cold outreach
• Meetings booked - usually 8–20 per month depending on target market
• SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads) - meetings that convert to real pipeline
• Pipeline generated - total value of opportunities BDR sourced

How Much Do BDRs Earn in Germany?

In Berlin: €33,000–€55,000 base + €10,000–€25,000 variable = €43,000–€80,000 OTE In Munich: €38,000–€60,000 base + €12,000–€28,000 variable = €50,000–€88,000 OTE

How to Become a BDR in Germany

No specific degree is required. What matters:

1. Communication skills - written and verbal, ideally in both German and English
2. Resilience - BDRs face rejection constantly; it's part of the job
3. Tech fluency - comfort with CRM, email tools, LinkedIn
4. Curiosity - genuine interest in the product and the customer's problems

Most BDR roles in Berlin and Munich are open to career changers and recent graduates. A great cover letter and a mock cold email demonstrating your writing style will get you further than a degree.

Ready to start your BDR career? GENZ4GTM specialises in placing early-career GTM talent at Germany's best startups. Apply now.