What Is a BDR? Business Development Representative Explained

A Business Development Representative (BDR) generates new business through outbound prospecting. BDRs usually come first in the sales process: they identify potential customers, reach out cold and qualify them before handing them to Account Executives (AEs) to close.

BDR vs SDR: What's the Difference?

Plenty of people use BDR and SDR interchangeably, but many companies separate them:

	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 early-stage companies where one person handles inbound and outbound.

What Does a BDR 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 the 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: you hear no all day, and that's part of the job
3. Tech fluency: comfort with CRM, email tools, LinkedIn
4. Curiosity: 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 strong cover letter and a mock cold email that shows how you write 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.