From SDR to Senior Director: One Sales Leader’s 14-Year Salesforce Journey

Over a decade ago — back when Salesforce had 5,000 employees, just 7% of its size today — Rachel Winn joined the team as a Sales Development Representative (SDR). She helped qualify hundreds of chat, web, and phone inquiries, growing her sales skills ... and her career: soon after, she was promoted to Business Development Representative (BDR). Fast forward, and today Rachel is a leader of BDRs like she once was, helping them hone their craft and blaze their own Salesforce journey.

Learn more about her full-circle career journey, and her advice for prospective BDRs who are eager to break into technology Sales.

Learn more about our Sales Organization — and join our Talent Community today to stay connected to Salesforce.

Growing Together with Salesforce

Rachel started her Salesforce journey back in 2010. She quickly progressed in her career — moving to a BDR role before becoming an Account Executive on the Healthcare & Life Sciences team.

After nearly three years in that capacity, she took a leap of faith — transitioning to the Sales enablement team and leading onboarding and bootcamps. While there, she helped shape the future of Sales learning and devleopment — and realized her own passion for people leadership.

Since then, she’s progressed from Manager to Senior Director of Sales Development. She now leads six teams of Sales leaders, training them and their teams of BDRs to be top sellers — and, just as importantly, top teammates, collaborators, and value-driven leaders.

“When you have a high-performing team, it sets the bar of what is possible,” shares Rachel.

Today, Rachel is a member of Koa Club, employees who have blazed their trails at Salesforce for over 10 years.

The Beginning as a BDR

For Rachel, starting her Salesforce career as an SDR and then BDR was the perfect launchpad for growing in Sales.

“The BDR role is truly one of the most rewarding roles to have in the company. As a BDR, you get the opportunity to really learn and perfect your craft of prospecting.”

So, what exactly is a BDR? Sitting at the top of the Sales funnel, BDRs are responsible for, as Rachel puts it, being the “face of the brand.” BDRs make first impressions with prospects, educate those individuals on what we do as a company, and fuel ACV growth by delivering a predictable quality pipeline. And their impact is major: they drive 35 to 40% of the company's pipeline, according to Rachel.

Of course, while the path to BDR — a role that requires relationship-building, adaptability, research, and creativity — can vary, an innate curiosity and passion for learning is required. And, for Rachel, that learning has never stopped while at Salesforce.

Becoming a BDR

Looking to break in to the BDR space, or an entry-level sales position? With 14 years of Salesforce selling under her belt, Rachel has a few tips:

• Set clear, accomplishable goals: “Win the day, win the week, win the month” is Rachel’s personal motto. The best BDRs are those that are coming in each day knowing exactly what they’re going to focus on, and having goals that they’re holding themselves accountable to.
  
  
• Be open to learning and AI upskilling: “Salesforce has a constant innovation that is requiring us to continuously learn. It keeps us on our toes, and really is making us the better version of ourselves,” says Rachel. Part of that innovation is — not surprisingly — embracing AI. AI is going to help our representatives speed up efficiencies and become better sellers in the future. We’re only just tapping the surface of what’s possible, and what’s to come.”
  
  
• Perfect the art of the prospect: "This is the only phase of your sales career when you can focus solely on prospecting," says Rachel. "As you grow your career, your role will expand to include closing deals and building your own pipeline, making prospecting more challenging. Use this opportunity to become the best prospector you can be."
  
  
• Take advantage of growth resources: Rachel is passionate about helping BDRs embrace the resources available to succeed in this role and grow their careers. Whether it's immersive leadership development, Employee Resource Group membership, or mentorship, Salesforce provides resources for those looking to develop their careers — just like she has done herself.

Your time as a BDR is absolutely fundamental to being successful in your Sales career, according to Rachel — and there’s no better place to start that journey than at Salesforce.

To stay in the know on the latest Salesforce career opportunities, news, and events, join our Talent Community today.