SDR Metrics We Track (and Even More You Should Track)

This post was originally published in July 2024 and has been updated in May 2025 to reflect the latest thinking on SDR metrics and performance measurement.

Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) are essential to your sales process and can truly influence your business outcomes. As the driving force behind your top-of-funnel sales efforts, SDRs help set the stage for deals to flow smoothly through your pipeline and, ultimately, to close successfully.

While SDRs are incredibly important, keeping track of their performance can sometimes be a bit challenging. When a deal successfully closes, have you ever wondered what impact an SDR really had on that success?

And if a deal falls through, are the SDRs to blame? The truth is that SDR efforts are hard to measure if you don’t know what to look for. If you can’t weigh their success in deals closed, which SDR metrics should you track, and why?

Today’s sales ecosystem is complex and competitive, with more than half of sales pros saying it’s harder to sell than a year ago. Tracking SDR performance isn’t about reporting numbers for their own sake. It’s about using the data to build a reliable, high-performing pipeline.

Here at Inside Sales Solutions, we focus on SDR metrics that drive action and improve outcomes. Here’s what we track (so you know what to monitor in your own organization), and some other key metrics to add to your toolkit.

1. Meetings Set and Held: The Metrics That Keep Your Pipeline Moving 

One key responsibility of SDRs is booking meetings with strong, qualified leads. But when monitoring this metric, it’s important to understand that it’s not just about booking meetings—it’s about holding them. 

An SDR might get a ton of meetings scheduled, but if these leads ultimately cancel their appointments, did that SDR drive value?

Show rate—or meetings held—is not just based on volume. Tracking this data helps leaders identify gaps between outreach and bona fide engagement. 

Show rates also offer insight into your targeting and messaging quality. Are you going after the right persona? Is the messaging locked in?

2. SQLs Generated: Are the Meetings You’re Booking the Right Ones? 

Sales-Qualified Leads (or SQLs) generated measure the quality of your leads and meetings—not just the quantity. This is where the sales team confirms the fit, helping avoid wasted time on low-potential leads. SQLs reflect whether a prospect is genuinely ready to engage with sales and answer the question of whether they’re worth pursuing. 

Why is SQL one of the top SDR metrics to track? 

Consider it like this: What is the data telling you if a rep has a high show rate but low SQLs? It might mean that they’re overbooking with low-quality leads just to hit their quotas. 

Or vice versa: If they have low show rates but high SQL conversion, it indicates good targeting, but perhaps poor meeting logistics or confirmation workflows. 

3. Conversion Rate: How Well Are Meetings Turning Into SQLs? 

Once meetings are happening, the next question is: How many are actually turning into SQLs? 

This is your outcome-focused metric, which tells you whether the meetings SDRs are holding are actually contributing to a stronger pipeline. It reflects the rep’s ability to book the right meetings, set clear expectations, and set up productive conversations.

It’s easy to get distracted by top-of-funnel activity metrics. This one helps you focus on conversion points that SDRs directly influence (meeting and SQL) while leaving opportunity-to-close conversion to AEs.

4. Sequence Effectiveness: Finding What Works (and Fixing What Doesn’t)

Your outbound sequences aren’t static—they’re living assets that need constant refinement. If you want to keep your pipeline healthy and moving, it’s not enough to just “set and forget” your outreach sequence. Instead, use sequence effectiveness to track each step’s performance and where prospects drop off. 

Every touchpoint either contributes to a prospect’s success or failure with your solution. When you see how each step is performing, you can adjust messaging, timing, and channels based on performance data to continuously improve. 

5. Lead Response Time: Why Speed Still Wins Deals

In today’s cutthroat market, responsiveness is a performance metric. Lead response time refers to how quickly SDRs respond to and follow up, especially for inbound or engaged outbound leads. 

The faster you respond to an inbound lead, the more likely you are to connect while interest is high. 

Research shows that conversion rates can be more than 20x higher when reps respond to a lead within five minutes. But if you wait too long, your prospect’s attention moves on, their urgency fades, or a competitor arrives first.

Even in outbound, speed signals professionalism. Quick follow-up after engagement signals that an SDR is attentive and organized, and boosts your chances of a meeting.

6. Bonus Metrics for Teams Ready to Level Up

If your team is already tracking the base SDR metrics—like meetings held, conversion rates, and response teams—you can really hone in on lead quality. 

Here are two advanced metrics that offer insights into effectiveness and strategic alignment:

• Personalization rate: Research shows that nearly three-quarters of customers expect companies to deliver personalization, and almost the same amount gets frustrated when that doesn’t happen. SDRs who personalize their outreach can boost conversation and conversion rates. Ask yourself: How much of your outreach is customized to the prospect?
• Meeting quality score: For SDRs, volume only gets you so far. What matters more is whether those meetings are productive and well-targeted. Gather AE feedback and other data on meeting quality to ensure SDRs aren’t just booking—they’re booking the right meetings.

Let’s Build a Smarter SDR Program Together

The metrics you choose don’t just measure success—they shape the behavior of your SDR team. To achieve optimal outcomes (like a pipeline chock-full of high-quality leads), focus on the SDR metrics that drive action and outcomes, not just activity.

Want help fine-tuning your SDR strategy? We should talk. 

We’re Inside Sales Solutions, and we assist customers by outsourcing their top-of-funnel sales activities, such as SDR, as a service in various models.

Connect with our team to discuss how we help companies build a reliable pipeline through better sales development.