BDR Manager Salary Guide For 2023 | Does Location Impact Salary?

Your guide to the current state of BDR Manager salaries in the tech industry and the biggest opportunities to level up your earnings.

(All figures are current as of January 24, 2023.)

What Could You Earn As A BDR Manager?

Accepting a BDR Manager role is a step up in responsibility for a Business Development Representative. No longer are you spending all day on the sales floor, prospecting for new clients and moving leads through the pipeline. Now you’re leading the team, keeping your team of BDRs on track to meet their goals – and your company’s goals, too.

But is it a financial step up, too? What about commissions, now that you’re spending more time managing a team and less time bringing in new customers? And what about the financial impact of less obvious facets like remote work?

That’s what we’re here to answer with our BDR Manager Salary Guide. In these pages, you’ll learn what being a BDR Manager entails, what to expect in terms of salary, where the biggest opportunities are, where the career path may lead, and more.

Whether you’re exploring where a career in tech sales may take you, or thinking of making your next move up the leadership ladder, we’ve got you covered in the pages that follow.

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A Day in The Life: Breaking Down The BDR Manager Role

A BDR Manager role is a front-line, junior-level leadership role well suited for BDRs who are interested in entering management.

BDR Managers are ultimately responsible for the results of up to 20 (and sometimes more!) BDRs, so in most cases you’ll need a couple of years as a BDR under your belt before you’ll qualify for this role. That’s because you’ll be the point person when it comes to team support, whether you’re answering questions, solving problems, streamlining processes, monitoring performance, or Coaching the reps who report to you.

Though each day will be a little different, here’s a breakdown of what you might find yourself doing:

• Coach, train, and motivate a team of BDRs to hit their sales goals
• Assist with hiring and onboarding new BDRs on the sales team
• Give and receive feedback about individual and team performance
• Lead team meetings and represent your BDRs in meetings with senior leadership
• Identify and escalate opportunities to improve the sales process

As the first step up the management ladder, BDR Managers need to demonstrate a proven sales track record, and will likely perform some sales duties when the opportunity arises. That said, success in this role will come less from your ability to pitch a product and more from the way you inspire, motivate and enable your team to succeed.

5 BDR manager skills you need to master

You’ll make a stellar BDR Manager if you are:

• Proactive
• Motivated
• Organized
• Ambitious
• Positive

The BDR Manager Salary Breakdown: An Overview

The average salary for a BDR Manager ranges between US$85,765 in the U.S. and C$77,841 in Canada.

Let’s put that average in perspective, however – because the top earners can expect to crack the six-digit mark in both countries, while those on the lower end of the pay scale earn a salary that’s in line with an average BDR. In the U.S., the range spans anywhere from US$60,000 to US$123,000, while Canadian counterparts can expect between C$54,000 to C$113,000.

That covers the base salary, but what about commissions? Though pay structures vary company by company, BDR Managers in the U.S. who meet their targets can expect an average of US$35,211 annually in bonuses and commissions. In Canada, the average is a little higher at C$36,294 per year.

When it comes to compensation and benefits, people in a BDR Manager role rated their packages at 3.7 out of 5 stars on Glassdoor, indicating they’re largely happy or generally satisfied with what they receive. They also rated the opportunity for career growth at 3.8 out of five stars, suggesting that they feel they have upward momentum toward higher levels of leadership.

This BDR Manager data spans all industries on a country-wide basis. We’ll get into more specific numbers shortly, but we think it’s useful to consider the broader picture when it comes to the financial expectations of your career.

A Step Up: BDR Manager vs. BDR

Just how big of a financial jump is the promotion from BDR to BDR Manager? What you take home at the end of each year could rise between 53% to 56% in total OTE. Let’s break it down.

Annual base salary

Before commissions and other forms of benefits and compensation, the salary increase is between 63% and 66% when promoted to a BDR manager.

Commissions and other bonuses

As we now know, base salary isn’t the only factor when considering OTE. BDR Managers tend to come out ahead in this regard as well.

In the U.S., average additional compensation more than doubled, rising 104% and almost 50% in Canada.

3 Key Influences For A BDR Managers Salary

Working in tech

We scanned 99 of the most popular hiring companies for BDR Managers in the U.S. on Glassdoor, and we couldn’t help but notice a trend: many of them were software companies.

Salesforce, SecureAuth, Oracle, Redgate Software and Block topped the list, with other industry heavyweights like HubSpot, Zoom and Adobe making the cut. Smaller hardware and software companies made a sizeable appearance, with some offering the highest compensation – meaning don’t judge a book by its size. On average, the tech sector offered an annual salary of US$122,213.

Compare that to non-tech companies (only 12 made the list of 99). From marketing and staffing agencies to car sales and industrial maintenance, BDRs in this group averaged US$77,556.

Years of experience

Typically, BDR Managers enter their jobs with two to five years of sales experience under their belts. But with more experience comes bigger rewards: salaries for Senior BDR Managers show a sharp increase over their junior-level counterparts.

Location, location, location

The cost of living varies from city to city, as does the cost of doing business. So it’s no surprise that there are geographical differences in average salaries for BDR Managers.

BDR Manager salaries across North America

Commission and Bonuses

While additional incentives are common enough among BDR Manager roles, they may look a little different than what you receive as a front-line sales rep. That’s because BDR Managers spend a lot less time selling and more time managing their team.

With more of their day taken up by administrative tasks, team support and leadership responsibilities, compensation looks a little different. Though details differ between companies, you may notice a mix of:

• More weight on fixed salary and less emphasis on variable commissions to make up for a decrease in time actively making sales
• Team performance bonuses that kick in when direct reports reach sales goals or other organizational milestones
• Individual performance bonuses based on results for which the BDR Manager is responsible
• Overriding commissions based on the commissions that their BDRs receive

The right commission and bonus structure require a delicate balance between incentivizing BDR Managers to reach their own sales targets and motivating them to prioritize coaching and team support – something to consider when you’re analyzing job opportunities and attending interviews.

Remote vs. In-Office

Remote work is clearly here to stay, with 67 percent of full-time U.S. employees in white-collar jobs saying they work from home all or part of the time. But managing a remote team has different challenges and opportunities than running things in-office.

Is there a corresponding difference in salary and compensation as well? Four factors may influence the answer.

• Workplace structure. In a recent Payscale report, employees who telecommuted 100 percent of the time actually earned more than their fully in-office counterparts. But the highest compensation was reported among employees who split their time between office and home in a hybrid environment.
• Working in tech. Fully remote employees across the tech industry earn 5.5 percent more than their in-office colleagues, after considering compensable factors (e.g. job title and location). Tech companies were also the most likely to report adopting a flexible or hybrid office post-pandemic.
• Working in sales. Sales jobs are uniquely well suited for remote work, and it shows in the numbers. Measuring by occupation, fully remote sales workers were higher earners than their in-office colleagues, taking home 6.5 percent more.
• Remote adoption. For some BDR Managers, the size of their paycheque depends on team performance. In a HubSpot survey, 64 percent of companies that invested in remote selling said they hit their sales targets in 2020 – a notably difficult year for many sales teams. Just half of the companies that resisted the tide of flexible sales models can say the same.

Are You Ready To Realize Your BDR Manager Potential?

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With live classes and practical experience, you can set yourself up for your first step into sales management. Our programming is purpose-built to upskill successful sales professionals so they can enjoy greater success in a BDR Manager role (and beyond).

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