How it works
Most sales teams split the job in two. The SDR works the top: researching prospects, calling and emailing, answering people who got in touch first, and asking enough questions to know a prospect is worth a meeting. The account executive, or AE, runs that meeting and closes the deal.
So an SDR's target is usually a count of meetings or qualified opportunities a month, and the pay plan often pays per meeting on top of base. It's often a first sales job, and the usual next step is AE.
Worked example, with made-up figures: say you book 20 meetings in a month. 16 of them happen, and the AE accepts 12 as qualified. Depending on your plan, you're paid on 20, 16 or 12, so ask which one before you start.
Where the line with a BDR sits depends on the company. Many use SDR for inbound and BDR for outbound. Some use it the other way round, and plenty give both titles to the same job. When T2D3 counted how the top search results defined the two, 6 had SDRs on inbound and 2 had them on outbound.
Where it shows up in your week
An SDR's month is decided by calls and emails nobody else sees. ActivityTracker for sales reps logs each call and meeting in one tap, keeps every callback on today's list, and shows by Wednesday if the week is enough.