Case study

A Three-Sector SDR Build Delivered 94% SAL-to-SQL Conversion for a Data & Analytics Platform

Categories
SalesEnablementRevenue OperationsMarketingProduct & Pricing
Solutions provided
GTM Infrastructure
SDR Function Build
Sales Playbook Development
Revenue Operations
The key insight

The client had the demand to support growth, but growth was blocked by the absence of a structured function to convert said demand. Once that infrastructure was in place it produced $5.34M in pipeline within eight months.

Results at a glance
177
Opportunities, SDR's first 4 months
94%
SAL to SQL conversion
$5.34M
Pipeline in 8 months
3-4x
Industry reply rate
See where yours breaks
Data & Analytics Platform

An enterprise B2B SaaS data and analytics platform.

Weather · Agriculture · Energy

Serves three operationally distinct markets.

Three Sector Sales Orgs

Each sector runs its own sales organization with distinct buyers and qualification needs.

Situation

The Agriculture & Energy Intelligence Platform operated across Weather, Agriculture, and Energy with no dedicated SDR infrastructure, no consistent lead qualification process, and no ability to independently produce pipeline or conversion analytics. Significant inbound volume was being lost to inconsistent follow-up and no accountability between Marketing and Sales.

The challenge

The client needed a structured SDR function that could generate consistent early-stage pipeline across three operationally distinct sectors at the same time, where a single generalist motion would have failed all three.

Three sectors required entirely separate qualification logic, messaging, and outreach when a single generalist SDR motion would have failed all three.
Five of six lead tracks (events, MCLs, re-engagement, webinars, outbound) had no follow-up motion, leaving pipeline entering the funnel untouched.
The internal team could not independently produce pipeline reports, meeting counts, or conversion analytics across any sector.
SDR hiring did not complete during the 16-week engagement window, deferring live pipeline contribution into the subsequent addendum period.
The Cortado Group solution
Designed the SDR function

Built the role architecture, a 4-week onboarding program, KPIs, and compensation plans benchmarked to industry standards.

Wrote sector-specific playbooks

Created independent messaging libraries, call scripts (4T framework), and qualification logic for Weather, Agriculture, and Energy.

Stood up HubSpot infrastructure

Launched live inbound sequences and lead routing with signed Marketing-Sales SLAs across all three sectors.

Extended into ABM

Defined a land-and-expand motion for current customers across all three sectors, extending scope beyond net-new pipeline.

Laid the reporting foundation

Defined Salesforce and Gong dashboard requirements that became the first pipeline analytics the company could operate independently.

How can the client build a structured SDR function that generates consistent early-stage pipeline across three operationally distinct sectors simultaneously?

Results
177
Opportunities, SDR's first 4 months
94%
SAL to SQL conversion
$5.34M
Pipeline in 8 months
3-4x
Industry reply rate
SDRs ramped straight onto the playbook: Both SDRs ramped directly on the Cortado-built playbook with no framework modifications; the SDR Lead sourced 177 opportunities in the first four months.
Sequences outperformed from day one: Inbound sequences ran at 2x the industry open rate and 3-4x the industry reply rate from first deployment.
Quarter-over-quarter momentum: Q3 2026 beat Q2 on every measure, with 230 opportunities in the quarter alone.
A fully operational function at close: A fully operational SDR function, three-sector playbook library, and signed Marketing-Sales SLAs were in place by close of engagement.
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