SDR and BDR playbook template in Notion: what a good one includes
Most SDR playbooks are a slide deck from the last kick-off and a folder of email templates nobody opens. A good one is the single place where the rules of the programme live: what counts as a meeting, how fast leads get worked, how reps are paid and how new starters ramp. Here's what to put in yours, and how to build it in Notion so people actually use it.
SDR (sales development representative) and BDR (business development representative) are the same job at most companies: the reps who create first meetings for account executives. Some firms use SDR for inbound and BDR for outbound. Everything here applies to both.
What a good SDR playbook includes
| Section | What it should answer |
|---|---|
| Definitions | What counts as a lead, a held meeting, an accepted meeting and a qualified opportunity. Who owns which accounts. |
| SLAs | How fast each lead type gets a first human touch, how many attempts it gets, and how quickly AEs must accept or reject a meeting. |
| Handover | The notes an AE gets before the meeting, how the SDR introduces it and what happens to rejected meetings. |
| KPIs | Leading and lagging indicators, targets, and where the dashboard lives. |
| Compensation | OTE, the base and variable split, what's paid on, accelerators and crediting rules. |
| Cadences | The sequences for each motion (inbound, outbound, events), with exit and recycle rules. |
| Hiring and ramp | The interview process and scorecard, the 30/60/90-day plan and the certification checklist. |
| Tooling | The stack, who owns each tool, and the rules for data, suppression and deliverability. |
| 90-day plan | What changes next, who owns it and by when. |
Sensible defaults to start from
| Area | Starting point | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting quota | 10 held meetings a month, about 6 becoming opportunities | Bridge Group, 2025 |
| Speed to lead | Calling within 5 minutes rather than 30 made contact about 100x more likely. Old and phone-only, so treat 5 minutes as a target for high-intent leads, not a law. | MIT/InsideSales, 2007 |
| Cadence length | 53%+ of email-sourced meetings came from step 3 or later, so don't stop after two emails | Belkins, 2025 data |
| Pay split | 68/32 base to variable (US median); about 70/30 is the norm in the UK and Europe | Bridge Group, 2025 |
| Ramp | 3.0 months on average | Bridge Group, 2025 |
| Manager span | 6.4 SDRs per first-line manager | Bridge Group, 2025 |
How to structure it in Notion
Notion suits a playbook because the rules and the working trackers can sit side by side. The rule of thumb: pages for things people read, databases for things people update or filter.
| Part | Page or database | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Home and definitions | Page | One source of truth, linked from everywhere |
| SLAs and handover rules | Page | Short, stable and easy to read in a hurry |
| KPI library | Database | Each metric gets a definition, owner, target and source |
| Cadences | Database | Filter by motion, persona or channel, and see which version is live |
| Comp plan | Page plus a calculator database | Rules in plain English, payouts worked out by formulas |
| Interview scorecard | Database | One row per candidate, scored the same way every time |
| Tool stack | Database | Owner, cost, renewal date and verdict for each tool |
| 90-day roadmap | Database | Owner, status and due date, shown as a board or timeline |
- Start with a Home page that has a short "start here" for new starters and links to every section.
- Use relations to connect things, for example linking each cadence to the KPIs it's meant to move.
- Use linked views to show the same tracker in several places without copying it.
- Put an owner and a "last reviewed" date at the top of every page, and lock the pages that hold rules so edits are deliberate.
- Keep live pipeline data in your CRM. The playbook explains the rules; the CRM holds the records.
How to roll it out 🚀
- Draft with a small group: the SDR leader, one or two senior reps, an AE and someone from marketing or RevOps.
- Agree definitions and SLAs with sales and marketing leadership before anything else ships.
- Launch in one team meeting. Walk through Home, the definitions and the handover, not every page.
- Make it part of the routine. Link it from onboarding, 1:1s and pipeline reviews, and answer questions with a link rather than a long message.
- Review it monthly for the first quarter, then quarterly. Keep a changelog page so nobody is surprised by a rule change.
- Check it's working: AE acceptance of meetings, SLA compliance and ramp time for new starters all show whether people follow it.
Sources
- The Bridge Group, SDR Models, Motions & Metrics 2025 Research Report
- MIT/InsideSales, Lead Response Management study, 2007
- Belkins, Sales follow-up statistics in B2B, 2026 study (2025 data)
Questions
What should an SDR or BDR playbook include?
Definitions of a lead, a meeting and a qualified opportunity; lead SLAs; handover rules; KPIs; the comp plan; cadences; hiring and ramp; tooling; and a 90-day plan with owners.
Is Notion good for an SDR playbook?
For most small and mid-sized teams, yes. Pages hold the rules, databases hold the trackers (KPIs, cadences, scorecards, roadmap) and everything links together. Keep live pipeline data in your CRM.
What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR playbook?
Usually nothing but the name. Where teams split the roles, the SDR (inbound) side leans on lead SLAs and routing and the BDR (outbound) side on targeting and cadences, but one playbook can cover both.
Related guides
SDR and BDR KPIs
What to measure, and 2024-2026 benchmarks to sense-check against.
SDR and BDR comp plans
OTE benchmarks for the UK, US and Europe, and how to design the plan.
SDR and BDR ramp time
A 30/60/90-day plan, ramped quotas and a certification checklist.
Turn this into a programme you can run
14 Notion modules and 6 working trackers for SDR leaders: KPI library, comp calculator, cadence builder, interview scorecard, tool scorecard and a 90-day roadmap. £49, one payment.
Benchmarks are starting points, not targets. Every figure shows its source and year; tune them to your market, deal size and sales cycle.