Hiring an SDR

Handing an AI SDR's campaigns to your new SDR: a 30-day plan

Your new SDR should start with live conversations, not a blank list. This is what to hand over before day one, what to do each week for the first month, and the mistakes that lose replies along the way. It works whatever tool has been sending.

Still hiring? Read how to cover an open SDR seat, or see what the gap costs with the open SDR seat cost calculator. Want the plan dated to your SDR's start? Put the date into the new SDR handover handbook.

Before day one: what to hand over

Gather these the week before your SDR starts. If a piece is missing, find it now. It is much harder to rebuild once the person who knows it has moved on to other work.

  • Every live thread. Who is mid-conversation, what they last said, and what was promised next.
  • Replies waiting for an answer. Answer them before the start date, or make them the SDR's first job. Do not let them sit.
  • Meetings already booked. Who, when, and what the person asked about. The SDR should join the first few.
  • Opt-outs and do-not-contact. Everyone who asked to stop. Keep the list in the sending tool, not in one person's mailbox, so a new mailbox or a new sender still skips them.
  • What got replies. The emails people answered, and the ones nobody did. This is the SDR's head start.
  • The list and where each person is. Who has been emailed, who has not, who bounced, and who said not now.
  • How sending is set up. Which mailboxes send, each one's daily limit, and the days and hours it sends.

The first 30 days, week by week

Hand over a little at a time. Replies first, because they are the warmest. Campaigns after, once the SDR knows why each one is written the way it is.

  1. Week 1

    Read before they write

    • Read every live thread from start to finish.
    • Read the emails that got replies, and the ones that did not.
    • Approve each email before it sends. Nothing goes out without their eyes on it.
    • Sit in on the meetings that are already booked.

    Check: For each warm conversation, can they tell you who the person is and what happens next?

  2. Week 2

    Own the replies

    • Take over the warm conversations and write those replies themselves.
    • Offer times to the people who are ready to talk.
    • Leave the running campaigns as they are for now.

    Check: Did any reply wait more than one working day?

  3. Week 3

    Own one campaign

    • Pick one running campaign and own it: the list, the wording and the timing.
    • Change one thing at a time, so you can tell what made the difference.
    • If they will send from their own mailbox, connect it now and set a low daily limit.

    Check: Can they explain why each change was made, and what they expect it to do?

  4. Week 4

    Run it, then review it together

    • They own every campaign and every reply.
    • Go through it together: open threads, meetings booked, and what they would change next.
    • Decide how much they still approve by hand from here.

    Check: Has anyone who asked to stop been emailed again? The answer should be no.

The 30 days cover the handover. The ramp runs longer. The Bridge Group's Sales Development Models, Metrics & Compensation: 2025 Research Report puts average SDR ramp time at 3.0 months. Inheriting live threads gives that ramp something to work on from the first week.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Switching off the old mailbox too soon

    People reply to the address that wrote to them. Turn that inbox off and those replies land nowhere anyone is looking.

  • Changing the sender halfway through a thread

    A follow-up from a new name, under an old subject line, reads like a different company. Let started threads finish from the address that started them.

  • Leaving the do-not-contact list behind

    If the list moves to a new tool or a new sheet, the opt-outs must move with it. Emailing someone after they asked you to stop is the fastest way to lose trust.

  • Rewriting everything in week one

    The current emails are your only record of what worked. Change one thing at a time, after the SDR knows why it is there.

  • Starting a new mailbox at full speed

    A mailbox with no sending history should start with a small daily number and grow. The handover is not a reason to rush it.

  • Building a new list before working the replies

    The people who already answered are the warmest leads the SDR will get all month. They come first.

  • Two people answering the same person

    Decide who owns each conversation on day one, so nobody gets two replies or none.

How the handover works in Monty

Monty is an AI SDR that writes, sends and follows up on cold email from your own mailbox, and drafts answers to the replies that need one. Because it sends from your inbox, the threads and replies stay with you when your SDR starts. Here is what the handover involves.

  • One person signs in to a workspace. Your SDR takes over that sign-in. You can change the password in Settings. To move the sign-in to their own email address, write to hello@montyai.co.
  • Your SDR connects their own Gmail or Outlook. They sign in with Google or Microsoft, and Monty never sees the password. You set each mailbox's daily limit.
  • In each campaign's settings, you choose which mailboxes it sends from. A campaign left on All mailboxes can send from the new mailbox as soon as it is connected, including follow-ups in threads that already started. Before your SDR connects their mailbox, choose each campaign's mailboxes.
  • When you have chosen a campaign's mailboxes, a follow-up stays on the mailbox that sent the earlier emails, as long as that mailbox is still on the campaign. Take it off, and the rest of those threads go from the other mailboxes you chose.
  • Answers to replies leave from the mailbox the person wrote to. If that mailbox is disconnected, Monty holds the answer instead of sending it from another address. So keep your mailbox connected until its conversations are done.
  • Opt-outs belong to the workspace, not to one mailbox. They still apply whichever mailbox sends.
  • Every email, reply and change on a lead is recorded, with who or what made it. Your SDR can read each person's whole history.
  • Your SDR can take over any conversation and write the reply themselves. Set a campaign to “Monty drafts” and nothing on it sends until they approve it. “Pause”, in Settings → Automation, stops Monty on every campaign at once.

What it does not do: there are no separate logins for you and your SDR, it is email only, and you bring the list. If you need several people in one workspace, or someone to find your leads, it is not the right fit.

Start with your list

Common questions

+What should a new SDR inherit from an AI SDR?

Every live thread, the replies still waiting for an answer, meetings already booked, the opt-out and do-not-contact list, the emails that got replies, the list with where each person is, and how sending is set up.

+How long should the handover take?

Plan on about 30 days for the handover itself. It fits inside the ramp, which runs longer: The Bridge Group's 2025 research report (Sales Development Models, Metrics & Compensation) puts average SDR ramp time at 3.0 months.

+Should the new SDR send from their own mailbox?

Usually, for new conversations. Let threads that already started finish from the mailbox that started them, and keep that mailbox connected until they do. Start a new mailbox at a low daily number.

+Can my SDR and I both sign in to Monty?

No. A Monty workspace has one user. When your SDR starts, they take over the sign-in. If you need several people working in one workspace, Monty is not the right fit today.

+What happens to replies sent to my mailbox after the handover?

In Monty, answers leave from the mailbox the person wrote to. While your mailbox stays connected, those threads carry on. If you disconnect it, Monty holds the answers rather than send them from a different address.

Before you book

What you are agreeing to.

The price

$1,399 a month. No setup fee.

Prices shown in USD. Billed in the same currency at checkout.

If it does not work

Cancel inside 30 days and your payment comes back in full. No usage deduction, no form to fill in.

How you leave

Monthly, and you cancel from inside the product. No contract, no notice period, no minimum term — the tools this replaces mostly ask for a quarter or a year up front.

Start with your list

Or book fifteen minutes with Elliot first.