Problem and solution
New SDRs are taking too long to ramp. What should week one to four look like?
Product training is done, the sequences are loaded, and the new hire still sounds hesitant on live calls weeks later. The delay usually sits in the gap between knowing what to say and being able to say it under pressure.
Practical guidance for call training. Practice with DIRI AI is for coaching, not for rating or ranking people.
What it feels like
You watch a new SDR who answered every question correctly in training stumble when a real person says "who is this?" in the first four seconds. They know the product, they have the script open, and the sentence still comes out wrong. They apologise after the call, and you tell them it will come with time, though you are less certain than you sound.
Meanwhile the cost mounts quietly. Every live call a new person is not ready for burns a contact you may not get back, and every week of slow ramp is a week of pipeline you planned on. Pushing them onto the phone sooner feels reckless, and keeping them off it feels expensive.
Why it happens
Training teaches knowledge, not delivery
Slides and shadowing show what good sounds like. They do not give a new hire the dozens of repetitions needed to say a sentence smoothly, out loud, while a stranger reacts. Fluency comes from speaking, not from watching.
The first live calls are the practice
If the only place to rehearse is a real prospect, every early mistake costs a lead and some confidence. New hires then hold back, speak more cautiously and learn more slowly.
Too many skills at once
Opening, discovery, objections, booking and tooling all land in the same fortnight. A person cannot improve five things simultaneously, so improvement on each is slow and muddy.
There is no shared definition of ready
When nobody has written down what a new SDR must be able to do before dialling freely, readiness gets judged by gut feeling. The new hire does not know what to aim at, and you do not know when to stop worrying.
A method you can use this week
- Write a one-page "ready to dial" list Choose four or five first-call skills, for example "opens in two sentences without reading", "answers 'who is this?' calmly", "handles 'send an email' once", "asks for a specific time slot". The list tells the new hire where they are going and tells you when they get there.
- Sequence the weeks, one skill at a time Week one: the opening. Week two: the two most common brush-offs. Week three: asking for the meeting with two time options. Week four: mixed calls. Each week has one target, so improvement is visible.
- Build a daily repetition habit before live calls Ten minutes of spoken practice each morning on the week's skill, before any live dialling. The aim is to say the sentence aloud thirty times in private so that the first live attempt is not the first attempt.
- Stage the live calls Start with warmer or lower-stakes lists, then move to cold. Sit alongside for the first batch and note one thing to praise and one change after each block, not after each call.
- Review with one quoted moment each week In the weekly 1:1, replay a single sentence, either from a live call or a practice round, and agree on the next skill. When the list is ticked off, give them the full call list and say so openly.
Drill: The first-twenty-seconds ladder
Run this with a new SDR for twelve minutes in the morning. Write the opener on paper beforehand, in two sentences: who you are and why you are calling. You play the prospect.
- Round one, two minutes: friendly prospect. "Hello, who's this?" The SDR gives the opener. You answer, "Okay, go on." Stop after one exchange.
- Round two, two minutes: rushed prospect. You say, "I've got about ten seconds." The SDR must shorten the opener to one sentence and then ask a question.
- Round three, two minutes: suspicious prospect. "How did you get my number?" The SDR answers in one line and returns to the reason for calling.
- Round four, two minutes: brush-off. "Just send me an email." The SDR asks one question before agreeing.
- Round five, four minutes: mix all four in random order without warning. The SDR notes which response felt least natural.
How you know it worked: It worked if the SDR no longer looks at the paper by round three and the openers sound like talk, not reading. The round that felt worst is the focus for tomorrow.
How DIRI AI helps
The gap this page is about is the number of safe repetitions before live calls. With DIRI AI, a new SDR picks a situation or writes their own, sets the difficulty and client type, and speaks aloud through the browser to an AI customer, clearly labelled as AI, that reacts to what they say and keeps its own motives and objections. They can run the same opening many times, and in practice the first few attempts are where the awkward mistakes land, away from real prospects.
After each call the report gives a rule-based score from 0 to 100, quoted key moments from the SDR's own transcript, the effect of each moment, one concrete next change and better phrasings. The SDR can repeat a situation and compare attempts, and the history stays in their account. As a manager you can match situations to your weekly skill (opening in week one, brush-offs in week two, the meeting ask in week three) and use one quoted moment as the starting point for a 1:1. Team plans exist, and a team pilot of 90 days for up to ten advisors is available for a first cohort.
There are limits. An AI customer is not a real prospect and does not replace shadowing, live calls or a human coach, so it makes no promise about how fast any individual will ramp. The score is a guide for practice, not a validated measure, and practice is for training, not for evaluating or ranking employees. Do not use the report as the only basis for a decision about a person. Voice recordings are off by default.
Try it on a practice call
Free plan: 3 calls a month, up to 5 minutes each, no card. You talk to a customer played by an AI, then read a report that quotes your own words.
Questions people ask
When is an SDR ready to dial freely?
When they can do your short list of first-call skills without reading and recover calmly from the common brush-offs. Define the list yourself and review it together. It is a judgement, not a date.
Should new hires shadow or practise first?
Both, in a sensible order. Shadowing shows the sound of a good call, practice builds the ability to produce it, and live calls test it. Skipping the middle step is what causes the slow start.
How many skills should I teach at once?
One per week is a good rule. Mix in earlier skills as review, but keep a single focus so the new hire can tell whether they are improving.
Can DIRI AI replace onboarding sessions?
No. It supports the practice part of onboarding. Product knowledge, process, tools and human coaching still come from your team.