What a BDR does
A business development representative finds and opens new opportunities, usually with accounts that have never heard of the company. The work is outbound: building target lists, researching accounts, cold calling, writing short emails and following up across several channels until a prospect agrees to a first meeting. Like an SDR, a BDR typically hands qualified meetings to an account executive rather than closing deals themselves. In some companies BDRs focus on a new market or a named list of strategic accounts.
Example
A BDR is given a list of mid-sized manufacturers in a new region. She researches each one, calls the operations leaders, sends a follow-up email that references the call, and over the next few weeks books first meetings for the account executive who covers that territory.
BDR vs SDR
The two titles overlap so much that many teams treat them as one role. When a company does split them, the usual pattern is that SDRs respond to inbound interest and BDRs go after outbound accounts. Others use BDR for partner or channel development. Because there is no fixed standard, compare roles by what you would actually do each day: where the leads come from, how much of the day is calling, who you hand off to, and what you are measured on.
How to get good at it
Outbound prospecting rewards reps who can open a conversation with a stranger and earn the next minute. Drill a short opener, a clear reason for calling and two or three questions that reveal whether a problem exists. Then practice the objections that end most cold calls early. Working against a skeptical practice buyer helps, because you hear rejection many times before it costs you a real prospect, and you find out which lines sound natural in your voice.