A setter — short for appointment setter — is the sales role that books qualified calls for a closer. The setter works the interest that already exists: a webinar sign-up, a form-fill, an ad-click — qualifies it enough to know it's worth a call, and schedules the call on the closer's calendar. Like an SDR, the setter's entire output is the booked, qualified meeting. The setter does not close; the closer takes the call from there.
In plain English
Think of the setter as the person who gets people in the room, and the closer as the person who closes them once they're there. The setter's number is calls booked that actually happen; the closer's number is deals signed. The split exists because the two skills are different — booking takes volume, relevance, and follow-up; closing takes value-building, objection handling, and the ask.
Why it matters to you
The setter seat is one of the most common entry points into sales, especially in high-ticket and tech-sales orgs. It is essentially the SDR job under another name, which means everything you learn as an SDR applies. It's also the honest on-ramp to the closer track: no one closes well without first learning how to get a qualified person on a call. If a job says "setter," know your output is the booking — and that's the seat where you start.