If you consider it essential that customers hear a human voice during telephone conversations, you hire an administrator. You employ a salesperson if your business model relies on personal selling. When you need someone to manage and support these clients, you hire a customer service manager, but how to understand when you should hire a business developer? Let’s talk about his work in more detail.

Who is a business developer?

Business Development Managers, sometimes abbreviated BDM, are critical members of the Go To Market (GTM) team. They are responsible for compiling lists of potential clients and then presenting them to create the company’s client list. In professional slang, this means they help move people from the top of the sales funnel to the goal of becoming a signed customer. The business development post uses many business skills, including strategic planning, project management, and successful negotiation.

What does a business developer do?

While the developer’s role will vary across industries and companies, most often, the developer’s tasks include:

• Identify opportunities in target markets for your organization’s products and services.
• Generation of potential customers through cold calls to potential customers or networking at exhibitions.
• Developing and maintaining relationships with key clients.
• Keep abreast of the latest industry developments, including corporate competitors’ market positioning.
• Assessing customer needs and the company’s ability to meet those needs, etc.

Successful business development managers often move to higher positions in business development and sales management.

A business development manager career is suitable for those who are outgoing, interested in sales strategies, and enjoy interacting with people. Excellent business development managers love the challenge of searching and accepting rejection with dignity. They see each «no» as a step toward a «yes». They are also happy to be a part of a team that works to create and execute a business growth strategy.