Business development – what skills for a manager

Business is a complex structure that requires a comprehensive approach. Business development is about finding opportunities for long-term growth on three planes: customers, markets, and relationships. There are three main areas of business developer activity:
Development of the company’s current business: search for shortcomings of the existing model of work and ways to eliminate them;
Development of business in a new direction: assessment of the current competitive situation and formulating their proposal’s differences, positioning, and advantages. A significant role is given to marketing and finding the best ways to communicate the information about the product;
International development of business: first, this is the construction of a reliable partner network. In this case, visits to each country and city are obligatory and take up to 85% of working time in the first stage. In addition, the constant presence of trusted partners in the field and maintaining communication with them are indispensable.
The task of the business developer is to research the market: to study the space, collect the wishes and requirements of the major players in the industry, and only based on the analysis, make an offer to the client. A business developer’s primary skills are precise management of his time, the ability to work with people, and the ability to force himself to take notes – it is essential to write down all the meetings, calls, conversations, opportunities, and ideas.