Business Development Managers (BDMs) play a crucial role in the success of an organisation. Among all of their responsibilities, there is one overarching goal and that is to improve the company’s profits. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why BDMs are well respected and why those who excel in this role can expect to enjoy a long and very lucrative career. Now, while improving the profits of the company is ultimately the desired destination, we should not forget the steps that need to be taken on the journey to get there. For example, the Business Development Manager will be given a qualified lead from a Sales Development Representative (SDR) but will still have to lead that prospect further through the funnel, negotiate the deal and pricing and produce forecast reports for their own managers.
Business Development Managers, like SDRs, can work in many sectors and although some tasks may be specific to certain industries, most of them are generally generic enough to apply to the majority of organisations. As a brief rundown, the generic duties of a Business Development Manager will include setting goals and developing plans for business and revenue growth. There will also be a lot of research involved as well, particularly in regard to new target market initiatives. Business Development Managers will also be expected to provide training for Sales Development Representatives. This means the BDM will have to set KPIs for this training and its implementation as well as develop strategies to meet those targets. On top of this, they will also have to develop relationships with the qualified leads, take them through the sales cycle while negotiating deals and setting prices. Depending on your industry, they may also be required to attend conferences and trade shows.
While a university degree may help in getting your first job as a Business Development Manager, your performance is more important than your qualifications. That’s because the qualities you will need to excel at this role are a combination of hard and soft skills, only some of which can be taught. This means, that you’ll find it very beneficially if you have the below abilities in your skillset already.
Communication skills
All client facing staff at Aexus are communications professionals. Whether face to face or on paper, our Business Development Managers know how to use style, tone and nuance to present the client’s services perfectly, regardless of the prospects background. So, if you’re interested in becoming a BDM, your communication skills are going to have to be top-notch.
Organisational skills
As a business development manager, you’ll often find that you are having to deal with a number of responsibilities all at once. You may have multiple on and off site meetings in a single day, indecisive or hesitant clients and tight deadlines, which means you’ll need to be organised to prioritise tasks and keep everything running smoothly.
Comfortable Using Tools
Most companies use a sales content management system (CMS) to track leads and client calls and document where each prospect is in the sales cycle. While getting to grips with this is only a matter of learning and practice it would help if your arrive with some sort of technical know-how to make your job easier.
Drive and determination
Not every sales call ends in a sale. The trick is not to let this affect you. That’s why those who succeed at being a business development manager are focussed, determined and driven by the desire to be successful.
If you think being a BDM is something that might interest you, you can find all of our vacancies at https://aexus.com/careers/. Alternatively, send your CV to Alexandra Melicov via email or, if you have any questions, send her a WhatsApp.