What is Business Development Manager

A Business Development Manager (BDM) drives growth by identifying new market opportunities, building client relationships, and crafting strategic partnerships. This role involves sales, networking, and market analysis, all focused on increasing revenue and expanding the company's market presence.

 

Who is a Business Development Manager?

A business development manager is a person responsible for handling a team of business developers and ensuring that new revenues get generated. His or her primary role is to bring and nurture constant business and revenue growth opportunities by offering value to customers and other stakeholders.

Business Development Manager Job Description

The typical job description of business development or the BDM revolves around developing and closing new business opportunities. As a BD manager, you must ensure that your team pulls in the aggressive drive of sales leads and establishes sales pipelines. Other roles might include lead generation, follow-ups, and analyzing lead targeting and qualifications.

Common Job Roles of a Business Development Manager

There are various kinds of business development roles. Below is the list of some of the prevalent kinds of functions which requires the active participation of a business development manager are:

1. Business mergers and acquisitions
2. Identify new business opportunities related to business mergers and acquisitions
3. List and evaluate prospects who are interested in making investment deals
4. Connect the prospects with mergers and acquisition teams
5. Handle initial paperwork
6. Sales and Marketing

Business development managers aid in increasing sales numbers and most of the time they play an active role in aiding pre-sales strategies. Below are the roles of a BDM -

1. Generate and deliver qualified sales leads
2. Pitch services to prospects
3. Establish working relations with existing clients
4. Take frequent follow-ups and set up a meeting with clients
5. Understand the pain points of the prospects and communicate them with sales and marketing teams
6. Aid the sales and marketing team with presentations and sales pitches
7. Vendor Management

In some organizations, a business development manager is also responsible for handling vendor management and below are their primary roles:

1. Identify the need for new vendors
2. Evaluate and find the prospective vendors
3. Explain potential vendors about the detailed requirements and conduct initial negotiations

However, no matter you are working in a media company or retail industry, your job as a leading business development manager demands to handle the following roles and responsibilities:

1. Formulate business development strategy
2. Find new directions for boosting revenues and business growth
3. Analyze and manage all sorts of competitive threats
4. Develop and plan business and operating models
5. Identify and nurture the target audience by conducting efficient segmenting
6. Develop new regions, channels, distributors, etc.
7. Identify new sources of sales opportunities
8. Incorporate promotional activities
9. Ensure the use of creative and innovative approaches for developing new business opportunities
10. Take up strategic initiatives and pen down the best options which serve the business
11. Look for options which help in cost savings
12. Come up with strategies to accelerate sales conversions
13. Use digital platforms to reach the target audience
14. Pitch on online platforms for acquiring new projects
15. Increase sales using referral marketing
16. Work on intensifying client retention ratio

Business Development Manager Skills

Being into business development requires a bunch of special skills. The below list highlights the skill set which you as a business development manager must acquire:

1. A strong knack of sales and marketing
2. Excellent oral and written communication
3. Confidence in public and mass speaking
4. Ability to express well
5. Active listener
6. Emotional intelligence
7. Good negotiation skills
8. Ability to handle multiple projects and teams
9. Analyzing skills for forecasting sales, understanding problem areas, tracking industry patterns, and capturing new trends
10. An acute knack of using automation tools and CRM software
11. Knowledge of leveraging digital marketing and social media platforms
12. Ability to delegate tasks and ensure accountability
13. Knowledge of six sigma
14. Skilled in budgeting and planning
15. Ability to develop sales pitches
16. Knowledge of inbound and outbound marketing strategies
17. Basic understanding of finance and banking related terms
18. Knowledge of salesforce tools
19. Ability to set, review, and monitor the team goals
20. Understanding of agency business and channel management
21. Basic understanding of IT skills and proficiency in MS office
22. Good at data analysis and ROI tracking
23. Ability to leverage new technologies and beat the competition

Top Industries hiring Business development managers

1. Automotive
2. Banking and finance
3. Hospitality
4. IT and telecom
5. B2B agencies
6. International, Export, and import
7. Government
8. Retail chains
9. Market research
10. Education
11. Consumer durable
12. Logistics
13. Tourism and travel

What is the Business Development Manager Salary?

Most of the business development managers have at least 3-5 years of previous work experience. Depending upon their skills, the average compensation of a BD manager is around 7 lakhs to 10 lakhs per annum (as per Payscale). "

Business Development Manager Qualifications

To become a BDM, you must at least take a bachelor's degree in business management or a master's course. Most BDMs pursue a specialization course in sales and marketing, international sales, or finance. Apart from this, companies involved in IT-related, technical product- or software service offerings look for professionals specialising in computer science and other related domains.

How to Become a Business Development Manager?

 Here are the steps to become a business development manager:

1. Earn a bachelor's or master's degree in marketing, sales, international marketing, finance, or economics.
2. At least 3-5 years of experience in business development or sales.
3. Depending upon the nature of the industry, recruiters might look for specific skills and experience.

Career Progression for Business Development Manager in the Next 5 Years

Thinking about what next on your plate after gaining years of experience as a business development manager? Below are some transits that you can plan in the coming years:

Related to business development profession:

Business Development Director

After gaining experience in managerial roles in business development, you can aim for leadership roles like becoming a Business Development Director or VP of business Development.

Primary job role:

1. Focus on strategic decision-making for enhancing the company's business goals
2. Managing teams of business development managers and tracking their success
3. Facilitating BDMs with budgets, training, and resources
4. Attain closure or final negotiation meetings with new and existing clients
5. Analyze, implement, and monitor sales plans

Business Development Director Salary

The salary of a business development director ranges between Rs. 24 lakhs to Rs. 32 lakhs per annum, depending upon their skills, experience, and organization they work.

Career Switch - From a Business Development Manager to a Senior Business Analyst

It has often been observed that business development managers, after getting the right exposure and experience in handling pre-sales activities, switch to business analyst roles. As a BD manager, you already have experience handling customers, understanding their needs, and offering them products or services as per their desired needs.

Now that you plan to move into a business analyst role, your primary job will be:

1. Understanding and identifying the needs of your customers
2. Communicating the needs of clients to the technology or product team
3. Validating the solutions the tech or product team offers and communicating the same to clients.

The common skills that you require for moving to a business analyst profile are:

1. Excellent communication skills
2. Detailed product or service knowledge
3. Ability to analyze the requirements of the clients
4. Ability to formulate system testing
5. Knowledge of process modeling using UML
6. Knowledge of data modelling using E-R diagrams

How can you move to a Business Analyst Role?

Learn about the business analyst roles and responsibilities

1. Take up any course in business analysis to nurture your skills
2. Go for any specific exam like IIBA Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA), IBA Certification of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA), IIBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), PMI-Professional in Business Analysis (PBA) Certification, etc
3. Modify your resume by highlighting the courses and certification exams you have taken in business analysis domain and prepare for interviews

Business Analyst Salary

Top companies like TCS, Accenture, J.P. Morgan, Cognizant, Capgemini, etc. offer around Rs. 10 Lakhs to 15 Lakhs per annum to their senior business analysts having around 5 to 9 years of experience, as per PayScale.