Top 21 BDA Interview Questions with Answers

Prepare these comprehensive answers for your upcoming BDA interview. Learn the best tips and techniques while answering questions that are situational and more.

Today, you will find all the answers to the frequently asked BDA interview questions. BDA or Business Development Associate is a prized role in startups and companies with multiple job perks. 

If you have completed any of the online sales courses, these interview questions will serve as a great start to brush up on the core areas of business development.

Q1. Why have you chosen a career in sales?

Ans. This is a general interview question for the BDA role. It is usually asked in the first or second HR interview round.  

You can explain how the sales field interests you. Tell the interviewer that sales is a high-growth field and that you are competitive and self-motivated. 

Typically, you can mention how sales lets you grow your professional network and nurture business relationships. Show you have experience in sales by giving examples. 

You can also emphasise your communication skills. Then, talk about situations when you have solved customer needs through your problem-solving skills that helped close a deal smoothly. 

Q2. How would you sell a course to a parent who is unaware of the company or online learning?

Ans. This is a situational BDA interview question. It can be asked at the beginning or later stages of the interview process. 

The question can also be related to any industry.

And this interview question relates to a company in the edtech sector.
So, here is what you need to do. 

You can highlight interactive learning methods, such as online video tutorials, games, study materials, etc., provided they are listed in the company’s offerings to customers.

You would need to consider the demographics particularly, and closely align your answer to the question. The goal is to analyse the customer first.

Now, if this question is about selling a course to a parent, you immediately know the edtech category is for children or school-going students. Think of what they would need to excel in their exams and learning.
Basis that, you can go on about how you will try to understand the strengths and weaknesses in certain subjects. You can show the demand for the course and how it will benefit the child’s learning. 

But maybe the student is scoring well with no tuition and the parent is happy with it. 

In this situation, when you are asked to sell, try to convince the parent instead of persuading. You can go on at length on how online classes and expert tutors effectively make them score better. 

Your goal should be about mentioning the benefits of the product or service you are selling and how they help the customer. Keeping this in mind will help you cover other situational interview questions.

Q3. Will you be able to achieve sales targets as a BDA?

Ans.  BDA is a high-pressure job in every company, and it requires leadership and decision-making skills. 

Do show that you are motivated enough to lead a sales team. Also, try to highlight your ability to make quick decisions in a fast-paced schedule. 

If you have experience in sales, you can mention developing and executing selling strategies in your previous job. The goal is to show your adaptability to difficult situations. For that, you can give examples of teamwork. 

Q4. Why do you want to become a BDA at our company?

Ans. The recruiter wants to know your familiarity with the job description and the company. 

It is ideal for showing how you can make a difference in your role. For that, it is crucial that you show awareness of the market and how dynamic the role is. 

Mention the different products the company offers. For instance, there can be products for various types of audiences. You need to show awareness of them and to which audience each product caters to. 

So, aligning with that highlight the core responsibilities of a Business Development Associate. 

• Attracting new clients and customers
• Increasing sales by executing marketing plans
• Having good knowledge of business strategy 
• Nurturing long-term relationships with clients
• Understanding different ways to reach the customer
• Marketing research
• Ensuring customer satisfaction

Do provide multiple examples while you answer similar interview questions for BDA. Also, it will be beneficial if you show that you are motivated to learn during your job. 

Meanwhile, explore some business strategy courses on our platform and start learning core concepts quick!

Q5. Mention your strengths and weaknesses as a BDA.

Ans.  Talk about how you solve problems through good communication for such type of BDA interview questions. Try to give examples of your previous role when such skills helped. 

You can also talk about maintaining good professional relationships with your previous clients. Explain situations to describe the growth of sales with your marketing plans and such. 

For weaknesses, try to explain how you turn them into strengths. 

For instance, you may not achieve the target number, but all your customers are happy with you. Highlight that you are willing to work towards improving your numbers and maintaining good relationships. 

Q6. Tell us the best ways to convert a lead. 

Ans. Some ways to close a sale are – 

• Offering a discount or freebie
• Following up with the prospects multiple times after the first interaction without being intrusive
• Automating texts and emails for every stage of the sales funnel

Such interview questions and answers for BDA are related to sales terminology. Focus on brushing up your knowledge of them.

Q7. Which are the standard lead conversion metrics that you track regularly?

Ans.  Some essential lead conversion metrics to consider are –

• Customer Lifetime Value
• Retention Rate
• Quality of Leads

Business development associate interview questions like these are asked to test how well you know the metrics in detail and how measuring or tracking them will help the company.

Q8. How do you identify a lead?

Ans. Identifying a qualified lead requires the following steps.

1. Determining the current customers 
2. Understanding whether the prices of products match the budget of the customers
3. Finding out the customer’s need for the product

Q9. How are sales and marketing different?

Ans. Selling is a subset of marketing. It helps a customer with their purchasing decisions. But marketing involves more tactics to understand the type and fit of customers. 

Refer to how different are marketing and selling to elaborate your answer better. 

Explore marketing courses too!

Q10. Why have you made a career switch from an engineering background?

Ans. This question is commonly asked during the personal interview rounds at many companies. Even when you have an academic background different from engineering and which is not related to sales. 

But try to maintain confidence while answering it. Because ultimately this answer will revolve around why do you want to join the company as a BDA.

Again, make use of your communication skills. Emphasise that you enjoy speaking to people, have taken an active part in group discussions during your college years, etc. 

Q11. How do you identify new marketing opportunities?

Ans. Some primary ways to find a new market are 

1. Conducting market research, online and offline
2. Understanding how customers purchase products
3. Knowing how your business is performing against the latest trends and your competitors
4. Finding out what your indirect competitors are doing to enter new markets
5. Evaluating your company’s business strategy

Q12. Why should a company find new markets?

Ans.  In general, there are a few challenges that businesses should first address. Entering a new market is quite expensive and has risks. But the benefits may outweigh the risks when businesses evaluate their strategy. 

Some top benefits are

1. A new market means that there are more options for existing customers to choose the brand
2. Businesses are able to acquire new customers and grow revenue through increased sales
3. New markets also provide more opportunities to innovate to stay ahead of the new competition
4. While entering a new market, businesses can collaborate with new partners as a strategy to acquire similar customers

Q13. Explain a sales pipeline and how it differs from a sales funnel. 

Ans. It is a diagram representing the sales process from leads to closing. A business development associate has to maintain or update it to help the sales team increase sales. 

1. Prospecting – Identifying those who show or might be interested in your product by  reaching out to them
2. Qualifying – After reaching out to an audience who shows interest, you will be determining if the individuals are a good fit
3. Consulting – Once the individual shows more interest, you will be providing solutions to solve their issues or queries
4. Proposal – This is the stage the buyer agrees to purchase or not

A sales funnel on the other hand focuses on the customer journey considering the potential customers as a lead. It determines the number of prospects through the different stages in the sales pipeline. 

Answer this BDA interview better by reading about the Marketing funnel.

Q14. What is the difference between sales and business development?

Ans. Business development looks into identifying new markets, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the product/service, maintaining business relationships with clients, etc. 

Salespeople are concerned with all activities that generate revenue. They are more inclined toward helping the customer in the sales process. 

Q15. What is the importance of a business development strategy?

Ans. A business development strategy outlines the process for identifying, nurturing, and acquiring clients to align with the business goal of an organisation. Overall, the strategy determines the long-term goal of improving revenue growth. The business development associate has to consider these elements to improve the reputation of a company as well. 

Q16. Name some effective business development strategies. 

Ans. Some commonly used strategies are

1. Referrals – It is a passive strategy where you rely on your customers/clients to refer to their network. But for that, you would have to know which client referral is qualifiable. Along with that, you have to make sure that you don’t force your existing clients too much to refer. 
2. Networking – Networking strategy involves an active role between a business and customers. It starts from identifying the purpose of networking, which could be finding new clients, maintaining the current relationship with customers, or becoming a thought leader in your niche. 
3. Partnerships – This can be extremely beneficial for businesses when done right. But it has to be a strategic alliance where both companies are able to grow revenue for a similar audience. 

Q17. What is the difference between business development and marketing?

Ans. Business development involves improving business relationships, while marketing focuses on communication. Both are required for a business to run smoothly. 

Q18. How do you start a pitch?

Ans. Initiating a pitch is probably the hardest part of selling because you have to know how to grab someone’s attention first. But there are some ways to go about it. 

1. Keeping the pitch short that shows you value the customer’s time
2. Communicating with the listener clearly about the solutions to their pain points. This you can do by addressing their pain points frequently. 
3. Sharing examples from other customers and how your product solved their problems

Q19. What, according to you, is the most important factor in selling a product?

Ans. This is a tricky interview question for a BDA professional as there are many factors to consider. Overall, one of the most important factors is knowing how the product solves your target audience’s pain points. 

Q20. How will you convince a potential customer to buy from you when they are comparing your product with your competition?

Ans. You can expect such common BDA interview questions in any company. For this common situation, you can highlight your persuading and negotiating skills. Along with that, you must be data-driven in your market research so that you can provide data of your competitors against yours. The best approach could be preparing a list of benefits of your products against competitors with data available.  

Q21. If you get through our company, what will be your main priority, sales or the company?

Ans. This is again a tricky BDA question that is asked during the final interview round by a product specialist or HR. To answer it, it is best to mention that it is with your sales skills that the company can grow. So priority-wise, it should be sales as it relates to your designation. This will also show the recruiter that you are confident enough for the role.

Parting Thoughts

These are some of the most asked BDA interview questions and answers. BDA can be a great career opportunity at many companies for freshers and professionals in sales or marketing. 

Based on the experience in sales, the Business Development Associate’s annual salary ranges from ₹ 2.6 lakhs to ₹ 10 lakhs as per AmbitionBox. 

So prepare these Business Development Associate interview questions and answers. And if you are still planning to make a career as a BDA, do explore sales and business development courses. 

Also, check out the business development executive roles and responsibilities, as the next step in your BD career! If serious, consider a relevant business development manager course.

Some essential interview questions blogs to read:

• Team Leader interview questions
• Managerial Round interview questions