Career in business development: What does a BDM do?

Business Development Managers are valuable to any business. A competent BDM can generate new business and improve a company's prospects. In fact, a business development manager’s primary role is to generate leads for companies in retail, e-commerce, FMCG, electronics, pharmaceutical, fashion, and other such sectors.

A factor that differentiates business development managers from the rest is that they are responsible for promoting and marketing services and products of organisations, and government agencies, rather than engaging in selling them directly to individuals. In other words, it involves looking after the different aspects of business, rather than doing the actual selling. In addition to the same, a business development manager attends numerous conferences and corporate events to network and meet the needs of their client or business firm. Business development is a crucial strategy and means of developing and executing a growth strategy for a business in an advantageous manner.

Responsibilities of a BDM

A successful business development manager attends numerous networking events for attracting and retaining clients. Furthermore, a good business development manager also pays careful attention to customer feedback, to ensure that the products and services they are working with consistently meet and exceed customer expectations. If you are looking to make a career as a Business Development Manager (BDM), here are some of the things that you will have to keep doing as part of your job:

• Get to know more about the company's products and services
• Get to know more about the customer needs and propose solutions based on them
• Communicate with the sales teams and store managers to maintain and grow your account
• Travel to client locations and attend trade fairs to promote your organisation’s products and services
• Contribute to the organisation's reputation by taking part in different competitions and winning professional awards
• Keeping the company in line with consumer trends to keep its products relevant

Skills needed by a BDM

There are certain skills that stand a BDM in good stead, making them competent to take on the dynamic responsibilities of the role. Here are some of the major ones:

Accounting and Finance:

Minute knowledge and understanding of this area will not only assist you in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the work environment of an organisation but also its pathways to profit. As a fresher in the field, you will be required to look after the key issues being faced by your clients and thereafter provide financial solutions, along with helping the company in its negotiating process.

Marketing

A strong knowledge of marketing will only be beneficial for you to foster and build lifelong relationships with your customer. Beginning from sales to being able to provide the customers with valuable feedback as to which product will be beneficial for them, to finally selling the product, ultimately leads to excellence, sustainability and long-term relationships with customers. When a particular customer trusts your product they are not only trusting your brand but also keeping a keen eye on its other products and services. How well a business development representative presents their brand, in the long run, is what makes a huge difference.

Management

Gaining insight into this area gives you a strategic advantage in developing best-practice sales methodologies. Talent management knowledge demonstrates the ability to lead, organise, motivate and measure sales team performance.

Communication skills

Business development managers must be able to write and speak confidently along with listening to potential customer reactions and concerns. The day-to-day responsibilities of a BDM include speaking to prospects over call, sharing valuable information and fostering long-term relationships with the ones directly involved in the business.

In addition to these skills, business development managers must also be successful in negotiating and thinking creatively to prioritise the needs of their organisation and customers.

Courses

Some of the popular online courses in business development include:

• Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills by Coursera
  
• The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process Specialisation by Coursera
  
• Business Development For Startups and Tech Companies by Udemy

Business development is about figuring out and identifying long-term ways for adding value via marketing initiatives, developing relationships, and customers. While different industries have their own day-to-day tasks and strategies for reaching the goal, their overall mission tends to remain the same. So ready to take part in growing a business now?