Business Development Manager job description

Key responsibilities

While the responsibilities vary depending on the business and industry, the core duties of a Business Development Manager include:

• Market research: Constantly analyse the market for new partnership opportunities and different ways to sell.
• Prospect new clients: Engage potential clients through cold outreach.
• Build relationships: Build and maintain relationships with key new, lost and existing clients.
• Develop solutions: Leverage sales data to identify customer pain points to inform new opportunities.
• Lead the sales strategy: Contribute to the business development strategy with the creation of plans for long-term growth.
• Represent the business: Become the face of the business in all aspects of the role.

Skills and requirements

The main skills for becoming a Business Development Manager include:

• Prior experience in a sales management, lead generation or business development role
• Industry knowledge is preferable
• Proven sales experience, with a track record of achieving targets and onboarding new clients
• Negotiation tactics to find mutually beneficial solutions for clients
• Strategic thinking, leveraging data to plan ahead for the future
• Resilience, with the ability to take rejection in your stride
• Self-motivated and results-driven
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities at once