Business Development Manager

​Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager often know as BDM is a vital position in any company these positions are usually occupied by experienced sales staff that have learnt their craft as a Business Development Executive (BDE) or at least spent some time within a telesales environment.

 There are 2 distinct different types of Business Development Managers these are Inside sales and field sales. Even though both will focus on attracting new business the type of person attracted to each role can vary massively

Inside sales

Often inside sales Business Development Managers are working within a tech SaaS business and are used to selling through online demos through various platforms like GoToMeeting, Join.MeGoogle Hangouts, Microsoft Teams etc. This usually means that the majority of the time they are office based with a few exceptions where they will meet larger clients on site to close the
deal.

Often by the time a lead reaches a Business Development Manager it has been through several checks to ensure it is a sales qualified lead (SQL). This means that the customer has a genuine desire for the product as well as has budget for the solution. Depending on the company set up this will have either have been completed by a Business Development Executive (BDE), someone within the Telesales new business appointment setting team or for some smaller organisations by the Business Development Manager themselves.

The role of the Business Development Manager is to understand the prospects issues and what problems these are causing within the organisation and try to identify solutions that their product/service could relieve these pain points.

Field Sales

From the outset this is a very different role to the inside sales Business Development Manager as you have to manager your diary not only in terms of opportunities but also location as you will need to arrange meetings that will enable you to allow you to beet as many clients in a day as possible whilst navigating traffic. Some sales staff love the freedom that this provides as often it means that very little time is spent in the office, as part of the package the role usually comes with a company car and you also get to meet your clients on a face to face enabling in a closer long term relationship. 

Appointment setting for field based Business Development Manager (BDM’s) can also be completed by internal sales teams through Business Development Executives (BDE’s), Appointment Setters, Telesales or the Business Development Manager themselves. Field Sales Business Development Managers do have the advantage of when being at an appointment often they will canvass the surrounding area for clients and this can often bring in new leads.

The role for a field sales Business Development Manager is exactly the same for an inside sales Business Development Manager. Through asking questions or reflecting on the information collated by Business Development Executives during the qualification process you look to understand the prospects problems and understand their pain points. From this you look to match the benefits of the product or service you offer to fulfill these issues to create a solution for your prospect and close the sale.