Business Development Executive Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a business development executive. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a business development executive.
Who is a Business Development Executive?
Most business owners harbor a plausible dream of growing their businesses and running a global investment. With technological breakthroughs globally, it is feasible to achieve anything in the business world. Several business owners articulate a vision similar to yours; they want to expand their business albeit in various ways. Spending time with even small and medium-scale business owners can help you to uncover this. While some business owners seek to nurture a robust list of clients to make them wealthy, others merely want to make enough to pay their bills and generate a reasonable income to live a comfortable life. Regardless of the motive for growth, most business adopts the business development model and recruit business development executives to manage and run their affairs, and bring their vision to reality.
Business development can be defined as the tasks and processes concerning the analytical preparation of potential growth opportunities and the support and monitoring of the implementation of growth opportunities. Practically, developing a business entails the processes and tasks to develop and support growth opportunities within an organization. This process creates long-term value for a firm or enterprise from markets, customers, and relationships. The concept of business development emphasizes the implementation of the strategic business plan through equity financing, acquisition, or divestiture of technologies, products, and companies. Undoubtedly, business development is a marketing tactic; the objectives include branding, expansion in markets, new customer acquisition, and awareness. However, business development focuses mainly on utilizing partners in selling or advertising to the right customers. Success in business development requires strong partnerships and relationships; both parties involved must be willing to contribute their quota immensely. Relatively, business development activities can be done externally or internally by a business development executive or consultant.
Therefore, a business development executive is an individual responsible for developing and enhancing growth in an organization via customer acquisition and increased sales. The business development executive nurtures existing clients relationship, generates sales leads, and contact new and potential clients. The role also involves the promotion of services and products, traveling to events, meeting with key clients, and representing the firm at networking events and conferences. They also discover new leads and promote and conduct online research through different social media climes to enhance and target new markets. The business development executives are tasked with the planning and overseeing of marketing and advertising creativities. A business development executive is usually an excellent manager with complementary sales and interpersonal skills.
While meeting with clients, the business development executive monitors the market trends to come up with new business ventures that can benefit the company. Working with other management staff and teams, the business development executives strive to promote the firm’s longevity as well. Using their knowledge of the organization and corporation, most business development managers contribute new ideas and obtain funding from investors whilst investigating the new leads. They use their understanding of sales and marketing to look for new techniques to improve quality and build off existing offerings. As a business development executive, you may choose to work as an area sales executive, marketing executive, or coordinator in a company. Other sub-specializations available to business development executives include regional sales manager, relationship manager, operational manager, business analyst, and project executive to mention but a few.
Additionally, the business development executive manages prospects and researches on the client business referral, networks, and web leads. He/she provides potential customers with all the services and products offered and makes additional presentations when required. They cooperate with the customers to find and create solutions for their needs; as well as consult throughout the process. Most business development executives are smart, well-spoken, energetic, and eager to close sales and increase revenue. They find new strategies, attract the general public, and boost the entire business of the company. All this is done in tandem with the qualification and identification of enticing business opportunities. Most business development executives have computer proficiency which enables them to create and maintain a database of current and prospective customers. No wonder companies and firms are constantly hunting and looking for business development executives to manage and provide growth to their businesses.
Challenges and cons are part of every job or position; however, there are several pros and advantages of becoming a business development executive such as;
There is flexibility in the working timings of business development executives. They can work anytime they want; some might choose to work remotely depending on the company, nature of business, and terms of the contract.
There is full independence of work since a business development executive doesn’t have or need to report to any supervisor.
They can apply to any area of work. The nature of their job provides them with relevant experience and expertise to work in different sectors and cultures.
Finally, the salary of business development executives is adequate to meet ends needs.
Business Development Executive Job Description
Below are the business development executive job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a business development executive job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
A business development executive is expected to grow the company’s client base by emphasizing new customers, breaking out into new sectors or ventures, and using new techniques to reach out and communicate with potential leads. For the position of business development executive, the ideal candidate is expected to be motivated to reach out and attract new business. Typically, the responsibilities and duties of a business development executive include the following;
- Innovate and oversee the sales process for the business to attract new clients.
- Identify and manage company risks that might prevent growth.
- Work with other management staff or teams to promote the organization’s business.
- Research and identify opportunities that are present in existing and new markets.
- Qualify, modify, and secure business opportunities for the company.
- Prepare and deliver presentations and pitches to prospective clients and partners.
- Attend industry workshops, exhibitions, conferences, and trade shows.
- Create, develop, and nurture long-lasting relationships and partnerships with current and new customers.
- Communicate with clients to understand their needs.
- Proffer and offer solutions to the customer’s needs.
- Answer potential customer questions; respond to customers’ requests for proposal, and follow-up call questions.
- Foster a collaborative working environment in the organization; combine efforts and creativity to promote the growth and longevity of the firm.
- Coordinate business generation activities and develop targeted and customized sales strategies.
- Secure, grow and retain accounts through proper collaborations with leadership and sales.
- Develop and maintain a list or database of prospective clients.
- Maintain a database (sales force or excel) of potential customers’ information.
- Make multiple outbound calls to clients to work through the sales closing process.
- Meet all quotas for cold, active, or inactive calls.
- Meet or exceed annual sales goals; coordinate appointments and interviews.
- Use the CRM software to maintain a pipeline of all sales administered.
- Prepare and maintain short and long-term business development plans.
- Set up and forecast sales goals.
- Familiarize yourself with all the organization’s services and products.
- Suggest upgrades or added services and products that may be of interest to customers.
- Craft business contracts and proposals to draw more revenue from clients.
- Negotiate with the customers to secure the most attractive prices.
- Equip staff and team members with the technical and social skills needed to enhance sales.
- Review customer feedback and implement the necessary changes.
- Remain in tune with trends in consumption to ensure that the company’s offerings remain relevant.
Qualifications
There are variations or differences in the qualifications needed to become a business development executive depending on the sector or organization. However, the following are generally required or preferred;
Experience: Most companies and business enterprises prefer highly experienced candidates. 2-3 years of working as a business developer in a good company can suffice. Such experience can be gained by completing an internship or working in an entry-level position after graduation from school. Also, working as a sales or marketing manager is a bonus. The preferred candidate should have relative experience with lead generation and prospect management. An individual with previous experience working in an outbound call center, knowledge of the sales process from initiation to closing, and client retention will be given preference over those who are new to the industry.
Education: At least a bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, or related course is desirable. Candidates with a minimum of second class (upper division) are at an advantage. In relation, most employers prefer applicants with a master’s or equivalent degree as well. Although most companies have different educational criteria, the consensus is that candidates with an advanced degree possess an advanced skill set. An engineering and computer degree is also acceptable for the role of a business development executive; as well as proficiency with Microsoft Office suite (PowerPoint, word, excel, and outlook) and CRM or Salesforce. Individuals with added certifications such as the certified business development professional or certified business development expert credentials make good candidates.
Other relevant qualifications include being intuitive and insightful particularly regarding human behavior, being resourceful, being professional and having an affable disposition, and possessing an embodiment for challenges.
Essential Skills
To be successful as a business development executive requires commercial awareness, creativity, as well as being target-driven. If you are looking to pursue a role as a business development executive, there are several common skills you will need to have. Setting personal goals to improve these skills can help you to be a more competitive candidate; your qualifications might not be enough to get you the role because of the extreme competition. Discussed below are the key skills and characteristics that you must be able to exhibit and possess if you are looking to progress your career in business development;
Analytical skills: Creativity should be built on the bedrock of an analytical mind for a business development executive. An individual will need to employ sales data and market research to present opportunities to stakeholders. Also, a business development executive will need to understand what makes commercial sense to pursue and what could potentially cost more to explore than it could ever bring in. You will need to have an in-depth understanding of the wider market; you need to analyze and figure out if new, realistic, attainable, and profitable opportunities for growth and longevity are to be proposed and developed.
Sales and marketing skills: This is an important skill for business development executives. While business development and sales roles serve different purposes, they share a few similar responsibilities and tasks. For this reason, a business development executive must have basic sales skills to succeed in the position. To target opportunities for growth, you must be able to identify members of the organization’s target audience and effectively find and follow up on opportunities. In addition, business development executives need the skills to build relationships with potential partners and clients. This might involve tasks such as cold-calling or setting up in-person meetings to discuss potential opportunities and sell the idea of a partnership that benefits all and sundry.
Negotiation skills and goal-focused: New business is rarely won overnight; a business development executive will need to demonstrate and show that they can maintain and develop relationships over long periods, yet still can pull in quick wins to meet targets and objectives. Also, new businesses always require new terms and it is the responsibility of the business development executive to ensure that the terms agreed are favorable to the organization. Therefore, excellent negotiation skills and goal-oriented individuals are needed to fill in business development executive roles.
Return on investment and project management skills: As a business development executive, you should be able to track returns on investments and have data to support them when presenting to the management team. The metrics business development executives track will differ depending on the needs of the organization, industry, and sales cycle. Similarly, developing or growing a business is a large and complex project that requires good project management skills. These skills include leadership, team management, the ability to monitor and manage risk, and personal organization. Simply, a business development executive must have expertise and experience in project management.
How to Become a Business Development Executive
Follow the following steps to start a career as a business development executive;
Enroll for and obtain a high school certificate
Get a bachelor’s degree in business administration or any other related course.
While in school, look for an internship to gain relevant working experience.
Apply for entry-level positions or voluntary work to get acquainted with business development.
Enroll for a master’s or equivalent postgraduate degree.
Where to work
Any company that wants to expand its customer base will employ a business development executive. Some of the major areas where a business development executive may apply for a job are;
Software companies
Pharmaceutical companies
Marketing companies
Consultancy companies
Product-related firms
Telecommunication firms
Infrastructure companies
Business Development Executive Salary Scale
A business development executive earns 66,551AUD annually in Australia. Salary ranges from 52,000AUD to 98,000AUD depending on location and years of experience. Relatively, the starting salary of business development executives in Nigeria is between 317,414NGN and 373,430NGN while the maximum salary range is between 4,360,000NGN and 5, 014,000NGN per year. The national salary for a business development executive in Germany is 60,656EUR.