The following article brings forth the complete business development manager’s job description, the expected salary in this profession, as well as the qualifications and skills required to become successful in it. Read on…
The aim of any business organization is to make profits. Every year, a company makes an estimate of the revenue it expects to make in that financial year. To achieve this, it develops a number of financial, production and business strategies. A business development manager ensures that the business strategies to attain revenues, are implemented. Growing the business, finding new clients, building on the relationship with old ones, providing the customers with the kind of products and services they demand, closing deals, these are some of the jobs that a business development manager in an organization is expected to perform, to achieve the preset business goals.
Duties
A business development manager meets up with the prospective clients of the business. He gives them a presentation on the company’s products and services. He stays in touch with the clients and convinces them to try the company’s offerings. Thus, a major part of his job involves increasing the consumer base of the company.
In a large organization, a business development manager usually heads a team of sales executives, business development executives and other sales staff who work under him. Keeping his team motivated, explaining to them their individual sales goals, ensuring that they meet their targets, holding meetings with them regularly, solving all the problems and issues that they face, these are some of the duties of a business development manager.
A business development manager should have excellent communication and people’s skills. He should know how to build good relationships with the clients as it helps in repeat business. He should have a good rapport with his team as well and he should know how to keep them motivated to achieve more. Lastly, he should be well aware of the current market trends. He should know what kind of products/services the consumers expect, inform about the same to the production team of the business and then deliver to the clients what they want. This contributes tremendously to increasing the sales of a business.
Qualifications and Skills
The job of a business development manager may require him to travel to a number of places. He should enjoy meeting people and possess good convincing skills. To become a business development manager, a person should possess a bachelor’s degree, preferably in business. If he has a master’s degree in business, like an MBA, his prospects of growth and promotion increase considerably in this field. Usually, a professional starts as a sales executive and afterward, once he gains experience of a few years and if he performs well, he can look forward to getting promoted as a business development manager.
As a business development manager is always required to interact with clients, he should be confident, positive, pleasant and a good communicator. He should also possess the required skills for making effective presentations and closing the deals. Market research, analyzing the data on the market, having a finger on the pulse of the potential customers, these are some other things that will carry a business development manager through in his profession.
Salary
A business development manager is employed in all kinds of industries today, be it information technology, hotels, advertising agencies, fast-moving consumer goods, etc. The salary of a business development manager may range anywhere between $41,000 to $181,000 per year, depending upon the industry he is employed in, the place he is employed in, the number of years’ experience in the industry he has as well as the size of the organization. On an average, a business development manager is expected to earn around $86,000 per year.
After going through the job description, skills, education and salary structure of a business development manager, you would have a fairly good idea of how things work in this field. So, if you enjoy meeting people, if you have the gift of the gab, if you can analyze market trends and are convinced that you have the ability to manage, motivate and lead a team, this is the right profession for you.