What I look for in hiring a business development manager
Business development seems to be the sales buzz word of the decade. As sales in itself seemed to be getting a bad wrap from the 1990s, sales roles started to be rebranded as business development management, a hybrid role in between sales and marketing. In the digital era, it’s almost impossible to do sales without having at least some understanding of marketing, and as the two become closely intertwined, business development is becoming increasingly important.
So the question is, what do I look for when hiring a business development manager?
Technical experience is highly valued
Unlike traditional sales and marketing, the reason why business development is its own role is because of the nature of digital marketing today. By focusing on digital funnel creation, business development becomes vastly more technical than traditional sales and marketing roles. As digital marketing by its nature relies heavily on analytical tools, technical ability matters a lot.
Understanding of sales as relationship management
In business development, far more than traditional sales roles, the attitude isn’t about “closing deals” so much as it is about “forming relationships and partnerships”. Sales cycles can take months of work to form, and once the deal is signed the real work begins. Once the sale is done, the relationship is formed, not just with the business but almost always with the business development manager also.
Depth of knowledge on the business model
As business development management is a highly variable role, when interviewing candidates for these types of roles I almost always ask about what their understanding of the client’s business model. Know the business context of how their company operates is one thing, but having a true understating of where the margins are for profit and the opportunities within those margins is something else.
Ability in a proven sales role
Of course, like any sales role, sales experience matters. For a candidate to be considered, they need to have the proven sales experience to match the role. While I don’t hire on sales experience alone, having sales experience is the backbone of business development.
Interested in being a business development manager? Get in touch at kenan.arif@s2m.com.au!
