Business development executives are senior-level managers who serve the role of growing the business. Another way of describing these professionals is that the executives excel at high-level sales.
Business Development Executive Skills
The main objective of business development executives is to find ways for the executives’ companies to convert leads into new customers and to sell more services and products to current customers. This role is vital for any organization that aims to expand into new markets or to reach a more diverse set of clients. Due to the importance of this sort of work, there is a very high level of demand for business development managers in practically all job sectors. The need for business professionals in this role extends to business-to-customer, non-profit organizations and even business-to-business.
Since business development executives take on senior roles, these executives usually have customizable, personalized schedules and have very few people above to answer to. So long as these executives can steadily bring the company new clients and produce high sales volumes, the schedules and daily tasks of these individuals are completely adaptable and adjustable to business needs.
Business development executives must be superb at calculations, socially adept and able to provide strong leadership to large teams of salespersons.
Skills that are necessary for this role include the following:
• Impeccable organization and time-management skills
• Ability to triage tasks and prioritize efficiently
• Capable of reaching deadlines and working under intense pressure
• High attention to detail
• Skilled in communication and fluent in IT concepts
• Very knowledgeable of the industry and up-to-date on industry news
• Creative thinking and problem-solving abilities
The best business development executives have the following qualities:
1. Interpersonal & Communication Abilities
Strong communication skills are indispensable for business development executives. These senior managers will be tasked with speaking, making assertions and giving presentations to the stakeholders involved in various sales deals. Business developers must also be capable of cold calling leads confidently, effectively converting new customers.
2. Collaboration Expert
Not even the best business development executive can do everything alone. Collaboration with different parties who are internal and external to the executive’s organization is an essential part of the job. Successful business development executives must be able to construct business relationships, engage in conflict-resolution, handle office politics tactfully and spread the organization’s influence to achieve the organization’s development goals.
3. Business Knowledge and Intelligence
Effective business development executives must know about pertinent business information relevant to each executives organization, including extensive knowledge of products and services. Business developers must know how the revenue recognition principle will impact the number of feasible business strategies that can be researched and ultimately implemented. Executives who have thoroughly researched the competition are also invaluable assets and a key to one day beating them in terms of units sold, services offered and overall revenue generated. The most effective business development executives will conduct market analyses of the organization’s market and its competitive advantage over its competition to determine its current position in the marketplace. This sort of activity implies that a business development executive must be able to effectively collect and interpret data relevant to the organization’s development goals.
Beyond using business knowledge in ways that get tangible results for organizations, business development executives are always searching for new sources of knowledge. Business developers read about and discuss the most current economic and business issues that confront the relevant developers’ industries. Additionally, these developers strive to acquire extensive knowledge in related fields such as Strategic Management, Business Planning, Marketing and Sales Management, using this wealth of knowledge to find new ways to grow an organization.
4. Computer Literacy
Not only must a business development executive know basic computing skills, but they must also know software such as Microsoft Office to a considerably high degree. Literacy in Customer-Relationship Management (CRM) software is also a necessity for this kind of business developer.
5. Research & Strategy
Business development executives must be able to conduct research and strategic analysis of both internal and external elements. These sorts of research and analyses must be performed as they are a means of benchmarking the organization and for finding the means to beat out the competition.
6. Project Management Capabilities
Part of the business development industry is intertwined with Project Management. This is because business developers must determine organizational sales or client goals, plan out and handle projects and engage in risk-management procedures. Effective executives must also determine the costs, budgets, time and the number of team members allocated to current projects.
Business development executives are essential for organizations seeking to grow in terms of size and client-base. These executives are experts in communication, project management, research and gathering business-relevant knowledge. The above-mentioned qualities can produce the best business development executives that are humanly possible.
