Business Development Manager skills?

[wearewattle]

I was just sorting my todo list for tomorrow and added "write a job specification for a business development manager" onto the bottom of it as we are about to start the process of recruiting in this area (I currently do it all!). Before I do I thought it would be worth asking the community here their thoughts on what skills you would require from a business development manager? What would (or what did!) your small business look for in its first sales hire?

 

[BOS]

Senior BDM work is what my company does. If you are not going to use HR consultant to help with both recruitment and interview you will need skills that you probably don't have to increase significantly the chance of correct hire.

 

[Shirlyn]

The main role of Business Development Manager is to improve an organization’s market position and achieve financial growth. BDM should be clear with organizational strategic goals, builds key customer relationships, identifies business opportunities, negotiates and closes business deals and maintains extensive knowledge of current market conditions. Sometime it becomes important for him to talk with another internal team, marketing staff, and other managers to increase sales opportunities and thereby maximize revenue for their organization. He should have knowledge of new offers and tactics to improve the quality of the brand against the competitors.

 

[AllUpHere]

I'd say the first thing to look for is that anyone applying realises that business development is much more of a marketing role than a sales based one.

Any idiot can fill your diary. A business development manager should have the skills and knowledge required to find your most lucrative target markets, and then build relationships with many different stakeholders to make sure you not only win contracts from these most lucrative target markets, but also do so without having to spend money on promotional marketing.

If the candidate also has the knowledge to be able to suggest improvements to your business and your internal procedures, in order to better tailor your business to the needs of these markets snap them up quickly, before they realise they could make much more money as a consultant than as an employee.