WHAT DOES A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER DO?

Published: May 22, 2025 - The Business Development Manager (BDM) defines and executes commercial strategies in alignment with leadership teams to drive revenue growth and market expansion. This role manages sales operations, identifies cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, and nurtures strategic customer relationships while building a consistent new business pipeline. The manager also requires up-to-date knowledge of digital marketing trends and video solutions to effectively consult clients and ensure sustained business development success.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Business Development Manager

1. BDM Duties

  • Client Acquisition: Drive the development of new client relationships through effective daily planning, prospecting, cold calling and appointment setting
  • Sales Performance: Meet weekly sales metrics that will lead to annual personal sales and gross profit objectives
  • Lead Qualification: Pursue companies that fit the Advanced Resources ideal client profile
  • Needs Assessment: Collaborate with client contacts to understand current and future staffing needs
  • Brand Representation: Represent Advanced Resources as the most respected staffing firm in our industry
  • Stakeholder Interaction: Interact with clients, consultants, and vendors regularly
  • Expectation Management: Continually clarify client expectations and establish goals for advancing client partnerships
  • Referral Development: Expand business relationships within each client via referrals to new departments, and exceed client expectations to the degree that clients refer us to new companies
  • Relationship Building: Fosters positive relationships to encourage increased sales, proactively markets consultants to clients and works proactively with clients to pull orders
  • Account Management: Manage accounts and continually seek new business
  • Team Collaboration: Work with internal staffing operations so that recruiting activities complement sales activity
  • Internal Communication: Build team relationships with staffing teams and communicate frequently on open orders and upcoming client needs
  • Revenue Alignment: Work with the staffing team toward meeting overall division revenue and GP goals
  • Client Communication: Interact with clients, consultants, and vendors regularly
  • Information Comprehension: Comprehend written sources of information (read reports, reference materials) as well as verbal sources of information
  • Regulatory Understanding: Read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations
  • Effective Communication: Communicate effectively and clearly in writing and orally, both in one-on-one and in-group presentation situations
  • Cross-Level Communication: Interact and communicate with all levels of staff
  • Numerical Reasoning: Calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, percentages, and volume

2. Business Development Manager Details

  • Account Management: Develop and maintain branch accounts
  • Client Prospecting: Canvass for new clientele via outside sales activity
  • Relationship Cultivation: Cultivate existing client relationships to increase candidate placement
  • Solution Selling: Sell staffing solutions to prospective clients
  • Action Planning: Effectively create a daily call/action plan to meet activity expectations
  • Data Accuracy: Maintain accurate current and potential client profiles
  • Team Communication: Share information daily with team members
  • Market Awareness: Retain current competitor/market knowledge
  • Salary Monitoring: Monitor the candidate pool relating to competitive salaries in the local market
  • Core Values: Uphold core values and beliefs that include team spirit, customer focus, responsibility, and entrepreneurship

3. Business Development Manager (BDM) Responsibilities

  • Trend Analysis: Understand industry trends to support targeted growth strategy
  • Supplier Identification: Identify potential Suppliers by collaborating with Merchant Group and Analytics, attending trade shows, etc.
  • Sourcing Strategy: Implement strategic sourcing plans with each Buying Group built around assortment needs
  • Supplier Qualification: Qualify targeted suppliers' sales, operational potential, and potential risks
  • Supplier Engagement: Engage and follow up with potential Suppliers to move them through the acquisition process including onboarding
  • Pipeline Management: Document and maintain an acquisition pipeline of qualified Suppliers at each stage of the process
  • Marketing Collateral: Assist in creating acquisition marketing collateral including pitch decks
  • Sales Toolkit Development: Continually research and expand the sales toolkit specific to each category

4. Business Development Manager Job Summary

  • Customer Insight: Understand in depth the customers’ business, identify their needs and provide a solution that will add value to their business
  • Product Demonstration: Service prospects with quotes, engage in product demonstrations and provide sample products
  • Sales Conversion: Maintain a high lead-to-sales conversion rate
  • Sales Reporting: Reporting and internal administration to include CRM activity log, monthly reports to management, order administration, creating NB analysis and preparing proposals
  • Customer Nurturing: Continue to provide value to prospects to bring them on as customers and identify risks and opportunities
  • Competitive Intelligence: Gather a strong working knowledge of competitive intelligence
  • Market Knowledge: Develop the company’s product, technical and alternative investment market knowledge
  • Strategy Planning: Develop and deliver to management quarterly territory strategy plans
  • Team Collaboration: Collaborate with colleagues and internal departments to achieve goals

5. Business Development Manager Accountabilities

  • Account Acquisition: Identify, research, qualify, pursue, sign and transition medium and large-sized plant maintenance manufacturing accounts
  • Value Proposition: Develop value-based proposals and other offers to communicate the value, quality, and strengthen the relationship of prospects and existing customers
  • Contract Negotiation: Coordinate, develop, propose, and secure agreements with prospective organizations by contacting the appropriate management and decision-makers
  • Revenue Optimization: Work with financing and negotiate pricing and terms of new agreements to maximize revenue and profits and minimize risk
  • Agreement Implementation: Ensure all agreements are rapidly implemented, communicated across the sales team, and supporting functions are completely trained
  • Sales Communication: Communicate with the sales team and customer support staff on travel plans, customer needs/expectations, forecasted sales, and addressing shortfalls
  • Market Insight: Understand the Market Dynamics and customers' goals for a proactive approach to maximize their growth in Plant Maintenance MRO Product sales

6. Business Development Manager Functions

  • Team Motivation: Bring a high level of energy and a positive attitude that embodies core values and keeps the team of BDRs engaged and motivated
  • Talent Development: Hire and onboard new BDRs while providing ongoing coaching, training and development to the team
  • Performance Management: Manage and support individual BDRs, ensuring each is fully prepared and focused on achieving their pipeline goals
  • Process Implementation: Develop and implement processes and regimen to help BDRs hit their weekly, monthly, and quarterly objectives
  • Performance Forecasting: Forecast monthly and quarterly performance metrics
  • Data Analysis: Analyze performance data, understanding which actions drive desired results
  • Learning Opportunity: Identify areas of opportunity for learning and development
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Develop and maintain relationships with internal teams (Sales, Marketing, Operations)
  • Talent Pipeline: Lead the intern program and create a continuous talent pipeline

7. Business Development Manager Job Description

  • Commercial Strategy: Own, define and execute commercial strategy in collaboration with the lead team
  • Go-to-Market Planning: Contribute to Engagement Leadership to define go-to-market plans, service architecture and solution design
  • Revenue Delivery: Deliver on monthly, quarterly, and yearly revenue targets
  • Sales Operations: Responsible for excellence in sales operations and pipeline follow-through
  • Customer Growth: Identify customer growth, cross-sell and up-sell opportunities with Drawbotics' most strategic customers
  • Marketing Collaboration: Manage and work with marketing to create and execute
  • Business Portfolio: Build, manage and grow a portfolio of new business for Shootsta
  • Pipeline Creation: Continuously create and implement a new business pipeline
  • Opportunity Generation: Generate new opportunities through networking, events and referrals
  • Relationship Management: Nurture relationships and ensure outstanding customer relationships
  • Video Consulting: Become a trusted consultant in all things video to clients
  • Product Knowledge: Maintain accurate and up-to-date Shootsta product knowledge
  • Digital Trends: Stay up to date on trends and best practices in digital marketing
  • Revenue Achievement: Consistently achieve revenue growth targets
  • Video Insight: Genuine interest in the role of video for businesses today, whether from a socio-economic perspective, technology evolution or its exponential growth

8. BDM Overview

  • Contract Negotiation: Negotiate contracts with prospective fleet accounts to drive revenue and growth
  • Lead Maximization: Maximise leads and orders from existing leasing, broker and fleet partners
  • Stakeholder Networking: Network with and present to senior stakeholders (both clients and internal)
  • Fleet Management: Account manage fleet accounts including monthly reporting, query resolution and leading regular monthly meetings
  • Client Liaison: Act as the liaison between fleets and internal teams, ensuring clients’ needs are met
  • Fleet Expertise: Become a subject matter expert for Fleet within Pod Point
  • Sales Innovation: Stay up-to-date with internal and external developments, and suggest new ways to increase sales
  • Performance Reporting: Report directly to the Head of Automotive on forecasting, growth and necessary channel performance

9. Business Development Manager Details and Accountabilities

  • Market Development: Develop the market, find opportunities and drive business
  • Account Planning: Develop an account plan to focus on client acquisition and meeting revenue targets within the industry
  • Client Understanding: Understand the client, business development and business approaches
  • Strategy Input: Provide inputs to the quarterly, half-yearly and annual strategy plan with the targeted hunting revenue numbers
  • Brand Leveraging: Leverage Aus Newtech's branding and marketing activities such as round table sessions, networking events etc.
  • Thought Leadership: Develop business white paper analysis, case studies, proofs of concept and other thought leadership to present Aus Newtech's differentiated offerings
  • Client Engagement: Conduct presentations, executive meetings, and workshops at the client organization to shape their thinking and initiate buying
  • Solution Structuring: Work closely with the pre-sales team and the CEO to structure the solution and the deals
  • Client Interaction: Interact with the client to keep them engaged in the development of the solution and the deal
  • Commercial Negotiation: Lead negotiations on commercial terms to ensure revenue flow and profitability

10. Business Development Manager Tasks

  • Channel Management: Manage business development and operations for one or many YouTube Channels
  • Opportunity Identification: Focus on uncovering new business opportunities and driving revenue
  • Market Research: Research and understand the competitive landscape on YouTube
  • Growth Strategy: Strategize for the channel's optimal viewership and engagement growth
  • Team Leadership: Use a collaborative management style to motivate, develop and train the team
  • Process Implementation: Implement processes that ensure efficiency
  • Audience Analysis: Analyze day-to-day channel audience behaviour
  • Progress Reporting: Report growth progress to the Unit Manager every week
  • Networking Events: Attend appropriate external functions and events with referral partners
  • Client Engagement: Face-to-face client meetings, presentations and follow-up
  • Cold Calling: Regular cold calling to generate appointments, in line with team targets
  • Product Demonstration: Perform phone-based demonstrations of the corporate offering and online platform
  • Pipeline Management: Undertake accurate and timely administrative tasks associated with managing own sales pipeline
  • Client Onboarding: Collect necessary documentation from prospective clients and follow internal compliance processes
  • Sales Participation: Attend and actively participate in weekly sales meetings
  • Team Collaboration: Actively collaborate with colleagues to contribute to the development and delivery of OFX's strategic, business and operational plans
  • Brand Promotion: Act as an ambassador for, and promote the best interests of OFX at all times, including the promotion of OFX values