WHAT DOES A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER DO?
Reviewed under Editorial Standards by Lam Nguyen
Updated: Jun 27, 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. Business Development Manager 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
Editorial Process
Lamwork content is developed through structured review of publicly available job postings and documented hiring trends.
Editorial operations are managed by Thanh Huyen, Managing Editor, with research direction and final oversight by Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead. Content is periodically reviewed to reflect observable labor market changes.