Highly Essential Skills Every Business Development Managers Must Have.

Business Development Managers are responsible for developing the business side of an organization. They must identify rising business opportunities and build long-term relationships with prospects.

Business developers help the company to become as successful as it can be. They rely on the knowledge, theory, and hands-on experience to help businesses to grow. As well they evaluate the current performance of the business and find ways to help the business reach its full potential.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills

A good business developer must have strong communication skills. They are required to communicate, present, assert and speak to all the different stakeholders involved. He/she must also be able to cold-call prospects with confidence to gain new clients.

Collaboration Skills

Business Development is not a one-man show. It involves collaboration with multiple parties from inside and outside the company. Any good business developer should be able to build relationships, influence, manage conflicts and navigate through office politics to get things done.

Negotiation & Persuasion skills

This includes being tactful and diplomatic at all times. Achieving your set goals requires that you can learn when to compromise and when to take a stand. To persuade your prospects to do what needs to be done, you will need to win their hearts, minds, and trust.

Project Management Skills

Good Business developers are in some way also project managers. They have to be able to set goals, plan and manage projects, manage the risks involved, calculate budgets, cost, time, and teams working on ongoing projects.

Research & Strategy

A Business Developer will need to have strong research and strategic analysis skills. These are necessary to benchmark the competition and keep the company ahead of it.

Computer Skills

Any decent employee needs to have at least basic computer skills. Nevertheless, a Business Development Manager must have high competency working with Microsoft Office. Even CRM software is a must for this job as well.

Business Intelligence

Knowing all about your business services and products is essential for any Business Developer. However, knowing everything about your competition as well will provide you with the leverage you need to surpass them. Any respectful business developer will conduct the necessary market analysis needed to identify the company´s current position. He will conduct an analysis of what competitive advantage the company has over similar businesses in the sector. Business developers must be able to collect the data they need to prepare an accurate analysis.

In addition to all of the above-mentioned skills, exceptional Business Development Managers are always hungry for knowledge. They like to stay up-to-date with the latest economic issues in the industry. Being always organized and working under constant pressure is a part of a Business Developers’ routine. Moreover, knowledge in Sales Management, Marketing, Strategic Management, and Business Planning is a strength they can use to grow your business.

Adapted from Ian Jones (2018). How can I improve my skills as a business development manager? Quora, https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-skills-required-for-business-development.

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