Business development professionals help their companies to forge relationships—with customers, other organizations, and markets—that lead to growth. They need the following skills and talents:
- Strategic thinking because entering new markets or expanding old ones demands strategic and often innovative ideas.
- Budget management—perhaps you may have your own budget or be given a share of the marketing budget, but in any case, you will need to use it effectively and efficiently.
- Team leadership because you are going to have to work closely with IT, marketing, and sales as well as your own direct reports.
- Computer skills because you will need to develop, use, and maintain productivity, customer relationship management, website, social media, and other online and software tools.
- Analytic skills to recognize, gather, and use the most helpful data about markets, customers, and competitors.
- Project management skills because growth is not accomplished with one swift change but over the course of many months.
- Negotiation skills because relations with partners, regulatory agencies, vendors, peers, and C-level leaders and boards all depend on the ability to collaborate and negotiate successfully.
- Appreciation for numbers because your current employers—and any new employers—is going to be most impressed by numbers (for example, “increased customer satisfaction scores by 14% in just 5 months”).
- Financial acumen because all of the work of business development is aimed at increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
In addition to the skills and talents listed above, a business development professional may need a relevant degree. For global companies, fluency in at least one other language is important. Some companies or industries may require familiarity with a specific category of products or specific software programs.
Robin’s Resumes® has been helping business development professionals thrive in their careers for more than 20 years. Contact us today.