In every company, the position of a business development director is an extremely important one to have. Without this job, which oversees the development of plans to increase the market share and grow the firm, it is impossible to imagine how any organization could continue to exist. The function aims to find and successfully investigate prospects in product and market areas that will result in increased wealth for the company's shareholders. The candidate needs to be an expert at gaining business insight into developing trends and understanding how these will influence the company's future growth.
The Business Development Director oversees all aspects of the organization's business development activities. The duties include developing and implementing strategies to increase revenue and market share. The Director will report to the CEO and be the executive team member.
The job description of Business Development Director is a multifaceted role encompassing many different responsibilities. This role is responsible for the company's overall growth and expansion, especially for creating new business opportunities. This includes developing new business opportunities, expanding existing markets, and increasing market share. A person ins this role works closely with the sales team to develop and implement strategies for achieving sales goals.
The person occupying the role of Business Development Director will be responsible for developing and executing a growth strategy. This role is mandated to identify new business opportunities, develop relationships with potential customers, and ultimately close new business deals. In addition to these responsibilities, the business development director manages the business development team, including sales, marketing, and product development professionals. A business development director will also create and execute marketing plans and strategies.
The job description of the business development director must reflect that this is an anchor role in a profit-making business. Therefore, the overall purpose of the role, fundamental duties, qualifications, experience, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics must be laid out in the job description.
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Job Description of Business Development Director: Overall Purpose of the job
The Business Development Director is responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive business development strategy to drive increased revenue growth for the company. The role is responsible for developing strategies to create new business opportunities to acquire new business, retain current profitable clients, and grow the market share. This role will define and execute new business opportunities supporting the company's growth objectives person in this role works closely with the CEO and other members of the executive team to develop and execute the business development strategy.
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Job Description of Business Development Director: Primary duties
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The job description for a business development director has specific duties that they have to do, and they are accountable to the Chief Executive Officer. Such duties cover the whole business development cycle, and I list some of the primary duties below:
- Develops and executes the business development plan to generate incremental revenue.
- Identifies, evaluates, and executes new business opportunities aligned with the company's overall strategy.
- Works with internal stakeholders to understand the company's strengths and value proposition to develop sales strategies that result in sustainable and profitable growth.
- Formulates the business development strategy, which aligns with the overall organizational strategy.
- Provides periodic updates on the progress of business development initiatives against the set strategic objectives
- Monitor regulatory changes and ensure the business is fully compliant with regulatory requirements related to the marketing of products and services.
- Monitors the brand visibility and ensures that market share targets are met.
- Monitor advertising progress against set strategic objectives.
- Takes accountability for daily customer relations management.
- Promotes corporate image and acts as the brand ambassador for the company.
- Ensures consistent customer satisfaction based on a deep understanding of customer needs.
- Develops strategies for lead generation, monitoring, and conversion, including reports showing lead generation success and failure rates.
- Mobilizes internal stakeholders to support new and current business development initiatives.
- Develops strategies for breaking into new and existing markets.
- Utilizes analytics tools to assess viable business development opportunities by leveraging internal and external data.
- Leverages immerging trends to find business development opportunities.
- Collaborates with internal stakeholders to modify existing products and services to accommodate new customer bases and potential revenue streams.
- Develops strategic partnerships to create revenue generation opportunities for the company's products and services.
- Researches customer needs and trends and uses the information to inform the business and product development strategies.
- Based on research insights, inform present and future product development needs.
- Assesses market product competitiveness against the market and recommends strategies for winning in the marketplace.
- Demonstrates effective use of indirect influence techniques.
- Establishes trust to extend influence outside the chain of command.
- Proactively builds positive relationships inside and outside the organization to support the company strategy and vision.
- Gets input from members of own chain of command before influencing others outside it.
- Provides subordinates with (or directs them) the necessary resources for development.
- Follows up with customers to ensure their needs are met and are willing to come back as repeat clients.
- Look beyond the company's current context to discern future growth opportunities.
- Uses data to plan for emerging trends in the market.
- Anticipate future trends and products by reading market trends.
- Observe operational issues and develop market insights.
- Takes deliberate actions to develop business development capacity within the whole employee population and specifically for their team.
- Acts as an advisor to the whole business on matters related to business development.
- Develops seamless processes to support the business development value chain.
- Sets and implement high standards for customer satisfaction and service delivery.
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Job Description of Business Development Director: Educational Qualifications
The primary educational qualification needed in a job description for a business development director is usually a minimum of a first degree. A master's degree in a business-related field is often indicated as an added advantage. I've noticed that in some technical industries, such as those that offer high-end engineering equipment, mining equipment, or chemicals, the job description specifies a first degree in a technical field, such as mining, chemical mechanical, or electrical engineering, as a minimum prerequisite. Some go a step further and list a master's degree as a mandatory requirement. Other organizations require a master's degree as an added advantage.
Some job descriptions for business development directors require a first degree in any field. Others specify that the first degree must be in business studies, marketing, and related. This is the case in sectors where highly technical knowledge of the product is not required, like in the fast-moving consumer goods sector.
From a performance point of view, any person with a degree can be developed to work in business development. With more exposure and experience, such people can rise to the business development director level.
The choice of what minimum qualification should be in the job description of business development director depends to a large extent on the products or services you are selling. It may even be better to look at the performance history of previous business development directors in your organization and check what qualifications they had. Focus on those that were more successful and use that as a template when creating a job description for the business development director.
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Job Description of Business Development Director: Experience Required
The business development director role is often classified as an executive role in many companies. They will manage a sizeable team of senior managers and middle-level employees. As a result, a business development director's job description might specify a senior leadership experience range of 5 to 10 years.
The experience range listed in the job description for such roles varies by company size, type of industry, nature of the business, and the number of people supervised by such a role.
Some job descriptions for the business development director may specify that the incumbent must have specific industry experience. Other job descriptions indicate that the candidate must have experience handling specific products or services. Such choices largely depend on what the Chief Executive or the Company President sees as necessary for the business.
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Job Description of Business Development Director: Other Characteristics required
Job knowledge as espoused through educational qualifications or listed experience is not enough in a job description of a business development director. Such job descriptions often list other important characteristics required. Such requirements are often related to personal attributes. I list below some of the attributes often listed in the job description of a business development director.
- Must be able to develop a sound business development plan and strategy.
- Must be able to do a basic market opportunity assessment.
- Must have functional sales forecasting skills.
- Must have functional knowledge of basic financial ratios.
- Must be very knowledgeable about the new product development process.
- Must have strong research skills.
- Must know about relevant products, services, distribution channels, and segments.
- Must have a good understanding of relevant marketing models and methodologies.
- Must have the ability to interact with key stakeholders and meet their needs.
- Must have an understanding of the current and target market segments.
- Must have an understanding of the market and macroeconomic movements.
- Must know client behavior and expectations.
- Must have a good grasp of evolving technology and how to leverage this for the benefit of the business.
- Must have a strong understanding of the market and how it affects the business
- Has a good sense of when and where not to influence beyond the chain of command.
Overall Critical thinking is an essential skill required at this level.
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Conclusion
The job description of the business development director captures everything the role does in support of the company's business strategy. Remember, this role is the "cash cow" for the business. When you hire a business development director, use the above job description template for creating your job description. Customize it to suit your needs.
