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Business Development Representative Job Description – Sales and business development are often intertwined—viewed as extensions of each other within a single practice. But not so. While both are dedicated to getting your company’s solutions into the hands of customers, they’re like separate but complementary elements as opposed to a single entity—and if you don’t have both, your sales efforts can suffer. Here, we’ll take a closer look at business development, look at some of the key roles associated with the practice, distinguish concept from sales, and explore the interaction between the two elements. Business Development ‘Business development’ generally refers to the sum of the actions a company takes to identify prospects that the company needs to better connect with the benefits of its offering. The process often includes activities such as conducting prospect research, assessing competitive positions, networking, and building strategic partnerships. In the context of the sales process, the term “business development”—also known as “sales development”—generally refers to top-of-funnel activities conducted to identify, connect with, and ultimately qualify prospects with high potential to buy. Well-executed business development can set a smooth course for sales reps, moving forward with the sales process. This makes for more cordial prospects and, in turn, more straightforward, effective value propositions. Sales Development Roles Sales development roles can include Business Development Representative (BDR) or Sales Development Representative (SDR) roles. These roles are typically entry-level roles within a company’s sales organization that may align with career paths in sales, account management, or customer success management. Business Development vs. Sales Development It’s easy, and rightly so, to confuse business development representatives (BDRs) with sales development representatives (SDRs). The positions are fundamentally the same – to the point that some companies don’t even differentiate between the two. How any business defines each role, neither carries quotas or closes deals – and both ultimately aim to move qualified leads through the sales pipeline. In most cases, the difference between the two has to do with whether they involve inbound or outbound leads. BDRs are generally responsible for cold lead prospecting, while SDRs focus on warm qualification – so BDRs handle the external side of business development, and SDRs account for the internal element of it. Both roles include conducting in-depth research on leads, engaging in active outreach, developing a detailed knowledge of niche markets, and taking other key activities to help them acquire talent thoughtfully and effectively. Where does the sale come in? Sales are all about closing. After receiving qualified leads from SDRs, sales reps take deals to the finish line. Sales representatives may demonstrate some additional competence in certain situations, but their primary purpose is to close deals. Sales representatives are responsible for demonstrating the product, handling potential objections, and drafting contracts. Business Development vs Sales The difference between business development and sales essentially boils down to the difference between ‘line them up’ and ‘knock them down’. Business development representatives identify and pass on good-fit leads, allowing the company’s sales team to reach more accessible, engaging prospects. Although sales and business development require separate teams and represent different functions, it’s easy to see how important it is for both strategies to work in lock-step. Exemplary sales are not possible without dedicated business development, and the essential relationship-building of business development depends on a company that has solid solutions and a reputation for effectively accommodating a given market. The SDR and sales rep positions don’t have much crossover when it comes to day-to-day activities—unless your reps are responsible for their own prospects. That being said, both teams need to be hyper-aligned if you want to get the most out of your broader sales efforts. SDRs, BDRs, and sales reps must understand your organization’s ideal buyer persona and consistently find good-fit opportunities. Why separate sales and business development? So why should your organization maintain a distinction between sales and business development? Well, keeping them separate offers some attractive benefits to your company. Reducing Difficulty Reaching Buyers According to Brian Gonzalez, sales development analyst at research and consulting group Topo, one of the main reasons the sales process is split into business development and sales is related to the increasing difficulty of reaching buyers. By Gonzalez’s account, reaching the buyer “now requires a greater effort by smarter people…More research and more touches on leads are needed to connect.”; The modern buyer wants to be understood before connecting with the sales organization – so naturally, your organization needs to take the appropriate steps to develop that kind of understanding. Having a dedicated business development infrastructure will help you get there. Efficiency as a byproduct of specialization closing is no easy feat, and it doesn’t make sense for your top sales reps to spend time researching companies and searching for leads if they’re great at selling. In the same vein, probability and competence are neither quick nor simple processes. Separating prospecting from sales allows each team to focus all of their energy on a single task—instead of splitting their time between two different and time-consuming objectives. Career Development Perks and Lower Hiring Costs Another benefit of splitting the two roles is the ability to mold reps from the early stages of their careers and cut hiring costs, says Justin Hite, HubSpot’s global director of business development. According to him, “A sales development team takes some of the prospecting and qualification burden off the shoulders of your quota-carrying reps…but its larger purpose is to be a training ground for your sales organization. It’s a place for your SDRs. Prove that they Quota-carrying reps can become and new reps must be fed into your organization each year. This defines how your sales team makes leads “sellable.” There are several different frameworks for salesability: BANT (Budget, Authority, Needs, Timeline), ANUM (authority, need, urgency, money), and GPCT—to name a few. But whatever format you use to qualify leads, SDRs must be adept at uncovering: Whether they’re talking to a decision-maker: If the contact is any If it’s a low-level employee with no purchasing power, it’s imperative to find out sooner rather than later. If the lead solves a problem that doesn’t exist in the industry, it’s not a good idea to pass the lead along to the sales rep. Lead problems can be solved by your product: Every company has different needs. It’s important to dig a little deeper to find out where the lead needs help to determine whether or not your product can solve a problem. Many organizations have their SDRs go a step beyond this basic qualification to better understand if a lead is ready to buy. They need SDRs to find two additional pieces of information: Whether the lead needs a solution in the near future: It’s likely that when your SDRs first contact the lead, their problems aren’t serious enough to warrant a purchase. This doesn’t mean the lead is dead, but passing it on early is a waste of the sales rep’s time. What kind of budget the lead is working with: This isn’t the time to get into a specific pricing breakdown or negotiation, but it’s important to know if the price of your product is in the same ballpark that the lead can afford. SDRs should spend most of their time asking questions and listening to prospects during the qualification process. However, it is also important that they educate themselves about the solutions your company offers and begin to demonstrate their value – this way, any potential misalignment is quickly rooted out. Sales Development Call vs. Sales Call The ultimate responsibility of an SDR or BDR is to find out as much as possible about the lead’s company, pain points, and solution needs. Initial conversations should revolve around gathering this information. The sales negotiation picks up where the SDR or BDR left off, with the end game of signing the contract. Sales calls can cover a wide range of topics — here are a few examples: demonstrating how your value proposition applies to your prospect’s business pain point comparing your product to your competitors setting up testing of your product product demonstration value breakdown implementation plans if applicable Terms The degree of separation between business development and sales will vary from organization to organization. If your company is on the small side, there’s a good chance that your sales reps will be responsible for both leads and closes—and that’s okay. But as you grow, separating and clearly defining the roles of the two teams will allow each to focus on what they do best, making your sales efforts more effective and helping your business reach new heights. Business development
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