Business development executives are responsible for finding and retaining clients, encouraging extant clients to purchase added products or features, remaining abreast of changes in consumption, and responsible for driving company sales by sourcing new clients, and by convincing existing clients to purchase added offerings. To be successful as a business development executive, you should attend networking events to attract and retain clientele. Ultimately, an outstanding business development executive will keep a close eye on clients’ feedback to ensure that our products and services always exceed expectations.

The Responsibilities of the Business Development Executive

  • Familiarize with the Product offered by the company.
  • Procuring new clients through direct contact, word-of-mouth, and collaboration with the marketing department.
  • Attending networking activities to research and connect with prospective clients.
  • Maintaining meaningful relationships with existing clients to ensure that they are retained.
  • Suggesting upgrades or added products and services that may be of interest to clients.
  • Discussing with clients to secure the most attractive prices.
  • Reviewing clients’ feedback and implementing necessary changes.

The Required Skills of Business Development Executive

1.Strong understanding of client’s requirements :-

The BDE should have a strong understanding of the client’s requirements and should be able to give the perfect answers related to the client’s queries.

2.Excellent writing and communication skills :-

BDE should have excellent writing and communication skills at the time of sending the proposal or cover letter to the clients for discussing the requirements because it shows the efficiency of the person or company. Good communication is necessary when you are convincing a client to work with your organization.

3.Interpersonal skills and ability to build a good relationship with clients :-

A good relationship with the client is more important when you are looking for a long-term work relationship with any client. Hence, BDE should have the ability to build good relations with the client to move their business to the next level and for future endeavors.

4.Good listening and problem-solving skills :-

When you are representing your company you should be a good listener to understand clients’ requirements carefully and provide the required solution to them. As a BDE one should also have problem-solving skills, to solve all the queries of the client and crack the deal.

5.Critical thinking skills :-

BDE may face out-of-the-box problems and queries at the time of communicating with clients. At that crucial point in time, he should think accordingly and take the right decision against the problem and provide a solution to the same.

6.Ability to identify potential leads :-

At the time of getting or searching for a lead from the market or any other platform, BDE should be able to identify potential leads which match the company’s skill set.

7.Sales negotiation skills :-

As the face of the company, a business development executive should have the skill of selling their offer in the market and bringing more and more clients to the company. He should possess good negotiation skills while finalizing a deal with the clients and convincing them about the offer.

8.Strong knowledge of Freelancing and social media platforms :-

Freelancing and Social media platforms have become the primary source of getting leads from anywhere in the world. BDE should have a strong knowledge of bidding platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, PPH, freelancer, networking platforms like LinkedIn, and social platforms like Facebook and Instagram to generate potential leads.

9.Able to prepare PPT for clients :-

Communication is an art to be mastered over a period of time. PowerPoint Presentations skill is one of the effective visual communication tools that create the best first impression among the targeted audience than to any simple content-heavy business reports etc. With such skills, BDE can showcase professional expertise and it will help to command attention, gain respect, and easily sell his ideas to anyone.

10.Research and Strategy :-

Business development executives must be able to conduct research and strategic analysis of both internal and external elements. These sorts of research and analyses must be performed as they are a means of benchmarking the organization and finding the means to beat out the competition.

Employment Opportunities for Business Development Executive

Companies from all sectors recruit Business Development Executives for business growth. Some of the major areas where a BDE may apply for a job are:

  • Pharmaceutical corporations
  • Software development corporations
  • Consultancy corporations
  • Telecommunication corporations
  • Infrastructure corporations
  • Marketing corporations
  • Etc….

Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.

Seth Godin