Business development manager

In your day-to-day duties you could:

• research organisations to find new customers
• 'cold call' to arrange meetings at customers' premises
• find out what an organisation needs and plan proposals and pricing
• sell products and services to new and existing customers
• negotiate with customers and build positive relationships
• attend events and conferences
• write reports and make presentations to customers and senior management
• identify new methods and opportunities for sales campaigns
• forecast sales targets and make sure they're met
• run training for business developers and junior sales teams

• the ability to sell products and services
• business management skills
• excellent verbal communication skills
• the ability to use your initiative
• leadership skills
• customer service skills
• persuading skills
• ambition and a desire to succeed
• to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently

You can get into this job through:

• a university course
• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• working towards this role
• applying directly
• a graduate training scheme

Your career path will depend on the sector that you work in.

With experience, you could progress to roles like senior development manager, business development executive or marketing director.

You could specialise in business development within a specific sector like manufacturing or healthcare.

You could also use your skills in sales, marketing and project management to move into other roles, for example as a business analyst.