Business Development vs. Sales

The main truth about BD and Sales positions is to help grow and develop the business, but they achieve the results in different ways.

BD includes a scope of activities to expand the business. Depending on the company BD can include market research, accounting, sales, project estimation, building of the long-term reliable partnerships and many other tasks that are supposed to be done about the company’s product or service sales.

So actually BD is a creation of a long-term value for the organization, customers and relationship. Good planning, great product, well-designed website is just the part of the process that can build a reputation as the most valuable is the relationship that you build and create. Even with the technologies development – human factor still brings its importance to any kind of business.

As BD is a process full of a variety of tasks it has some pros and cons.

In my opinion, BD is the profession that brings the best not only to the company but also helps you to grow and develop as a specialist in different areas and it is really an inspiring process. You bring your personal ideas, you develop the strategy from the market research until the end of the process and usually contract signing is not the end. It is actually the beginning of the main task of BD which is development of the business – the development of the relationship with the new partner who becomes a central part of your strategy. Continuously growing the partnership is the core goal of the BD and main mission of your business.

The concentration of the needs of the entire company is the main ability that the BD has to grow effectively. It also involves the work with managers from different departments, the same as communication and building the relationship outside of the company. To be an account manager and look after the customers which brings the partnership to a completely new level and raise the trust.

Talking about the cons, the main problem is that sales is not going to happen as fast as you expect, as you have to spend time for the research and development of the strategy, partnership, product and keep the relationship with the client even after the contract signing.

Companies pay sales team well because, this is the team that generates revenue for the company and as the saying goes, nothing happens until something gets sold and without revenue, a business will be out of business. In this area, you can divide sales into 2 parts: not JUST TO SELL the product using all possible ways, being annoying, cold calling, spamming etc., but to understand the needs of the client/partner and provide the support at all the sales stages.

You have to convince another person or company to buy something and become the best choice for them. And to make it good – you need to have deep knowledge about some main missions.

So, who are the successful salespeople and what makes them to be on top?

The major trait is to know your product inside out before selling it. Once you have a clear understanding of what you are selling, it makes the process more inspiring and bring you more self-confidence while communication with the client.

Another trait, which, in my opinion, has almost the same importance level is the communication skills that includes not only talking as well as the psychology understanding. In order the lead generation process to be more progressive, all steps, knowledge and strategies have to be measured in advance.

As a conclusion both professions have similarities as they require deep understanding of the industry, believe in your success, desire of achieving and set personal goals.

As you can see BD is therefore both a sales and marketing role. BD and Sales are not one and the same and BD does not replace Marketing but it has a direct concern to it. If you work in sales, you will have different traits and skills to a business development professional. Connect your audience to your products and services, and assist the client within the whole process is one of the main purpose of 2 entire professions.

So without some background knowledge of the main tips the sales process can be a bit of harsh or less productive than expected. That’s why sometimes it can become the core problem and can demotivate the salesperson. The first steps can be hard sometimes but the more practice you have, the better your skills become. To succeed in any area is always not an easy task, but the practice, deep involvement and personal motivation always bring great results and when you are on top, looking back at the whole way you went through, it will make be thankful to all the past experience and be proud of yourself for how far you have come.