One way to keep ahead of the pack is to continually improve your business. Whether it’s expanding your social network or finding new ways to increase profit, business development is key to longevity. You’ll need a business development manager to bring those business ideas into reality.
Launching your startup is just the beginning. You need to keep that momentum running once it’s competing in the market, and the only way to go is up. But your competitors are keeping their eyes on you. Likewise, you should do the same. The idea of business development allows you to explore new ways of taking your business to the next level.
Business Development
To get started, let’s learn more about business development. It is the concept of creating and implementing strategies in the business’s overall objectives. It’s a collection of ideas that leads to the improvement of various aspects of your company. Its end goal is to move your company forward, growing in terms of revenue, business expansion, profit, partnerships, and marketing strategies.
So, how does this all apply to your business? How can you apply the said strategies of business development in your startup?
Let’s first understand how business development goals tie-up with various functions of your company. Here are some of the areas that can improve:
Sales
Sales are often focused on targeting a particular market with a specific demographic. To increase revenue, business development assesses the buying potential of other markets to see if they are viable for trade. To expand customer reach, campaigns and other product features can be customized based on the market’s preference. The sales department can adjust their pitch according to the interests of their new audience.
Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships
In line with focusing on a new market, business development also weighs in the pros and cons of every major decision. One option to consider is partnering with other firms to implement marketing campaigns or to simply pull off everything from scratch. Through collaborations, your startup gains an edge through local endorsements. Moreover, going solo can give you a lot more flexibility in introducing your business.
Marketing
The same way business development expands your market reach, it can also make quality improvement in marketing. At the start, your business understandably has a limited allocation for marketing. A larger portion of your startup’s capital is invested in the actual product and service you’re offering. However, if your goal is to achieve longevity, you also need to invest in the promotional aspect of your business. Business development allows more aggressive marketing strategies such as cold calling, roadshows, and large-scale promotional events.
Product Upgrade
To keep up with market requirements, your products have to undergo regular quality checks. You need to ensure that your product consistently delivers and all issues have been addressed. Business development explores any areas that can improve. One initiative is to integrate tools in the system that can help with product management and manufacturing. A thorough evaluation determines if the company can afford product development upgrades without compromising the current quality.
Collaborations
The right connections take you to the next level. Enlisting the help of other experts can quicken your progress. Vendors, agencies, authorities, and other third-party companies are valuable resources that can boost your credibility. With that in mind, doing business with others is not only good for your company portfolio, but you also get free publicity through endorsements by other parties.
Cost-saving
The business development initiative includes cost-cutting measures. An internal assessment can point out the high spending areas of your business. Then, corresponding cost-saving initiatives can be implemented to reduce it. You can allocate part of the budget for non-core spending towards more beneficial operations.
To turn those collected ideas into reality, you need someone to help you come up with the methods to implement them. The person responsible for identifying the areas of improvement is the business development manager. They find ways to drive sales and increase revenue. A business development manager’s goal is to maximize all room for growth.
Skillset of a business development manager
Now that we’ve established how you can improve your business process, it’s time to figure out how to make those improvements. You need to hire a business development manager who can properly organize and manage each initiative. He or she ensures that the outcomes are successful. Here are some of the key competencies that a business development manager works on:
Communication skills
The ability to communicate clearly and effectively is essential. A business development manager has to coordinate with a lot of people to gather and exchange information. Hence, the candidate’s communication skill is important. You need to assess your applicant’s ability to convey ideas, challenges, and solutions.
Collaborative work ethic
The business development manager is responsible for bringing key players together. Your candidate must be able to gather the right experts for each initiative. Take a look at your applicant’s previous projects and see how the team delivered.
Leadership skill
As a management role, your candidate should lead and guide people towards targets and progression. Business development is challenging as it means dealing with multiple areas of business. Evaluate your applicant’s leadership skills and see if they can multitask
Industry experience
Experience is the best teacher. Consider how your candidate proposes a solution to problems. Your business development manager must know how to rectify mistakes and solve any underlying issues. Allow your applicant to share about how they overcome bottlenecks and challenges in their former projects. This is a good way to gauge if they are competent in business management.
These skills are just a few of what’s needed for the role. Not only should a business development manager be good on paper, but also needs to have good hands-on skills.
Hire someone who is both analytical and creative, as the position calls for a lot of innovative ideas for improvement. You should also consider if the applicant can adapt to your company’s culture and share the same vision as you.
Offshoring business
Having a hard time finding the right talent for your business? Hiring new people can be challenging and time-consuming. You could use that precious time working on something more beneficial for your startup. Why not leave the tedious task of recruitment to the professionals?
At Full Scale, we can help you find and hire the best business development manager for your startup. We’ll take care of recruiting, assessing, and employing the best people that we can find to work on your project. You can forego the tedious process of finding, filtering, and managing employees. In short, we can take care of all the hassle for you while you focus on your core competencies.
Ready to take your business to the next level? Shoot us a message!