10 Skills To Look For When Hiring Business Development Managers

Hiring business development managers can seem very easy if your HR is using a template method of framing job descriptions and job adverts and waiting for applicants to show up.

You might attract 1000+ applications if you post your business development manager job ad on widely used job sites. Finding the top candidates can become a tricky, time-consuming, and unproductive process if you focus only on resumes and the track record it shows.

The focus when hiring business development managers should always be on skills and proven abilities. Some skills come with experience, some are latent, and some are typical of the kind of personality an individual develops.

You get higher success in finding exceptional candidates when you consult with sales and business development recruitment consultants. How is it possible that an external team can find the best candidates for your business?

Expert recruitment consultants have wider industry experience and have placed professionals for hundreds of companies. They have found out what skills have led to successful outcomes for clients.

Here is a list of the top 10 skills that expert sales and business development recruitment consultants recommend when hiring business development managers or senior business developers.

1. Skills To Frame Business Development Campaigns

The very first skill to look for when hiring business development managers is the ability to run business development campaigns. Business developers must be aware of current trends and best practices for framing business development campaigns, as they have to frequently run campaigns for different market segments.

2. Skills To Leverage Business Intelligence For Increasing Revenues

Business developers need to leverage insights from business intelligence to identify opportunities for acquiring new customers and decreasing churn. Look for candidates who have a better understanding of how business intelligence can be used to improve customer acquisition and retention tactics.

3. Strong Analytical Skills To Identify Upselling and Cross-Selling Opportunities

The business development manager should be able to identify and understand the dominant and emerging trends in the market, predict future outcomes, and decide the present moves for increasing business opportunities with existing, past, and potential clients. Whether it is about data analysis of sales opportunities or market analysis, the outcomes should be visible in terms of upselling and cross-selling opportunities.

4. Innovation and Creativity – Increasing Customer Acquisition

A business developer needs to have an innovation-supportive mindset. Using the same methods for developing business in existing markets can sometimes increase customer churn. Creative ideas are required to develop new approaches to winning customer interest, maintaining relations with old clients, and getting referrals. That is why recruitment consultants emphasize an aptitude for creativity and innovation when hiring business development managers.

5. Business Account Management Skills

In many businesses, when a new client account is gained, the business developer serves as a point of contact for the first six months or the first project. He or she has to don many hats, such as coordinating with in-house project managers and getting the deliverables on time, troubleshooting any issues that can lead to complaints or dissatisfaction from the client end. Managing an account and retaining a client requires good business account management abilities.

6. Skills To Understand Customer Buying Patterns

When hiring business development managers, it is necessary to screen and assess how quickly candidates understand customer behavior and buying patterns, especially for B2C businesses. The business development manager should be well-versed in strategies that will help the customer to build trust.

7. Digital Marketing Skills

A business developer cannot succeed without any knowledge of digital marketing. The business development manager has to work with the digital marketing team and formulate strategies that increase business development opportunities. It could be through specific Internet marketing campaigns or email marketing techniques. Understanding how to leverage digital marketing will become vital to business development success as the digital economy advances.

8. Technical Skills (CRM, Sales, Marketing Software)

As technologies are transforming at a very high speed, the business developer you hire should be well-versed with all current technological trends that are helpful for the growth of the business, which includes CRM, sales, and marketing software. For example, in many businesses, the business development manager needs to use CRM analytics and unlock hidden opportunities for business development.

9. Skills to Create Dynamic Sales Presentations

When a business developer prepares the sales presentation and pitchbook material, it needs to be dynamic to attract target customers and establish their trust in the organization. Highly targeted presentations lead to better sales opportunities.

10. Leadership Skills

Business development managers need good leadership skills that are aligned to guiding, motivating, and driving results from a millennial workforce. Outdated leadership styles might drive away talented business developers and get your business meek and obedient staff. To attract dynamic young business developers into the team, you need a good leader.

Some Assessments To Consider When Hiring Business Developers

1. Interpersonal and Collaboration Skills

Interpersonal and collaboration skills are part of effective teamwork. As a business development manager has to deal with all the departments of the organization, he or she must have collaborative skills for the betterment of the organization. There are many assessments for finding out this aptitude in potential hires.

2. Emotional Intelligence

Millions of companies worldwide are assessing emotional intelligence when hiring business development managers. The ability to handle difficult situations that occur unexpectedly makes a huge difference to employee morale, client relations, and business development success. There are many emotional intelligence digital assessments available, but find one that is more relevant to your organizational DNA.

3. Situational Judgment Skills

Situational judgment cannot be assessed through IQ tests or emotional intelligence assessments. Assessing situational judgment, however, is necessary to understand how chosen candidates will handle typical and atypical scenarios that will occur in the course of work.

Summing Up

To get brilliant candidates for business development, you need to prepare a detailed candidate selection criteria that is focused on skills and proven abilities. The hiring process can then become bias-free. You also get more insights into candidates than just the general and almost predictable answers to questions.

Alliance Recruitment Agency

Alliance Recruitment Agency has top sales and business development recruitment consultants with an exemplary track record in helping companies find the best-fit candidates. We use well-researched proprietary data-mining and talent mapping methods to get business development professionals who are perfect fits in terms of all the key parameters mentioned for candidate selection.

Consult with our global manpower agency and leverage our vast talent access spanning 100+ cities worldwide in 30+ countries. Get end-to-end virtual recruitment support to reduce hiring time and costs.