What does a business development manager do?
A business development manager creates qualified pipeline and new revenue by researching target accounts, prospecting, running discovery, multithreading stakeholders, and collaborating with AEs and partners to progress and win deals.
What are the key skills to assess while looking for a business development manager?
- Prospecting & Cadence Design: Multi-channel outreach that earns meetings.
- Research & Personalization: Account maps, buyer insights, relevant messaging.
- Discovery & Qualification: Uncover pain, value, and urgency; disqualify fast.
- Multithreading & Executive Access: Build influence across roles.
- Negotiation & Objection Handling: Value stories, ROI, and next-step control.
- Collaboration & Handoffs: Clear CRM hygiene; tight work with AEs/Marketing/CS.
- Tools & Data Fluency: CRM, engagement platforms, intent/enrichment, dashboards.
- Resilience & Time Management: Consistency under targets and rejection.
What are the KPIs for a business development manager?
To link skills to outcomes, track KPIs that prove pipeline quality, deal momentum, and revenue impact:
- New Pipeline Created ($/€) & Pipeline Coverage Ratio
- Meetings Set / SQLs / Opportunities Created
- Conversion Rates (meeting→SQL, SQL→opportunity, opp→closed-won)
- Win Rate and Average Deal Size (ACV/MRR)
- Sales Cycle Length and Stage Progression Velocity
- Show Rate and No-Show Rate for first meetings
- Outbound Efficiency (reply rate, meeting rate per sequence)
- Forecast Accuracy (for opportunities they influence)
- Partner-Sourced Pipeline/Revenue (if relevant)
- CRM Hygiene Metrics (notes completeness, next steps, stage aging)
