Over the past 10 years, I have asked more 150 business owners what position they would add to their company or their small business if they could only add one. Though they’ve never given me a straight answer as far as a position, they have described for me a number of tasks that they would like someone to help them do.
Recently, I’ve taken those tasks and I’ve taken those desires and characteristics and developed a position that fulfills the needs of micro, ultra lean or start-up entrepreneurs’ needs from a business development manager. If you get lucky (or train yourself to spot one), you’ll find one you can groom.
If you’re one in a million lucky, one will find you.
You may be looking at someone in your office and saying they’re a business development manager, but let me re-define the role to see if it’s not someone that you’d like to either hire or outsource services to.
1. The business development manager knows that the position is fluid and dynamic. They are comfortable and capable of spending 20-30% of their time doing activities they are overqualified for as you work to grow the organization and find the right people to take over those activities. They understand that they’ll make more money when they provide more value.
2. The business development manager is the front facing person who is representative of your organization.
3. The business development manager is in charge of relationship management, helping you establish and maintain those relationships and also cultivate new ones.
4. The business development manager is in charge of events that are designed to both thank your customers and also encourage them to refer new prospects. They are capable of documenting them with video and photographs, then using that content to create more opportunities.
5. The business development manager has to be wise enough that they can understand your overall business, your brand, and what you bring personally to the table. He or she can talk intelligently when networking with other groups and understands how to raise your profile in the community and among the people that you hope to have as clients. The business development manager understands positioning.
6. They have to be self driven and project oriented. Your business development person will understand your business goals and / or work with you to help establish them. They’ll make sure that you keep your pipeline full and that you’re focused on doing the right activities.
7. Your business development manager must have a command of your online and social media presence and be helping you to create value-added content to those sites on a regular basis. She knows what growth hacking is and is eager to learn more by doing.
In a perfect world, your business development manager will approach you with a package, resume or suite of services that is unlike anything you would have considered and say, “here’s what I can do for you.”
They’ll essentially have a job description that you can tweak to fit your needs, but you’ll find that they largely focus on activities that you know are important but never considered possible.
If you are able to find a great business development manager, you should hire them immediately.
If you’re interested in becoming a business development manager and creating your own unique package, but don’t know where to start, contact us.
As an advisor, coach and local leader, Jeremy Overton has spent the last 12 years educating and motivating individuals, families, and business owners who are interested in having a greater impact on their communities, the people they love, and the causes they support. You can connect with him on: Google+