5 Qualities To Look For When Hiring A Business Development Executive

In today’s world, every company goes the extra mile to hire business development executives. And only the ideal candidate from a huge mass of applicants is selected to fill the position of the business development executive, who is creative in every aspect, has expertise in communication, possesses strong analytical skills, and is ready to accomplish your business goals is hired by the companies. According to a report published in the ‘Jobvite 2017 Recruiting Funnel Benchmark Report’ the mean duration to hire a new employee was 43 days in the year 2015 which was reduced to about 39 days in 2016. It turns out that many top-notch companies hiring Business Development Executive walk on the track of unrealistic and unproductive procedures of screening that unfortunately results in A-Z failure.


In the year 2018, the Manpower Group announced that 72% of employers are having a hard time finding skilled candidates. To beat the real struggle to hire Business Development Executives and cut the costs per hire which was an average of $4,129 for companies as said in a report by SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Report 2016, quite a few organizations and businesses have adopted a methodology of proactively finding the right candidates and evaluating them on the exquisite qualities and relevant skills which eventually results in the potential growth of your business.

Understand the pattern of business development

When the question arises, 'What is Business Development?’ This term is often confused with the word ‘sales’. But on the flip side, business development is all around the strategic planning and the implementation of ideas, working towards the financial growth and success of any business. With thorough research and an in-depth understanding of your target market, a great majority of organizations and companies create a plan to help them reach their goals, and launch products and services to meet the needs of their customers.

Involving long-term thinking, the structure of business development possesses perfect planning and execution of the ideas, thereby giving a rise to identifying new business opportunities for the overall progress of your company. Driven with the purpose to secure more customers for a business, this exercise involves identifying, attracting and converting new customers from potential customers to buyers.

In most cases, companies hire business development executives and appoint them to obtain new clients, customers and/or distributors by identifying your target market, understanding their needs and making a proposal that satisfies these needs. Once the organization gets a successful proposal, it will be passed on to sales or marketing personnel who will expectantly convert that proposal into a sale or opportunity. The inclination towards achieving the goals of your company successfully will moreover depend on how motivated, optimistic, and upgraded the business development executive is.

Who is a Business Development Executive?

The business development executive is a great wall of support and leadership for the sales team or the other sales professionals in the selling process. The role of a business development executive also varies depending on the type of company, industry and organization and they work day-night to outreach the objective of your company, increase revenue, boost performance, and aim for long-term development.

Depending on the level of experience of the business development executive, there are numerous roles for him/her to perform including representing the company's interests at meetings, scheduling calls with prospects, taking and following up on leads, and providing updates on project status & client satisfaction. They also play a significant role in managing proposals and tasks, researching potential business partners to help grow the business, and negotiating offers with new clients.

These executives perform a major role with a huge responsibility for growth opportunities and potential, overseeing sales operations and being key members of the sales team. Learning about the product primarily, these business development executives also understand the demand of the customers for specific products in the market and work in accordance.

The responsibility of a business development executive is to simultaneously perform multiple tasks and work closely with other departments such as marketing, finance and HR to support overall company strategy and objectives. This role often requires considerable analytical and creative skills, as well as expert knowledge of operations within the company. Hiring business development executives and their employment is done at both small-scale and large-scale companies, where their roles differ based on their type of business and size.

Search for the 5 key aspects when hiring Business development executive

A business development executive is a professional who is responsible for identifying, developing and implementing strategies to increase the revenue, promote growth of your company, and create new business opportunities with their skills and qualities. And to go for a 100% effective hiring business development executives for your company, there are a range of key skills and qualities that you need to look for in every candidate.

• Building strong connection with extraordinary communication

A good understanding of specific techniques for building rapport with individuals and communities is really what enhances the communication and exchange of ideas. Shortly before you hire business development executive for your company important for you to make the business development executive learn about your business and challenges inside out, and understand your customers.

The executives are open-minded and flexible when it comes to working with stakeholders who work under their guidance, which eases finding possible solutions benefiting both, the company and the clients. The BDEs succeed when they opt for good listening skills, are sincere, have curiosity in learning things, being polite and professional at all times, but at the same time cut down on any miscommunication and make it much easier for both parties to understand each other.

Apart from specific techniques for building rapport with individuals, clients, and communities, business development executives excel in communicating in varied mediums of communication, right from traditional to high-tech to social media. With a great sense of understanding of how things should function, these executives have the highest competence in communicating with clients and expertise in skills such as conflict resolution, goal setting and leadership.

• Upper hand in Inbound Marketing

With a thorough planning of the process of hiring business development executives, and an amazing skill of inbound marketing you can achieve the target of your business. Skilled at bringing new business opportunities to life, the business development executive also increases the visibility and value of your product/service by developing strong relationships with key members of your target market. These executives have the skill to guide and develop relationships with various agencies, clients or employers that can potentially benefit from a connection with the company. This will involve identifying relationships and developing a plan for further contact.

They are adept at identifying the issues and stumbling blocks that challenge your business, and then showing how their expertise can provide a solution. This means clients/your brand can get answers to questions about their industry and compete for new clients, rather than having to sell themselves and their products/services every time they call on a prospective new customer. Increasing the visibility and value of your product/service by developing strong relationships with key members of your target market, the BDEs working for your company are able to assess the skills and capabilities of your customers, market opportunity, competitors and service offerings.

Moreover, the cause/effect mapping tools such as SEO management software, Google Analytics, and CRM management software allows these executives to see how their efforts will impact sales and customer satisfaction. They also need to understand how they can match their marketing with business objectives effectively by analyzing data such as ROI on marketing initiatives. Other important factors like the number by which users become buyers, the conversion rate of users that convert into customers and sales metrics such as the revenue generated per customer or lead generated per day are also addressed by the BDEs.

• Smart as a whip in computers and problem solving

Since computers have captivated every nook and corner of the world, on a larger scale communication becomes effortless via digital media. So, not only the soft skills but the business-developed executives holding the computer skills and problem-solving abilities in order to manage the larger scale of projects is also of great importance.

The top-notch problem-solving skills and efficiency in computers make it important for the BDEs to get the job done correctly and efficiently. Excellent in leading your business team, business development executives are well-rounded professionals who can solve problems, communicate information, and maintain relationships in a number of different ways.

Taking responsibility for tasks that they are assigned, these proactive executives are the focused team members who can imagine and define a business opportunity, plan for the steps that will be required to bring this opportunity to life, construct an initial plan of action and organize resources necessary to realize their goal. In addition to the skill set required for businesses such as sales, marketing and customer service, they have a strong understanding of technological advances in the fields of computers and marketing channels.

• Possess the knowledge of the business

Business development executives must possess a deep understanding of the industry they work in and also about the current market landscape. This exquisite quality of the business development executives allows them to identify potential customers, and opportunities for growth, and work for the overall development within the organization. Having a strong insight into the business and the industry enables the executives to identify the areas where the organization can improve. This knowledge helps the business development executives to look out for investment opportunities, and partnerships, as well as the target markets that the organization can capitalize on.

In addition, keeping up-to-date with the current market trends and knowing about the competition in the market, allows business development executives to make informed decisions on how to position their organizations within the market. This can include identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors, understanding the needs of the customers, and finally knowing which are the trends that are shaping the market. Overall, having a strong knowledge of the business and the current market is truly essential for business development executives to make strategic decisions, search for growth opportunities, and work for the success of the organization.

• Ready to learn ropes with optimism

A positive approach or focus towards any aspect is always respected which keeps you and the business development executives motivated and keep moving on. Whether it is in business development or learning about the products of your organization, the optimistic approach of the business development executive to learn new things, gets the ball rolling towards the achievement of personal goals and the mission of your firm. Turning to be highly beneficial to the journey of the organization and your business team, skilled business executives promptly recognize the strong value proposition and the unique needs that their clients face.

To hire business development executive for your business, you can look out for a candidate who identifies and pursues new opportunities, utilizes technology and new media to help with the development of your business. The executive should also be willing to learn how to manage their time effectively, and how to coordinate the tasks involved in driving a project forward to produce measurable results.

In Conclusion

Since all the vital skills take a hard time to find in one and only one person, seeking a candidate who understands your business will drive away the struggle of hiring business development executives. Our wonderful team has great experience in providing solutions that perfectly cater to your business needs and we work hard for you so that you get more opportunities for your business development.