Do you want to know what a Business Development Representative (BDR) does?

In this blog article you will learn everything you need to know about working in a Business Development Representative role in SaaS and IT. What it is, what they do, and the skills you need to land a job as a BDR.

At Wahl+Case, we have helped hundreds of people land business development representative jobs at some of the hottest tech companies in AdTech, FinTech, Consumer Tech and Enterprise Tech, so keep reading if you want to learn all about business development positions. And if you want to work in a BDR role yourself, we’re here to help.

What is Business Development?

“Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships. Business development can be taken to mean any activity by either a small or large organization, non-profit or for-profit enterprise which serves the purpose of ‘developing’ the business in some way.” (Wikipedia)

Business Development is the process of bringing new customers or new business lines to help a business grow. Like the name says, you are developing business. This could mean you need to cold call or email prospects converting them to leads, which is your primary responsibility as a Business Development Representative or BDR.

What does a BDR do?

As a business development rep, your main objective is to bring in and qualify leads. This means you will be cold emailing and calling people or businesses that have a high chance to become customers, otherwise known as “leads”.

Then you will meet with those leads to qualify them. Qualifying a lead is like checking to see if you have consent. It is important to talk with the person to assess their budget, authority, need, and timeline, also called BANT.

Budget
- The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.

Authority
- You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
- Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include: IT, CXO, Marketing or Sales.
Need
- You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling.
  - What will happen if they do not solve this issue?
  - How will it impact their business?
Timeline
- What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase?
- How urgent are the issues they are facing?

Once you have a good sense that the lead is likely to become a customer, the lead is qualified and becomes an SQL, a sales qualified lead. The SQL then gets passed on to the Account Executive.

What are a Business Development Representative’s targets and KPIs?

As a business development rep, your targets would likely include the number of demos scheduled for your account executives, the number of leads qualified, and assisted revenue. Assisted revenue means the lead you brought in was closed by another sales function in the company. Whereas direct revenue would be coming from a deal you closed yourself. However as a BDR you will not be in charge of closing deals, only qualifying the leads.

A BDR is a great starting point for your career. You get plenty of experience talking with clients, finding new ways to engage leads, and coordinating with your internal teams.

What skills do you need to work in Business Development?

Hard skills

There are very few hard skills that are essential. There are basic computer skills and sales tools that you will use, like Microsoft Excel, Salesforce and more. Additionally you have to be well versed in the products, features and services you are selling to be able to answer any questions that your customers may have.

Soft Skills

A big part of working as a BDR is cold outreach. Cold outreach is calling or emailing a person or business that you have had no prior communication with. It is called cold calling because your counterpart doesn’t have time to “warm up“ to your product or service.

This means you will need to get over any hesitation you feel about calling, emailing, or messaging strangers and being rejected a lot. If you master this, cold outreach itself is a highly valuable skill.

Also, your listening skills will be honed in any BD role, but because of the focus on really getting to the core needs of your clients and then having to convey those needs to the Account Executive team, your communication skills will be taken to a whole new level.

For me, when I was working in a sales role, business development was my favorite part. I really enjoyed meeting with clients, listening to what was happening with their business and connecting over a shared passion for the industry. It felt like joining a team, with all of us coming together to solve a particular problem.

Career Progression

A BDR can be both an entry level position or a mid career position. It is a great opportunity to learn sales, and it can lead to almost any other sales position.

Do you feel great about talking to customers, but not so good about cold calling? You can move towards Account Management.

Do you love making connections, but wish you could see them through the whole process? Great! You would be a perfect fit for a Business Development Manager.

And that is it. I hope this helps you to understand a bit more about what a business development representative does. Check our Guide to Sales Positions to learn more about positions in the tech industry.

Do you want to work in Business Development? Get in touch and we will be happy to share the positions that we are currently working on.

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