The Top 8 Business Skills You Need to Succeed
Business developers are responsible for identifying opportunities, building long-term relationships, increasing company revenue, and maximizing profits.
Are you interested in working in business development? Below are eight important skills you’ll need to succeed.
Financial Management
Without a basic understanding of profits, losses, and other financial aspects of your company, you can’t possibly hope to make a serious impact in business development. Since your job description involves boosting revenue, you should be able to outline a clear plan of attack, including each financial step you’ll need to take to reach your end goal.
Communication
Any decent business developer will have strong communication skills. Otherwise, how will presentations, negotiations, and directive meetings take place? You should be able to work closely with new clients, employees, and company executives without batting an eyelash.
Negotiation and Persuasion
In addition to being comfortable and skilled in communication, you should be practiced in the art of persuasion. Your ultimate goal is to improve the reputation and bottom line of your company. Sometimes, what you want or need will differ from what clients or stakeholders desire. Your ability to negotiate with all parties to reach a reasonable agreement will determine whether you meet your goal.
Project Management
If you wish to be an effective business developer, you must be able to plan detailed projects, manage possible risks, calculate accurate budgets, and estimate deadlines. If you can’ t be a project manager, you can’t work in business development. You’ll spend too much time relying on other managers to get the job done.
Computer Knowledge
In this day and age, most decent employees will have basic computer skills. As a manager, however, you should be able to work with a multitude of applications and computer software. Even if you’ve never touched a program necessary for your company, you should be able to master it within a few weeks. Business developers can’t afford to fall behind.
Business Intelligence
If you don’t know anything about running or improving a business, you don’t belong in business development. To succeed, you must know everything about your competition, your market, and your place within the industry. This analysis will keep your day-to-day activities laser-focused and highly efficient.
Customer Service
Business developers should be prepared to work directly with customers to improve their experience. A decent amount of marketing knowledge – which will help you understand and respect your audience – doesn’t hurt, either.
Time Management
Finally, those interested in business development must be highly qualified in time management. You should know how to delegate simple tasks, organize your calendar, and maintain a fair level of control over your deadlines.
Contact an Experienced Recruiter to Learn More
When you partner with a staffing agency, you improve your odds of locating the right position at the perfect company. Contact our experienced team at The Patriot Group to learn more!
