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Jagpreet
01 October, 2024
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“What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone. Know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.” – Dave Thomas, Founder, Wendy’s
Business has always been the heartbeat of society. Whether it is a small startup or a big leading enterprise, business is the engine empowering the dreams, the vision, and the approach to leading an organisation. Business is the most vital organ for development in society. It generates revenue, provides employment, transforms processes, and takes societal progress a notch up. Business initially started to make a living, but today it has evolved into a more dynamic, challenging, and innovative landscape.
Presently, there are probably billions of different ventures globally that started with their ideas of doing business. Amazon started with the idea of being the largest online retailer providing door-to-door service to customers. Disney began as a business in 1927 to inform, entertain, and inspire millions of people around the world through unparalleled storytelling.
However, these big or small enterprises have to function systematically, with employees having specific designations for smooth workflow.
Business development executives have one of the primary roles in making a business successful, financially rewarding, and expanding the network in the market. They are the core of empowering businesses one step at a time and working for that vision. One can become a business development executive after pursuing a degree like a MBA or fields like business, finance, economics, etc. Let’s learn more about business development executives and explore their roles, job profiles, salary, etc., with this blog.
BDE stands for Business Development Executive. This job profile is one of the most popular ones you can grab after completing an MBA degree . With an average of 2-8 Lakh per annum income, the business development job profile is a popular one in the corporate world. If you are wondering what role and duties a business development executive has, then we are here to tell you all about the job duties and responsibilities of a business development executive.
What exactly does a business development executive do? A business development executive’s main responsibilities include expanding the client base and taking the initiative to increase sales and revenue. A business development executive has to embody several skills necessary for effective business management. What are some of the duties and responsibilities of a business development executive? Let’s get the answers to all these questions right now.
A business development executive job profile has layers of roles and responsibilities. Their primary role includes monitoring the market, increasing the customer reach, and widening the growth of a business. One of the most important ones involves identifying the best business opportunities to grow the company.
Secondly, as a business development executive, you are responsible for connecting with any potential clients who can build the business upwards. Lastly, you must develop effective strategies to increase the company’s revenue.
Let’s find out more about business development executive duties and responsibilities:
Finding New Clients: You would be responsible for finding new clients through networking, cold calling, and other lead-generation methods. Your ideal goal would be to expand the company’s customer number, which would mean more leads and approaches.
Developing Business Strategies: One of the essential business executive duties you would be doing is to analyse the current market trends and understand the customer needs to create business strategies to uplift the revenue.
Closing Sales Deals: Negotiating contracts and closing sale deals with new clients is an essential part of the BDE job profile. This requires clearly understanding what a client wants and ensuring that the company meets the expectations.
Monitor Trends and Identify Emerging Market Segments: BDE plays a crucial role in the analysis of various existing financial trends in the market and making decisions based on them. They also keep an eye on the emerging segments in the market and suggest investing at the right time, fostering connections, and building symbiotic relationships with the new team.
Bachelor’s Degree: Most BDEs have a bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, finance, or a related field.
Advanced Degrees: While not always necessary, an MBA or a master’s degree in business-related fields can enhance your qualifications and open up more opportunities.
Certifications: You can go for these certifications to enhance your BDE skills: Certified Business Development Professional (CBDP), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP).
Also Read: Online MBA programme: Helpful Guide
Now that we have covered the basic duties of a business development executive let us take a look at what would be your key duties:
Actively Conducting Market Research
Using networks and online research, identify and qualify new sales leads.
Follow up on any sales leads, clearly providing pertinent facts.
Developing Sales Strategies
Become a product expert and be able to effectively present the company’s items to current and new customers.
Meet sales targets and KPIs on a weekly and monthly basis.
Attend conferences, meetings, and industry events on behalf of the company.
Managing Client Relationships
To become successful in executive business development and fulfil the business development executive duties and responsibilities, you would need a set of soft skills to ace the game.
Here are some of the soft skills you would need:
You should have strong communication skills to communicate clearly and deliver effective client messages.
You should have sharp problem-solving senses to understand business problems and find solutions quickly.
Networking and Relationship-Building: You need to know how to create good relationships and network at your maximum. This would keep the client’s reviews great and provide more clients for business growth.
Have a knack for selling and recognising business opportunities.
Feel at ease in a goal-orientated environment and endeavour to overcome any obstacles that may prevent targets from being fulfilled.
Demonstrate effective time management and planning abilities.
Education and experience are important in becoming the best Business Development Executive job profile. Here is what you need to become one:
A proven track record of achieving a higher number of sales.
Higher experience in sales and business development.
You should have a bachelor’s or master’s degree like an MBA in the marketing field.
Also Read: Top 10 Online MBA Degree Colleges in India For BDE & BDM
The salary for an executive business development can vary based on experience, location, and company size. In India, the average salary for this role is approximately 3.8 LPA, and the highest salary is ₹7 LPA. With performance-based incentives, you could earn even more.
Many factors influence how much a business development executive can earn. Here are some key considerations:
Experience Level: The more experience you have, the higher your potential salary. Senior executives with proven track records often command significantly higher salaries than those new to the field.
Geographic Location: Your location plays a role in determining your salary. Major cities offer higher wages due to a greater cost of living. For example, salaries in Bangalore or Mumbai are typically higher than in smaller cities or rural areas.
Company Size: Larger companies generally have more resources to pay their executives higher salaries and offer additional perks like stock options or generous bonuses.
Here is a closer look at what the real salary range is for business development executives, along with their experience level:
| Experience Level | Base Salary Range (₹) |
| Entry-Level | 2,00,000 – 3.5,00,000 LPA |
| Mid-Level | 3.5,00,000 – 6,00,000 LPA |
| Senior-Level | 6,00,000 – 8,00,000 LPA |
Also Read: Business Development Manager: Everything You Need to Know
Aside from the base salary, many companies offer additional incentives to attract and retain talented business development executives. These may include:
Performance Bonuses: Many companies reward high-performing executives with annual or quarterly bonuses based on individual and team performance.
Commission-Based Earnings: Some companies offer commission-based earnings, allowing you to earn more by achieving specific sales targets or closing significant deals.
Employee Benefits: Other common benefits might include health insurance, provident funds, travel allowances, and flexible work arrangements.
Analytical Skills
Critical-thinking skills
Strong communication skills
Problem-solving skills
Eye for emerging trends
Financial skills
Technical skills
Negotiation skills
If you’re preparing for a Business Development Executive interview, consider these common questions that can help gauge your fit for the role:
How do you approach finding new business opportunities?
Can you describe a challenging sale you closed and how you achieved it?
What strategies do you use to maintain client relationships?
These questions are designed to assess your problem-solving skills and ability to build lasting relationships in a business development context.
Here’s a quick table to tell you the key information about business development executive roles and responsibilities:
| Factors | Description |
| Role | Identify business opportunities, build client relationships, and create sales strategies. |
| Key Responsibilities | Conducted market research, developed sales strategies, and managed client relationships. |
| Essential Skills | Communication, problem-solving, networking, and relationship-building. |
| Experience | Proven experience in sales, business development, or market research. |
| Salary | ₹2,00,000 to ₹5,00,000 per annum, with an average of ₹3,08,000. |
A business development executive’s primary responsibilities include expanding the client base and taking the initiative to increase sales and revenue. Business Development Executive duties and responsibilities include a multi-tasking job where strong communication, problem-solving, and networking are the pyramids of this job profile. You would be required to find new business opportunities for the company. And that’s not it; the most fun part of becoming the Business Development Executive job profile is coming up with new marketing ideas.
The average salary package of a Business Development Executive is ₹3.8 per annum. Remember, that the salary package only goes higher and higher according to your experience, revenue and strategies. Welcome to the business world where networking and dreaming come together to create the best ideas and growth for a company. Take the first step towards becoming the next lead Business Development Executive through an MBA. Welcome the world of opportunities, skills and experience.
A business development executive works primarily to increase the sales and revenue of a business/organisation/firm and expand the network and the number of clients to generate higher financial returns.
To be a successful business development executive, one needs to be highly professional and possess a fluent skill set. The following skills are vital to this field-
Communication skills
Negotiation skills
Sales
Project management
Data analysis
The minimum eligibility for taking on the role of a business development executive is to hold a bachelor’s degree in the field of business administration, sales or marketing, sales, or any related field. Since a business development executive is a higher post, a few years of experience is essential to secure the bag.
The average annual pay scale for Business development executives is around ₹2,00,000 to ₹5,00,000 per annum, with an average of ₹3,08,000 in India.
