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What does a business development consultant do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a business development consultant do

The role of business consultants is to provide an analysis of a company on its business practices and make recommendations for long-term goals. This role is also connected with various duties and responsibilities, including reviewing the company's financial statements, engaging in research on how to improve the company's offers, and developing new business models. Also, business consultants are responsible for negotiating contracts as needed, initiating plans and strategies to minimize company losses and drive profits. They may also function as the company's representative in promotional events and trade associations.

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Business development consultant responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real business development consultant resumes:

  • Manage and negotiate key vendor relationships including financial transaction processing, product marketing, advertising and collateral fulfillment to maximize ROI.
  • Improve customer retention and customer satisfaction by implementing a CRM system.
  • Work alongside CEO in developing and implementing a sales training program/protocols for new salespeople using a customize CRM
  • Connect business processes through its online payroll solution, integrate human resource information system and cloud computing services.
  • Conduct extensive research to identify healthcare provider clients and physician job candidates.
  • Arrange in-person meetings to referring primary care providers and other community healthcare organizations.
  • Manage and negotiate key vendor relationships including financial transaction processing, product marketing, advertising and collateral fulfillment to maximize ROI.
  • Develop significant commercial business in adjacent markets in response to DoD reductions in spending.
  • Developed/Manage internal and external OEM relationships to ensure effective international product support structure to meet market needs.
  • Create a non-traditional revenue strategy leveraging manufacturing partnerships with former OEM manufacturers to manufacture and sell parts to the airlines.
  • Leverage market knowledge and expertise to facilitate customers maximizing their return on investment for oil and gas exploration and production.

Business development consultant skills and personality traits

We calculated that 13% of Business Development Consultants are proficient in Healthcare, CRM, and Cloud. They’re also known for soft skills such as Management skills, Problem-solving skills, and Time-management skills.

We break down the percentage of Business Development Consultants that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Healthcare, 13%

    Developed prospect database, developed vertical market plans for Mid-Tier Manufacturing, Nonprofits and Healthcare.

  • CRM, 9%

    Provided software vendor vetting, project planning and implementation services to nonprofit organizations, undertaking Web Development and CRM projects.

  • Cloud, 9%

    Managed Business Development Operations resulting in generating new opportunities for Oracle Cloud.

  • Customer Satisfaction, 8%

    Market Analysis and Segmentation: Initiated customer satisfaction studies to identify ways for increasing retention level.

  • Sales Training, 6%

    Facilitate sales training classes for store-level and mid-management team members along with specific industry certification.

  • Sales Pipeline, 5%

    Conducted sales pipeline acceleration coaching with new sales representatives.

Common skills that a business development consultant uses to do their job include "healthcare," "crm," and "cloud." You can find details on the most important business development consultant responsibilities below.

Problem-solving skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling business development consultant duties is problem-solving skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "top executives need to identify and resolve issues within an organization." According to a business development consultant resume, here's how business development consultants can utilize problem-solving skills in their job responsibilities: "utilized visualization techniques, forecasting, modeling, statistical analysis, and predictive analytics to design and maintain internal business solutions. "

Time-management skills. business development consultants are also known for time-management skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to business development consultant responsibilities, because "top executives do many tasks concurrently to ensure that their work gets done and that the organization meets its goals." A business development consultant resume example shows how time-management skills is used in the workplace: "serve as primary point of contact for vendor relations supervising product development guaranteeing quality excellence and on time delivery. "

Most common business development consultant skills

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Compare different business development consultants

Business development consultant vs. Business advisor

Business Advisors are consultants responsible for implementing business strategies to improve financial and operational efficiency. They are involved in preparing financial budgets, recommending a change in the operational process, identifying new business opportunities, evaluating a marketing strategy, and reviewing supplier and labor contracts. Business advisors also help to manage risk by performing risk analysis and consumer behavioral analysis. They are involved in report preparation and work to maintain open communication with different departments to implement change.

We looked at the average business development consultant salary and compared it with the wages of a business advisor. Generally speaking, business advisors are paid $11,316 higher than business development consultants per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both business development consultant and business advisor positions are skilled in healthcare, data warehousing, and customer service.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between business development consultants and business advisor. For instance, business development consultant responsibilities require skills such as "crm," "cloud," "strategic thinking," and "customer satisfaction." Whereas a business advisor is skilled in "human resources," "business strategies," "excellent organizational," and "process improvement." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Business advisors earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $92,206. On the other hand, business development consultants are paid more in the media industry with an average salary of $95,927.business advisors tend to reach similar levels of education than business development consultants. In fact, business advisors are 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Business development consultant vs. Strategy consultant

A strategy consultant specializes in examining and analyzing business processes to identify areas needing improvement, ensuring to provide strategies for optimal performance. A strategy consultant may work as a member of a company or as a freelancer. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around discussing business vision and goals with clients, assessing the workflow and the workforce of a company, observing competitors, identifying risks, and recommending strategies for profitable growth and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, as a strategy consultant, it is essential to adhere to the company's vision and mission throughout the process.

A career as a strategy consultant brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a business development consultant. In fact, strategy consultants salary is $30,091 higher than the salary of business development consultants per year.A few skills overlap for business development consultants and strategy consultants. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "healthcare," "crm," and "strategic thinking. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real business development consultant resumes. While business development consultant responsibilities can utilize skills like "cloud," "customer satisfaction," "sales training," and "sales pipeline," strategy consultants use skills like "digital transformation," "develop recommendations," "client facing," and "data analysis."

Strategy consultants may earn a higher salary than business development consultants, but strategy consultants earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $114,533. On the other hand, business development consultants receive higher pay in the media industry, where they earn an average salary of $95,927.strategy consultants earn higher levels of education than business development consultants in general. They're 11.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Business development consultant vs. Solutions consultant

A solutions consultant is an individual who has an in-depth knowledge of technology that can help a company to overcome issues, increase sales, and have a better connection with their customers. Solutions consultants are responsible for heading the installment of customized software solutions and train dealers and customer sales engineers to administer the customized solution. They represent the company by attending tradeshows and events to demonstrate their company's technology. Solutions consultants must also ensure to demonstrate technical feasibility through beta tests plus trial programs.

An average solutions consultant eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of business development consultants. The difference in salaries amounts to solutions consultants earning a $9,686 higher average salary than business development consultants.By looking over several business development consultants and solutions consultants resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "healthcare," "crm," and "cloud." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a business development consultant is likely to be skilled in "strategic thinking," "sales training," "sales pipeline," and "product development," while a typical solutions consultant is skilled in "pre sales," "database," "client facing," and "c #."

Solutions consultants make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $102,827. On the other hand, business development consultants are paid the highest salary in the media industry, with average annual pay of $95,927.When it comes to education, solutions consultants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to business development consultants. In fact, they're 3.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Business development consultant vs. Marketing consultant

A marketing consultant is responsible for utilizing their extensive retail expertise to develop strategies on how to strengthen client base and achieve better sales. Furthermore, a marketing consultant must perform research and analysis to determine opportunities for financial gains, devise plans to improve client satisfaction, assess the competition, look out for any risks, and develop its brand and image. They should also ensure that all steps taken adhere to the policies and regulations of the organization.

Marketing consultants average a lower salary than the annual salary of business development consultants. The difference is about $14,560 per year.While both business development consultants and marketing consultants complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer service, product development, and account management, the two careers vary in some skills.While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "healthcare," "crm," "cloud," and "strategic thinking" are skills that commonly show up on business development consultant resumes. On the other hand, marketing consultants use skills like web content, media sales, digital marketing, and marketing campaigns on their resumes.marketing consultants enjoy the best pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $93,209. For comparison, business development consultants earn the highest salary in the media industry.marketing consultants reach similar levels of education compared to business development consultants, in general. The difference is that they're 3.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of business development consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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