What does a business development director do?
A business development director specializes in crafting plans and strategies to develop the relationship between the brand, clients, and other key characters in the industry. It is their responsibility to examine and understand everything about the brand and figure out which areas require improvement or changes. They must also conduct a thorough marketing analysis and remain updated on the latest trends in the market to identify new opportunities that would improve customer satisfaction. Furthermore, they must also communicate with all clients, even appear on public gatherings to strengthen brand awareness.
Business development director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real business development director resumes:
- Create and manage business development, government affairs and public relations initiatives to achieve growth objectives for this correctional healthcare company.
- Achieve access to SVP level resulting in significant new business.
- Manage network services, e-ticketing and packaging solutions, CRM solutions, message management, and e-provisioning/identity management/security solutions.
- Lead centralized, electronic referral center coordinating post-acute service needs of patients discharging from multiple acute facilities in Arizona region.
- Track all sales and marketing activities using a CRM program and analyze data to optimize business development approach and management
- Collaborate with the marketing team to ensure laser focuse messages at all conferences and trade shows ensuring competitive logistics solution offerings.
- Conceive, develop and implement a global marketing and new business acquisition strategy aim at the high tech logistics vertical.
- Provide oversight of XML content and digital asset management systems including staff and vendors used in their maintenance and permissions compliance.
- General oversight of hospice program operations.
- Drive the full acquisition life-cycle from opportunity identification to RFP response development.
- Improve sales performance and identify strategic opportunities through the evaluation of standardize SalesForce pipeline review across regions and business segments.
- Develop key collaborations and relationships with senior leadership, physicians, nursing, operation directors and healthcare providers within the community.
- Provide managerial oversight of all aspects of RFP service center including business process optimization, recruitment and development of department staff.
- Develop solutions to complex problems that require the regular use of ingenuity and innovation.
- Develop and distribute marketing campaigns to high level decision makers via cold calling, emailing, LinkedIn and other social media.
Business development director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Business Development Directors are proficient in Healthcare, CRM, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Business Development Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Healthcare, 9%
Key channel contracts won include: HP Global HealthCare division & Eagle.
- CRM, 5%
Managed network services, e-ticketing and packaging solutions, CRM solutions, message management, and e-provisioning/identity management/security solutions.
- Patients, 4%
Led centralized, electronic referral center coordinating post-acute service needs of patients discharging from multiple acute facilities in Arizona region.
- Customer Relationships, 4%
Build key customer relationships; identify business opportunities and new partnerships for four office locations, supporting five different divisions.
- Account Management, 4%
Reported directly to founders with responsibility for business and product development, account management, sales/marketing and liaison relations.
- Project Management, 4%
Launched multiple websites including a novel project management system consolidating all request for quotes, company-wide correspondences, and cost/labor tracking.
Common skills that a business development director uses to do their job include "healthcare," "crm," and "patients." You can find details on the most important business development director responsibilities below.
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a business development director to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." Business development directors often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "supported direct sales with creative revenue building initiatives; referral fee program and spiffs. "
Interpersonal skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling business development director duties is interpersonal skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization." According to a business development director resume, here's how business development directors can utilize interpersonal skills in their job responsibilities: "utilize excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills to establish strategic business relationships that increase/streamline processes needed to initiate/close sales. "
Organizational skills. This is an important skill for business development directors to perform their duties. For an example of how business development director responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a business development director: "managed all integration activities including development of organizational structure, merging of two successful product lines and utilization of manufacturing assets. ".
Analytical skills. business development director responsibilities often require "analytical skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." This resume example shows what business development directors do with analytical skills on a typical day: "direct sales of firm's data aggregation and reporting solutions to investment management and hedge fund organizations nationally. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in business development director job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what business development directors do. Business development director responsibilities rely on this skill because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." You can also see how business development director duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "establish and maintain consultative relationships with c-level and svp/vp executives in hr, talent acquisition/management, marketing / communications and procurement/sourcing. "
The three companies that hire the most business development directors are:
- Charles River Labs105 business development directors jobs
- Charles River Center100 business development directors jobs
- Oracle96 business development directors jobs
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Compare different business development directors
Business development director vs. Director of sales
A sales director is responsible for managing the sales operation of the team, ensuring that members comply with the sales strategies and procedures in meeting sales goals. Sales directors' duties include maintaining consistency of sales targets, providing reports and important updates for sales improvement, managing customers' inquiries and resolving complaints, launching new services to expand product offers, researching the current market trends, and improving sales plans. A sales director must have excellent leadership and decision-making skills to support and acknowledge the team's best efforts.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, business development director responsibilities require skills like "patients," "project management," "business relationships," and "market trends." Meanwhile a typical director of sales has skills in areas such as "sales management," "sales plan," "work ethic," and "sales targets." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Directors of sales earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $124,924. On the other hand, business development directors are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $124,195.On average, directors of sales reach lower levels of education than business development directors. Directors of sales are 6.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Business development director vs. Director of product development
A Director of Product Development supervises and implements product development policies, initiatives, and objectives. They conduct market research to determine consumer needs and identify competitors.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real business development director resumes. While business development director responsibilities can utilize skills like "healthcare," "crm," "patients," and "customer relationships," directors of product development use skills like "product management," "product strategy," "product roadmap," and "software development."
Directors of product development may earn a higher salary than business development directors, but directors of product development earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $142,193. On the other hand, business development directors receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $124,195.In general, directors of product development achieve similar levels of education than business development directors. They're 1.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business development director vs. Director of marketing & development
A director of marketing & development is a management professional who is responsible for improving the marketing scheme of an organization while discovering ways to obtain new customers. This director is required to lead a team of marketers and work with other departments to make the organization's marketing plans become a reality. The director must possess customer service skills as they often personally reach out to and deal directly with clients. This director must also work within the constraints of a budget to create the necessary marketing materials.
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 director is likely to be skilled in "healthcare," "crm," "patients," and "customer relationships," while a typical director of marketing & development is skilled in "twitter," "revenue generation," "event planning," and "community relations."
Directors of marketing & development earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $117,707. Comparatively, business development directors have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $124,195.directors of marketing & development typically earn similar educational levels compared to business development directors. Specifically, they're 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business development director vs. Planning director
Planning Directors are members of the executive team or the top management of a company. They oversee the company's plans and the strategies involved in reaching company goals. They manage the resources of the company by reviewing the budget and by overseeing human resources activities. They ensure that the company works toward its goals and that the company follows through with its plans. That being said, Planning Directors do not necessarily police the company's actions, especially if it deviates from the original plans. Instead, they steer the company towards the fulfillment of such plans. If the plan is no longer viable, they should be flexible enough to pursue new plans to achieve their goals still.
Types of business development director
Updated January 8, 2025
