Business development/product managers track down sales leads and convince potential customers of the superior quality of the products and services they are selling. They are responsible for nurturing fruitful relationships with sales contacts, visiting clients on location, and attending networking events.
Working in this position, it will be your job to follow up on business leads and arrange meetings with potential clients or partners. You will be responsible for communicating the developments of products and services, so giving presentations will be a regular part of your days. Making sure marketing materials are efficient and align with company goals will also be your duty.
A degree in a finance or marketing-related field might be important to some employers out there but you can always take courses and get yourself certified if you don't feel like investing in a college education. Communication skills and a talent for sales will be more important above anything else, though. You will need to show for experience in the field, and leadership skills will also be non-negotiable.
Business Development/Product Manager Overview
Business Development/Product Manager Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a business development/product manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $52.27 an hour? That's $108,723 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 21,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Business Development/Product Manager Do
There are certain skills that many business development/product managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, interpersonal skills and organizational skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a business development/product manager, we found that a lot of resumes listed 8.0% of business development/product managers included product development, while 7.1% of resumes included product management, and 6.2% of resumes included sales goals. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the business development/product manager job title. But what industry to start with? Most business development/product managers actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Business Development/Product Manager
If you're interested in becoming a business development/product manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.4% of business development/product managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 47.8% of business development/product managers have master's degrees. Even though most business development/product managers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a business development/product manager. When we researched the most common majors for a business development/product manager, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on business development/product manager resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a business development/product manager. In fact, many business development/product manager jobs require experience in a role such as product manager. Meanwhile, many business development/product managers also have previous career experience in roles such as regional sales manager or business development manager.
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Business Development/Product Manager Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of business development manager you might progress to a role such as sales vice president eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title executive vice president of sales.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Business Development/Product Manager
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Randstad Business Development Manager-Consumer Products Business Development Manager-Consumer Products | Randstad Randstad | 12/21/2020 12/21/2020 | $75,00012/21/2020 $75,000 |
Randstad Business Development/Product Manager Business Development/Product Manager | Randstad Randstad | 08/06/2019 08/06/2019 | $75,00008/06/2019 $75,000 |
Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership Product and Business Development Manager Product and Business Development Manager | Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership | 03/29/2019 03/29/2019 | $95,00003/29/2019 $95,000 |
Gerresheimer Peachtree City (USA) L.P. Manager, Product and Business Development Manager, Product and Business Development | Gerresheimer Peachtree City (USA) L.P. Gerresheimer Peachtree City (USA) L.P. | 10/16/2018 10/16/2018 | $137,17610/16/2018 $137,176 |
Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation Product Manager, Control Arms and Moog Business Development Product Manager, Control Arms and Moog Business Development | Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation | 05/09/2018 05/09/2018 | $97,15705/09/2018 $97,157 |
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Top Colleges for Business Development/Product Managers
1. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
2. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Public
3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
4. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
5. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
6. Ohio State University
Columbus, OH • Public
7. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
8. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
9. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
10. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
Top Skills For a Business Development/Product Manager
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.0% of business development/product managers listed product development on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and interpersonal skills are important as well.
- Product Development, 8.0%
- Product Management, 7.1%
- Sales Goals, 6.2%
- Business Development, 5.9%
- Revenue Growth, 5.7%
- Other Skills, 67.1% See All Business Development/Product Manager Skills
Best States For a Business Development/Product Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a business development/product manager. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, Washington, Minnesota, and New York. Business development/product managers make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $138,012. Whereas in Washington and Minnesota, they would average $129,613 and $128,736, respectively. While business development/product managers would only make an average of $128,385 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
$129,613
Avg. Salary
2. Montana
$113,183
Avg. Salary
3. Rhode Island
$138,012
Avg. Salary
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