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.
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 $53.72 an hour? That's $111,736 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 21,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
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.
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 74.4% of Business Development/Product Managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 17.7% 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 Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Business Development/Product Manager resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Doctoral Degree 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.