Where the role exists, the business development director is the top executive within the sales team and for that reason is maintains oversight on all the persons holding any kind of sales jobs within the organization. It is the responsibility of the business development director to motivate the sales team and ensure that the drive to meet the sales targets is maintained throughout. After all, the primary objective of any business is to make profits; and there can be no profit without sales. This important role makes the business development director of necessity one of the key participants in the structuring, monitoring and review of the organization's strategy since they have intimate knowledge of what is required to execute the strategy.
In order to ensure that the sales team is kept firmly on course, persons holding such senior business development jobs must always keep their ear to the ground in order to quickly address and resolve any matters arising that could be a hindrance to the sales team ability to efficiently execute its mandate. The business development director will also have to keep an eye on areas in which the team will require training. One characteristic required of sales job is innovation and the ability to stay one step ahead of the competition. Sometimes, the way to achieve this is to make sure the staff is taken through refresher sales training or training on emerging sales techniques.
Since the business development director is in effect the leader of the sales staff, it goes without saying that they too must have strong selling skills, often above average. In fact, the business development director will often have their personal sales targets separate from the department targets as far as getting new customers goes. In addition, the director will occasionally accompany other members of the sales team during client visits especially where the weighing in of a high ranking member of staff is perceived as critical in closing a sale. They must be on the cutting edge in charting new frontiers of the business' target market.
To become a business development director, a degree-level qualification is of paramount importance. However, whereas a business degree is often a good way to go, many times a technical degree that is in line with the business core objectives is what will do. After all, business development jobs and roles can only win the confidence of their clients if they can demonstrate a certain minimum level of product knowledge.
