Posted by Sales and business development are different functions within a company that both work to increase awareness and sales. Sales focuses on identifying leads, researching and developing them and moving them along the sales cycle toward a closing. Business development involves finding new growth opportunities for the company and forming strategic partnerships that open up new markets.
It’s easy to conflate business development with sales, and that’s fair. The positions are fundamentally similar — to the point that some companies don’t even distinguish between the two.
Both business and sales development contribute to a company’s success by bringing in more revenue, but they do so in different ways and within different time frames. The sales development function involves reviewing leads, researching them, determining which ones are most likely to convert and sending those on to a salesperson to close. In the business development department, staff members look for new avenues to grow through partnerships with other entities.
In sales development, the focus is on what the customer or client can buy from the company immediately and what the company can deliver immediately. With business development, professionals develop relationships to give the company new audiences to sell to in the future.
For example, a sales development team for a company that makes household tools, such as hammers and screwdrivers, might respond to an inquiry from a hardware store about putting products on the shelves in the store for direct sales to consumers. The company’s business development department might work on a 10-year contract to sell tools to the city for the maintenance staff members who upkeep government buildings.
Difference between Business Development and Sales :
| BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT | SALES | |
|---|---|---|
| 01. | Business development refers to the activities designed to expand into a new market by creating a competitive position in the market. | Sales refers to the making revenue by selling products to the customers in the selected market segment it always aims in any way to sell the product and make profit. |
| 02. | It does not mean closing as many sales as possible in a small period of time rather it also focuses on establishing relationship for further business progress. | It focuses on seal a deal means closing, receiving a lead and heading towards the finish line. |
| 03. | Business development always aims to sale the product by making partners in the market means selling products with establishing relationship which is helpful for future business. | Sales always aims to sale the product to the end customer it does not think more about future business rather it focuses on immediate result. |
| 04. | It mainly aims represent the basic strategic components of the firm by being the part of the firm. | It mainly aims to directly interact with the customer. |
| 05. | It is relational oriented as it mainly focuses on making relationship between two parties. | It is transactional oriented as it mainly focuses on making transactions between two parties. |
| 06. | Generally business development team in a business is smaller size than sales team. | Generally sales team in a business is larger size than the business development team. |
| 07. | It is focused on selling product. | It is focused on strategic partners. |
| 08. | Business development team aims at devising, focusing and accessing a plan. | Sales team executes the plans devised by business development team. |
| 09. | Business development is long term. | Sales is short term. |
Creative Job Titles for Business Development and Sales
There are other, creative job titles for business development you could hire for as well.
- Business Development Manager
- Strategic Alliance Specialist
- Senior Solutions Consultant
- B2B Corporate Sales
- Senior Account Executive
- Indoor Sales Executive
- Tele-Sales
Search for Business Development Jobs on Jobstore.com