Differences Between Business Development and Sales

The differences between business development and sales are both clear and easy to muddle. In one sense, business development is closer to marketing than sales, so it is clearly not sales. In another sense, both involve selling the company to a potential client. The big difference is that the salesman is selling one product, while the business development manager is encouraging an ongoing connection with the client than can lead to future sales and business. With that in mind, it is clear that business development and sales differ in the areas of goals, targets, functions, and size.

Goals

The first difference is illustrated by the opening example. The object of sales is to sell one product to one client at one time and hope they come back for more later on. You are not necessarily building an ongoing relationship in a straight sales call, unless they continue to use your services. For business development, the goal is the ongoing connection. The hope is that your connection will blossom into more openings for future sales with a collection of customers that stem from the original business partner.

Target

With that goal in mind, how does the target differ? For a sales call, one might try to determine who makes the decisions for purchasing widgets. Then that person would be the target. In business development, the target is the person with the farthest reach into the company’s operations. Which person would lead to the most open doors for future ventures as a result of that contact? Your options for advancement are not limited to one purchasing administrator; instead, you have an open door to many future clients through this contact.

Function

The difference in function relates to the sales-marketing spectrum. In straight sales, you are singling out your products to be attractive to your customers. In marketing, you have not only the overall products, but also the image of the company in mind. What can this connection mean for the client? Is it beneficial above and beyond the purchasing of a few widgets? A major function of business development is getting the client to buy into the entire structure of your organization.

Size

The last difference to mention is the size of the connection. In a sales-only environment, you are contacting and working with several individual customers. Your customer list might be massive. In business development, the size of your target audience is small, but it holds the potential for greater impact because you can gain future customers through a network among your clients. Your client’s customers then become your customers, though you might not have to ever actually make contact with them. They are as essential to your business model as your own client is.

While there are several key similarities to sales, business development expands the business model in a way that is exponentially greater than the sales sector. Business development relies on some of the same key traits that the sales department does, like having good people skills and an ability to negotiate. However, the implications that come from successful business development go far beyond the potential offered by sales.

Conclusion

Sales and business development differ in their goals, target, size, and function. If you’ve got a business idea that you want to attack, call us or email us at 801-383-2821 and info@nexusabs.com. We’d love to help you develop it so that you reach your goals this year.