What is a Business Development Specialist?

The core duties for a Business Development Specialist are to identify, evaluate and design plans that help an organization grow as well as develop new products, services and lines of businesses to increase and sustain that growth. Growing, building and increasing the capabilities of an organization is integral to a successful business strategy, and the business development specialist tracks and monitors the revenue stream for individual products and services and identifies strategies and tactics for growth, including marketing and sales approaches. The business development specialist also identifies potential new lines of business based on market trends and competitor analysis, and develops the business case to support moving into a new product, service or line of business. On a broader scale, the business development specialist also may be involved in merger, acquisition and affiliation or joint venture strategies of the business.

One of the biggest challenges a Business Development Specialist can face is a major change or shift in the industry. For example, healthcare reform is creating a fundamental change in the business dynamics for nearly every sector of the healthcare industry. The business development specialist must stay abreast of industry dynamics at all times, including moves by competitors, and determine if industry changes offer new opportunities to take advantage of, or new threats to react to.

The skills used most in this job are negotiating, data analysis (demographic, financial, competitor, etc.), strategy development, sales and both oral and written presentation skills. Other skills could be interdisciplinary team building, legal analysis, marketing and public relations.

Consider what type of industry you are interested in and what industries offer the best opportunity for business growth based on regional, national and global trends. Are you comfortable in a highly competitive position responsible for the revenue growth of an organization? Do you enjoy writing, market research, financial analysis and developing persuasive arguments to “sell” your new product idea?

The type of person who is successful in a business development position is an enthusiastic self-starter who possesses both superb analytical skills and is also comfortable with relationship building and sales. Individuals who can absorb and use market data to understand its impact on their business and to perceive areas of opportunity for business growth will thrive in this type of job.

Most rewarding is the success of building a high-performing interdisciplinary team of diverse members from many different parts of the organization to grow a program or develop a new service, and seeing the efforts to design a business case, develop the product, and execute a sales plan payoff when we reach and exceed our growth targets. The success is felt not only by the team but by the entire organization infusing a sense of pride and strength throughout the culture.