What Does a Business Development Representative Do? (+Job Description)

It’s no secret that sales jargon can get tricky.

What do the salespeople at your company call themselves? Are they account executives, account managers, business development, or just sales reps? As sales organizations change and evolve, it’s hard to keep up with each position's different roles and responsibilities.

A typical business development career path is pretty unfamiliar to most. You may have friends who work as business development representatives or come across the title on a job board but have no real insight into what the position actually is or where it leads.

Luckily, I’m here to help. In this article, we’ll explain exactly what a business development representative does, how it differs from a sales development representative, and how the position fits within the bigger picture of a sales organization. Plus, we included a job description to have for reference.

What is a business development representative?

A business development representative (BDR) is a salesperson who creates quality leads through cold email, cold calling, social selling, and networking. Business development reps are a potential customer's initial point of contact.

They engage prospects by phone or email after discovering them via their own research or with the assistance of a business development associate (BDA). This normally entails scheduling a meeting or conversation with a more senior sales team member, usually an Account Executive.

What does a business development representative do?

Business development is at the forefront of the sales process. When prospective buyers enter the sales funnel, they are first passed off to the business development team.

On a daily basis, BDRs are making cold calls, send emails, and lead high-level discovery calls with prospects. The ultimate goal is to book appointments that eventually become legitimate sales opportunities. Once a meeting is booked, the BDR passes the prospect off to an Account Executive (AE).

It’s important to note that while most BDR teams fall under the sales umbrella, they’re not closing any deals. Demonstrating the product, drafting a proposal, and closing the deal are all the responsibilities of an AE, not a BDR. Instead, the BDR team, usually led by a business development manager, is measured on the number of meetings they book and potential deals they influence (more on that later).

Business development vs. sales development

You might ask, “So, how is that different from a sales development representative?”

At some companies, sales and business development representatives serve the same function, and the names are interchangeable. At other companies, sales and business development representatives are on the same team but have slightly different responsibilities. For the purpose of this article, we’ll take a look at the latter. 

A sales development representative (SDR) is also responsible for generating new business opportunities, but they are tasked with doing so by qualifying only inbound leads. This is different than a BDR that is responsible for generating opportunities through outbound sales outreach such as email and cold calling.

In most cases, an SDR role is an entry-level position for people who are just starting their career in sales and have little prior experience. By handling only warm leads, the SDR can get accustomed to working with prospective buyers and perfect their qualifying process. Once an SDR has shown that they are ready to handle more responsibility, they have the opportunity to be promoted to a BDR and start tackling an outbound sales strategy.

Business development representative metrics

Business development representatives are measured by several different key performance metrics. Similar to a traditional sales role, BDRs will have weekly, quarterly and annual quotas. These quotas will account for things such as the number of emails sent, the number of calls made, and the number of meetings booked. These types of prospecting activities are often stored and tracked using CRM software.

BDRs are often also measured by overall team performance. This is tracked by looking at a BDR-influenced sales pipeline or the number of potential deals created due to business development efforts. Additionally, BDRs often work closely with the marketing team since they are the ones responsible for qualifying the leads that the marketing team brings in. By tracking how many inbound leads are considered qualified by the BDR team and which leads eventually convert to customers, marketing can measure their own performance and make adjustments as necessary.

Next, we’ll look at a typical BDR job description that summarizes everything we’ve discussed thus far. For this example, I use a fictional company called Frontier Marketing.

Business development job description

Position: Business Development Representative, full-time

Location: New York, New York

About frontier marketing: Since 2001, Frontier Marketing has been a leading global provider of top-notch marketing services for various clientele. Our services include SEO, demand generation, and paid media planning. It’s our mission to connect brands to consumers in more meaningful and memorable ways.

About the role: Frontier marketing is looking for a Business Development Representative that is eager and excited to kick off their sales career and join our team. The ideal candidate will have an energetic, can-do attitude and be comfortable working in a metrics-driven environment.

Responsibilities include:

• Prospect into strategic business accounts via cold call, email, and social strategies
• Drive sales growth and pipeline by setting up qualified meetings for Account Executives
• Maintain and organize an annual book of business
• Be a subject matter expert and evangelist of Frontier Marketing’s expansive list of branding solutions
• Produce creative strategies for targeting decision-makers at prospect accounts in order to book sales appointments and influence company revenue

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Communication, or a related field
• 1-2 years of experience in a quota-carrying position
• Experience with outreach, such as cold calling and emailing
• Exception written and verbal communication skills
• Strong time management and organization skills
• Previous experience using marketing automation software is preferred

Concluding thoughts

Job descriptions are rarely black and white, and it’s OK to admit that you don’t know exactly what someone on a different team at your company does. Now that you know the ins and outs of what it takes to be a business development representative, it’s much easier to recognize all the work that people in the role put in to help your organization reach its revenue goals.

Congratulations on expanding your sales vocabulary! But why stop there? Take it a step further and learn about sales enablement and how it equips the sales team with the right tools to optimize the sales process.