Business Development Manager

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Business Development Manager

Department: Client Teams

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: London

Description

The Business Development Manager is a key player in the regional growth strategy and exists to drive business and client growth by identifying and securing new opportunities, nurturing relationships with clients, and advancing sales efforts. They focus on lead generation, revenue expansion, and strategic collaboration, ensuring alignment with market needs and optimizing positioning to achieve sustainable growth.

The Business Development Manager promotes and sells consulting services, market research, and community-led solutions supported by proprietary technology. They engage with primary buyers, including marketing executives, product managers and insights teams to understand their business challenges and present tailored solutions.

*Please note, our offices are closed for the holiday break, we will start reviewing applications January 6th*

Key Responsibilities

Lead Generation & Qualification:

• Actively prospect new clients ('new logo's) and identify strategic new buying points within existing accounts to expand the business. Use a variety of strategies, including outbound calls, social outreach, email campaigns, lapsed client campaigns and other sales techniques.
• Prospect new decision-making units within current clients where the current account lead cannot gain traction or where there is a different typer of buyer, understanding the organization's structure to identify needs across different departments, enabling cross-selling, up-selling, and tailored solutions.
• Manage and qualify inbound leads generated through marketing campaigns, ensuring timely follow-up and prioritizing prospects with a high likelihood of conversion.
• Conduct thorough research on target accounts to identify key decision-makers and foster engagement with executive-level contacts.
• Collaborate with Growth Strategy leaders to build and nurture the sales pipeline, setting up qualified discovery meetings that lead to demos and active opportunities.
• Partner with internal marketing teams to generate and cultivate leads, ensuring alignment on messaging and strategy.
• Successfully re-engage lapsed clients through targeted campaigns, revitalizing relationships and uncovering new business opportunities.

Sales Support & Operations:

• Accurately fill in and maintain data in HubSpot to track sales activities, measure performance against targets, and optimize sales processes.
• Work with the Sales Operations team to ensure smooth execution of sales activities and operational tasks and support the development of sales enablement materials and marketing assets to enhance industry awareness and engagement.

Client Nurturing & Revenue Generation:

• Quickly establish rapport and build trust with executive audiences, actively listening for their needs and influencing decision-making.
• Maintain continuous communication with clients to deepen relationships, ensuring repeat business and revenue growth.
• Drive opportunities through the sales funnel, advancing new business deals with a focus on closing and revenue accountability.
• Leverage existing business relationships to penetrate new accounts and expand sales efforts.

Collaboration & Strategy:

• Work closely with the Regional MD and Client Teams to understand regional client needs, target prospects and growth criteria (sector, market, brands).
• Work together with internal experts and customer success managers to increase the chance of winning.
• Develop business development strategies, using knowledge of market trends, competitor analysis and client needs to approach prospective buyers.
• Recognize new market segments and opportunities for business development, presenting a clear case for investment in resources.
• Drive sales initiatives to expand the marketplace and generate excitement around our offerings, leveraging insights and client feedback to improve positioning.
• Align offerings with market needs and client goals, ensuring positioning of our solutions is scalable and compelling.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Core Skills:

• Prospecting/Outbound Sales Expertise: skilled in cold calling, social outreach, and email campaigns to generate leads and lay the foundation for new relationship development.
• Lead Qualification: Ability to leverage creative and effective tactics to identify and qualify productive contacts with qualified decision-making executives within target client organizations.
• Active Listening: understanding the client needs, concerns and motivations and picking up on cues whether the prospect is engaged, hesitant or unsure.
• Pitching: present products and services in a compelling and persuasive manner that resonates with the prospect's needs. It involves storytelling, tailing the pitch to the prospect's specific challenges, handling objections and a call to action.
• Drive for Results: Proven track record of advancing clients through the sales process and a relentless enthusiasm for securing new business, coupled with a strong sense of ownership for achieving revenue targets.
• Market Research: Strong skills in finding opportunity by researching target accounts, understanding their business needs, and identifying key decision-makers.
• Sales Process Proficiency: Familiarity with CRM systems (e.g., HubSpot) and comfort with sales enablement tools.
• Client Relationship Management: Expertise in building and maintaining strong relationships with clients, particularly at the executive level.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills:

• Rapport Building: Ability to quickly establish trust and rapport with diverse audiences.
• Influencing & Persuasion: Strong capability to communicate effectively and influence decision-making among executive stakeholders.
• Collaboration: Excellent team player, capable of working with cross-functional teams to align strategies and incorporate diverse perspectives to drive innovation and effectiveness.

Strategic & Analytical Thinking:

• Growth Mindset: A proactive and enthusiastic approach to identifying opportunities for revenue growth and client engagement.
• Creative Problem-Solving: Ability to develop innovative strategies for market positioning and client outreach.

Attributes:

• Passionate & Driven: Self-motivated individual who thrives in fast-paced environments and is excited about consultative selling and business development.
• Dynamic & Energetic: Infuses fresh energy and an inventive mindset into go-to-market strategies and initiatives.
• Adaptable: Ability to thrive in dynamic environments, effectively navigating ambiguity and adjusting strategies to meet evolving challenges and opportunities.

Qualifications and/or Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree (focus on Marketing, Communication, Sales, Strategy, Economics, or related field)
• Sales and business development certifications is a plus
• 10+ years of professional experience with 5-7 years in a sales or business development role, preferably within agency environments, including insights and consulting firms
• Proven track record of demonstrated success in meeting or exceeding sales targets, generating new business and managing client relationships
• CRM proficiency