Advantages and disadvantages of a career as a Business Developer

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To enter the world of Business Developers, we recommend:

• To read As many testimonies as possible on these jobs: thanks to our blog, YouTube or Welcome To The Jungle;
• To gather your courage in both hands and to make contact with Business Developers, Sales or Account Managers - for example via Linkedin. You can contact Bootcamp Alumni from Akimbo, they are used to it!
• Of participate in events ;
• To read The article below, of course!

The source of this article? Business Developers, Sales and Account Managers, quite simply. In particular, you will discover Testimonies from Akimbers currently working at Partoo, Doctolib or even Payfit.

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Business Developer: a crucial role for the company

The advantage

We don't call him Business Developer for nothing. Its main mission? Develop the business commercially : its turnover, its market shares, even its reputation. As the first point of contact for future customers, he has an immense responsibility. He is the brand ambassador, his voice and his face : the embodiment of the company.

Its importance is in line with its impact on the customer, which is all the stronger as the Business Developer markets innovative solutions. If no one had designed, and especially marketed, the first operating system (mac OS, Windows), where would we be today?

The downside

These responsibilities require a lot of energy and dynamism because you have to Assume the goals set. Expectations are real: if the results are not there, all teams can be impacted! No turnover = no salaries at the end of the month...

It's a job where you have to To be at 100%, try to exceed your goals, invest in finding new customers, be rigorous and able to question yourself. All at once.

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A salary that matches your investment

The advantage

Let's start by keeping an open door: even if money doesn't buy happiness, it does contribute to happiness. And Sales & Business Development jobs are among The highest paid in the tech world. His salary is between €35k and €60k, or even €90k after 5 years of experience. Above all, it is one of the rare jobs where this sum depends on an objectively evaluated performance: the turnover generated.

The more efficient you are, the more your remuneration increases. You have the opportunity to directly benefit from the fruits of your work and your ambition. Do you want to be the best at your job? You will be paid the best. Also learn how to negotiate your salary during your Sales job interviews !

The downside

The performance of a Business Developer is easily measurable. If his results are insufficient, it will appear more easily in the eyes of his managers and he will be thanked more easily. And of course: no result, little variable salary! Keep in mind that managers calculate the remuneration of their teams so that the variable part is reached 100% by 15% to 25% of the teams.

Finding a job quickly... But the right one!

Chez Akimbo, 98% of students get an opportunity within 3 months of the training.

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The advantage

The job of Business Developer is very popular with businesses. It is an extremely important recruitment for them. The number of open positions is significant and these are difficult recruitments for companies. If you also have a hunter profile, you will easily find a company to welcome you. So the whole question is:

• To find The best company to be efficient (solution, team...).
• to arrive in office with all the weapons to be the best (for that, of course, there is our training).

The downside

This ease in finding a job also has negative effects: many companies are ready to recruit a candidate when they are not sure of their choice. So you have to keep a critical thinking and be sure to find the opportunity that suits you: is it the right business to succeed? Is the management competent? Is the marketed solution really relevant? Who are the competitors? Who are the co-founders?‍

Without this analysis, you risk joining a company that you are not made for.

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A rapid career development

The advantage

While the salary of a Business Developer changes very quickly, so do their responsibilities. The majority of Sales Managers we work with plan career plans for their teams: every 6 to 10 months, their positions change. An example from our partner Skello:

• (if no experience) Start at a Junior Sales position

• Intermediate sales after 6 to 10 months
• Senior Sales (from 12 months of experience)
• Then Sales Expert and/or Team Lead (from 18 months)

The consequence? You will be able to consider rapid career development and aim for positions of Sales Director, Partnership Manager, Entrepreneur, General Manager... With more than a year of experience in selling innovative solutions (e.g. software), you will also be contacted several times a week on Linkedin by recruiters.

A role that allows you to develop personally... But it is not for everyone

The advantage

Becoming a Business Developer is the assurance of develop qualities that are useful in everyday life. We thus find:

• selfless and resilience : the ability to overcome difficulties

• soft skills : communication and active listening
• Persuasion : the ability to convince a customer
• The analysis : the ability to take a neutral look at one's performance
• The organization : the ability to manage one's time and missions

Ask Business Developers: their job makes them progress on a personal level. “We trust you on a lot of points, you have the opportunity to test things, to have fun, to crash, start again... We feel a great deal of freedom” explains Paul, student in the January 2019 session.

And if you receive a lot of negative feedback, it teaches you to put failures into perspective and start moving forward: “even if a long work of research and negotiation ends in failure, you have to be ready to accept and bounce back quickly in order to move on and not let other opportunities pass by” Paul tells us again.

The downside

Sales & Business Development jobs are therefore not made for everyone: beyond the skills that must be mastered, not everyone is able/does not want to develop these qualities. You must arrive with a minimum amount of luggage, but above all, in case it was not clear enough: be ready to develop these qualities. Hence some questions to ask yourself: Do I want to take responsibility for developing sales? Am I ready to give myself the means to achieve my ambitions? Do I want to build a mind?

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Integrating innovative startups... A demanding challenge

The advantage

Joining an innovative startup means joining a company that will evolve rapidly. It is the possibility of joining a company whose assumed objective is to go from 15 to 70 people or from 30 to 150 people in a dozen months, with a lot of money to perform managerial functions. It's also about seeing the direct effects of your daily work.

These companies are also more open to the idea of hiring less experienced but highly motivated profiles than some more traditional companies. They are less attached to diplomas than large groups. In fact, this is what a student from Batch October 2019 told us: “Startup creators are often young graduates who have an idea and want to see it through, with will and perseverance. This makes them sensitive to candidates who show similar qualities, often with more atypical and junior profiles, but who are highly motivated.” 🌱

And The startup atmosphere is also a plus, “It's quite pleasant, you chat with everyone, it's not in any environment that you would go have a beer with your client or your manager” Paul tells us.

The downside

In these companies, there is no “safe house” as in some large groups, with teams that do not deliver results directly, often for internal policy reasons. You have to accept being efficient or see its place quickly called into question. As everywhere too, teams are often managed in the wrong way.

In startups, we will often find: a lack of onboarding and training, too much responsibility from the start (e.g. being responsible for the entire sales cycle) or, on the contrary, too strong segmentation (e.g.: only making cold phone calls). Other common faults: the lack of processes, too fast decision-making, the lack of technical knowledge and “specialists” in the industry.

A very diverse profession

The advantage

Being a Business Developer is not just about selling a product or a service. It is a job for very diversified missions and which requires working with different teams: marketing, product, communication, financial and legal. The knowledge accumulated over time is therefore very varied and may even allow later, why not, a reconversion to another field. “This job allows you to discover environments that you did not know through meetings and clients. You will then try to understand people's expectations, what they do. And once you have the methodology of the job, you can adapt it to all areas, so all you have to do is find the one that interests you!” Lorena told us.

The downside

Working with other teams is be dependent on them. If the product you are marketing is objectively bad, despite all your know-how, attitude and goodwill, you will have to deploy an additional dose of energy to sell it. Everyday life will quickly be much less pleasant. In the same way, as a Business Developer, you are dependent on the reputation of the company and therefore on the Marketing team. A good reputation greatly facilitates daily life.

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Acquiring a substantial address book is useful later in your career

The advantage

What could be better than being a customer hunter to build an address book? If you are good at your field and you retain your customers well, you can take them everywhere with you. This is a major advantage because once you have reached a certain level of seniority, a good client portfolio is decisive for the rest of your career.

The days are not the same

The advantage

An Alumni from the April 2019 batch explained to us that what he found most enjoyable about his work was human contact. Since he interacts with different people every day, the days are not the same.

You have to know how to be patient. Some sales are very long and complex and won't be resolved as easily and naturally as others. Some people can be tougher than others and it will take extra effort to turn them into customers.

The downside

In some sectors of activity, the market evolves according to the months and seasons. And you have to know how to adapt. There are some services or products that only sell at a certain time of the year. You must then know how to be ready to focus your efforts on these few months, and find out how to occupy your activity the rest of the time to optimize your time.

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