Job Description - Business Development Representative (BDR)

‍Business Development Representative: the definition

Meaning of the word and translation

The Business Development Representative Is a commercial In charge of prospecting new customers Within The sales team of a tech startup.

Junior position (0 to 3 years of experience), it is a key element in the execution of the commercial strategy since it intervenes at the very beginning of the sales cycle: its role consists in detecting business opportunities and to pass them on to more experienced salespeople, such as Account Executives.

Often called BDR, its role is that of a junior sales development representative within traditional businesses.

The BDR represents the first level of contact for a potential customer. Her determination to open doors and her versatility make it essential for a startup to increase its turnover. The BDR Is key for the successful development of a startup. His role is often confused with that of SDR (read below).

What is the role, the missions of a BDR?

One Business Development Representative focuses mainly on leads Outbound (outgoing leads), a B2B prospect who has an interest in what a company offers but who has not yet purchased anything. By identifying new prospects to contact, a BDR generates new opportunities.

💡 To fully understand the term” Outbound”

THEOutbound groups marketing strategies by which specific customers are targeted having never been in contact with the company. It is generally carried out by teams Sales and Business Development.

Concretely, a BDR has a specific mission: to develop the development plan.

This mission is divided into several stages:

• Possess a perfect knowledge of the company and its external environment in order to plan a action plan allowing potential customers to be satisfied as best as possible.
• Setting up negotiations in order to develop and maintain sustainably over time a good customer relationship.
• Development of strategies to build loyalty customers.

Good to know ⚠️: A Business Development Representative should not be confused with a Business Developer Also called Business Developer 360° because it accompanies and advises the prospect throughout the entire sales cycle.

The tools of a Business Development Representative

During the implementation of prospecting, the BDR is required to use various tools. In order to best fulfill these various missions, the BDR must master certain tools, or certain techniques and sales methods. His knowledge of commercial techniques will allow him in particular to carry out more effective cold-mailing or cold-calling campaigns. The essential remains the BDR's companion remains of course its CRM like: Salesforce or Hubspot.

Other tools also make it possible to gain in efficiency, performance and productivity. Indeed, we find, for example, among them LinkedIn which makes it possible to effectively target potential prospects. Many other tools can be mentioned such as Google Sheets, Lusha, Dropcontact or Excel.

‍

SDR VS. BDR - Understanding the difference

What is the role of a Sales Development Representative?

One Sales Development Representative (SDR) is in charge of pre-sales phase and must qualify the leads. He is involved in the establishment of a prospecting strategy by identifying target accounts. In particular, he focuses on qualifying prospects into customers by making contact with as many potentials as possible. leads (telephone and email prospecting). An SDR has a versatility remarkable and plays a double role since he is responsible for Outbound but also The Inbound. In other words, he intervenes during incoming and outgoing commercial prospecting.

Like the BDR, the SDR will not be in charge of negotiation and closing.

What is the difference between SDR & BDR?

One SDR (one Sales Development Representative) and a BDR both occur at the start of the sales cycle. Their work (leads obtained) offers opportunities for salespeople taking over for the rest of the sales cycle.

The difference between SDR and BDR is ultimately very simple and resides mainly on their missions.

• The BDR is responsible for outbound prospecting (outbound prospects))
• The SDR is responsible for inbound qualification (incoming prospects)

The BDR is therefore the hunter profile par excellence, having to find his leads himself, while the SDR relies on marketing to manage incoming prospects.

‍

What are the qualities of a good BDR?

What is a good Business Development Representative?

Resilience: showing determination and adaptation

A BDR faces many complex situations, especially when the prospects contacted are not receptive to his remarks.

Faced with the reluctance of some individuals contacted, a BDR will know if it is necessary to continue the interview or, on the contrary, if it is time to end it. It should not be forgotten that the primary role of a BDR is toIdentify the right profiles. Its goal is to bring quality prospects to its sales team. To get there, you must be full of ingenuity to find solutions.

In order toAttract attention Of the various prospects, he must and knows how to adapt his speech. Depending on the interests of the profiles contacted, a BDR manages to appropriate each story of its target accounts and to turn them to its advantage. His ability to adapt also allows him to Questioning during possible failures.

To become a good BDR, young profiles work hard on their resilience: ability to bounce back. For a BDR, failure is not an end in itself but a way to improve.

A taste for risk, for a challenge

A good BDR likes to take risks and overcoming numerous challenges. Faced with an initially reluctant target account, he tries new options in order to obtain the desired objective: to transform the prospect in front of him into a customer. By leaving his comfort zone and being creative in terms of his approaches and his discourse, he is able to capture attention and adapt to the needs and personalities of his interlocutors. He's working on his camouflage!

Organizational capacity, time and stress management

One Business Development Representative may have to work under pressure. However, thanks to his ability to apprehend change, he manages to identify new opportunities of development. Sa stress management facing a deadline or even facing difficult prospects allows it to optimize its effectiveness in complex situations.

For the implementation of the prospecting strategy, solid skills in time management and in terms oforganizing are essential. It breaks down its activity into several stages: targeting, prospecting, rendezvous, etc.

Good organizational skills are established over time. Naturalness and habits allow them to optimize their sales and their effectiveness.

How to be a good BDR?

Have experience

It's hard to work effectively without experience. Without the latter, no adaptation can be possible since it is through mistakes but also through successes that we know what needs to be done, that we develop new skills.

Thus, a good BDR has already been able to face different types of situations during his professional experiences.

Have the ability to listen

Knowing and understanding the needs of different prospects is essential for a BDR. When a prospect feels that their needs are being heard, they are more open and a good customer relationship is established. As a BDR, it is essential to create the foundations for a lasting relationship.

A desire to learn

Listening to the prospect is essential. However, without knowledge about the product or the service that the BDR offers, no sale can be made. Indeed, it is difficult or even impossible to answer the questions of the people contacted on a subject that we do not control.

Once again, it is through experience that the BDR is learning and offering more and more efficient services.

‍

How do I become a BDR?

Skills required

To be eligible for the BDR position, recruiters expect a wide range of professional skills. A BDR has significant commercial skills and a perfect knowledge of its product or service in order to perform many tasks related to sales such as negotiation.

To become a BDR, it is necessary to have a Relational ease. La communication plays a key role in this Occupation. The latter is aware that every word counts and that is why he handles his ability to listen. Thanks to good communication and a great sense of listening, the effectiveness of prospecting is amplified. Different Soft Skills are expected during your recruitment such as combativeness, will and curiosity.

In other words, the skills required to be a BDR are as follows:

• Creativity
• Taking initiatives and a spirit of conquest
• Adaptability
• Determination and resilience
• Good organization, time and stress management
• Sense of listening
• Commercial fiber
• Critical thinking
• Mastery of commercial negotiation
• Mastery of sales and prospecting techniques
• Relational ease
• Mastery of office automation and CRM tools
• Ability to learn and challenge
• Demonstrate resilience

Degrees, training and studies required

There is no specific university course to become a BDR. However, BDRs generally come from business schools and have mainly validated a diploma ranging from a level bac +3 to bac +5.

However, profiles with no particular training still manage to reach this position when they manage to demonstrate their skills and have good soft skills or that they have interesting professional experiences.

Akimbo allows individuals who wish to become a BDR to integrate a short but intensive training course in the form of Bootcamps.

The Bootcamp takes place over two months. At the end of the Bootcamp, Akimbo coaches the BDRs of tomorrow by offering them preparation for interviews and by putting them in contact with its 250+ partner startups. In a few words, the Bootcamp :

• Takes place in several stages and covers the entire sales cycle and the necessary skills to become a BDR: learning sales strategy and B2B business development, mastering commercial data, organizing and implementing prospecting strategies, mastering negotiation, cold calls, customer appointments, customer appointments, account management and immersion in complex sales;
• Allows you to get a CDI at the end of the training in one of our 250+ partner startups;
• Is accessible to distance as in person within an ecosystem of startups in Paris;
• Is recommended by 98% of our Alumni.

Adapted conversion profiles

We can't find no typical profiles to become BDR. However, some jobs, which require numerous skills related to the BDR profession come up frequently. Indeed, former athletes, soldiers and restaurant owners with strong resilience and a great ability to adapt succeed in this work.

The most suitable individuals for the BDR position do not have no typical experiences to have. However, they must have fundamental qualities such as creativity, good communication and an interest in this profession.

What career developments are there for this position?

The evolution of a BDR is not not frozen in time. Indeed, after a few years of experience, he can aspire to evolve into numerous jobs like those of:

• BDR or SDR Team Lead
• Account Manager or Keay Account Manager
• Heads of Sales
• Entrepreneur
• Etc.

‍

What is the salary for a Business Development Representative?

How much does a Business Development Representative earn?

On average, the Salary of a BDR revolves around €35K to €70K gross per year, in France in particular.

⚠️ Attention: It is essential to specify that for jobs in Business Development, the salaries are composed of 2 parts:

• The fixed, a salary that is paid on a permanent basis.
• The variable, which depends on the number of goals achieved.

The variable portion can be up to 50% of the total salary, and is correlated to the performance of the BDR.

Job offers generally use the term Package which refers to all remuneration (includes the fixed portion and the variable portion).

Junior Business Development Representative

For a Junior Business Development Representative, the average salary is €35K to €60K gross per year, especially in France.

Senior Business Development Representative

With more than 5 years of experience, BDR Senior can claim a salary ranging from €60K to €100K gross per year.

‍

The different Business Development Representative jobs?

Some titles you should know

- Sales Development Representative

- Business Developer Manager

- Business DevelopeR

- Sales representative

What is a Sales Representative?

The sales representative meets with a set of prospects to sell them the products or services of his employer. It represents a company's point of contact with customers which are commercial enterprises.

What is a Business Developer?

The Business Developer, BizDev Is a general sales representative responsible for finding the most profitable commercial agreements for a company. It is present throughout the sales cycle and has a major role in all companies since its objective is to generate profit and increase the turnover of the latter. Seen as a genuine entrepreneur for some, he works on various and varied missions.

‍

Our tips for finding a BDR job

Find theJob offer who is right for you is not easy. Before you start your job search, it is necessary that you ask yourself the right questions. You need to ask yourself what exactly you are looking for in your position and what type of company you are interested in. Ask yourself about your motivations, your ambitions and your soft skills.

Don't just rely on what the company is selling you in their job offer. Consult reviews, experiences about the companies in which you want to apply.

First, start by looking for offers through platforms like JobTeaser or Welcome To The Jungle who verify the origin of offers before publishing them. Before you decide to apply, make sure that the missions proposed in the offer are in line with your professional ambitions.

‍

Not all job offers are good to take. Here are some things you need to consider when viewing an ad:

• Details about the company : values, vision, team;
• The sector of activity: CSR, HR, finance;
• Company size and culture;
• Products or services offered by the company;
• The missions;
• The location of the post;
• The experience required for the position;
• The type of contract and its duration;
• The skills required;
• The tools used;
• Responsibilities.

It is essential that you read the job offer carefully to know if you are interested in it and if you are the ideal profile for the position or if you are not.

‍

How do you recruit a good BDR?

The job of Business Development Representative is not easy. Indeed, selling and prospecting do not represent trivial tasks. Therefore, entrusting them to an unqualified profile is not recommended. Recruiting your new BDR should not be taken lightly.

To carry out this work, he You must have acquired specific sales techniques and master the various strategies essential in the BDR business. If, however, a startup decides to hire an intern or a Junior BDR, it will have to make sure to coach him in order to obtain good results. Les Soft Skills as curiosity and perseverance are essential for this position. It is therefore necessary to ensure that the candidate has them.

‍

Good to know ⚠️: Candidates coming from a business school can be good candidates for the BDR profession. Nonetheless, business schools do not prepare their students for sales functions. Thus, coaching these candidates remains essential!

‍

In order to recruit a BDR that meets your expectations, he You have to schedule several interviews. The candidate must meet the team with which he will be working. Indeed, we must not forget that selling is above all a question of collective success !

Carrying out practical cases with your candidates can also be a good way to quickly get to know their skills. Practical cases can be of various forms. For example, you can ask your candidates to perform call simulations.

‍

In summary, to recruit a good BDR, you must:

• Be aware of the difficulty of its mission;
• Conduct various interviews with candidates to find out if they are genuinely qualified for the position or if, on the contrary, they are not;
• A candidate with strong prospecting skills.
• A mastery of the various tools found in the BDR profession (a good command of CRM is essential);
• Essential qualities: relational ease and good communication skills, a real commercial spirit, strong creativity and resilience as well as a great ability to organize.

Last point of attention: beware of profiles that change positions regularly. They no doubt have difficulty reaching their goals.

‍

Interview - Business Development Representative (BDR)

‍

‍