Understanding the Basics of Business Development
Business development activities extend across different departments, including sales, marketing, project management, product management, and vendor management. Networking, negotiations, partnerships, and cost-savings efforts are also involved. All of these different departments and activities are driven by and aligned with the business development goals.
For instance, a business has a product or service which is successful in one region, such as the United States. The business development team assesses further expansion potential. After all due diligence, research, and studies, it finds that the product or service can be expanded to a new region, such as Brazil.
Sales
Sales personnel focus on a particular market or a particular (set of) client(s), often for a targeted revenue number. In this case, business development assesses the Brazilian markets and concludes that sales worth $1.5 billion can be achieved in three years. With such set goals, the sales department targets the customer base in the new market with their sales strategies.