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Novaredneck profile picture

Novaredneck

IoT Sales Specialist

Valued Contributor
Member
Good Citizen
+2

Sales vs Business Development

What's everyone's experience with being in sales vs biz dev? I thought they were the same thing...but recently turned down a sales role due to lower base than my current and the hiring manager came back with a biz dev opening and are asking me to reconsider. I always assumed sales was business development so if anyone can clarify any differences it would be much appreciated. Thanks fam. ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿปย 
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16

14 comments

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poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
6
โ˜•๏ธ
Sometimes business development is a way to mask the term โ€œpartnershipsโ€. Completely depends on the industry or age of the company (or leader).
GingerBarbarian
Opinionated
6
Lead Sales
Titles are always a little messy. It could be this company has one role that is more enterprise focused than the other. However most of the time they are pretty interchangeable.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Considering that BDRs are Business Development Reps that set appointments for AEs and may report to either marketing or sales, and Business Development Managers are often Partner Managers - youโ€™ll have to ask them what they have in mind.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
8
๐ŸฆŠ
๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ
cruzc9
5
Director of Business Development
Iโ€™ve done both and it does depend on the industry but in my experience BD is creating the roadmap for sales to navigate. It is two sides of the same coin but they are very different.
Diablo
Politicker
3
Sr. AE
Best is to go through the Job Description and clarify because this really varies from company to company, industry to industry, geography to geography. All the best !
cruzerey
Valued Contributor
3
Business Development Manager
In my experience, sales is just selling products whereas business development is about creating the path and selling solutions that are customised to each customer. Ehh, either way the goal is still the same, getting the contracts/POs.
RandyLahey
Politicker
3
Account Executive
The terms are often interchanged. My first SDR role I was technically a Business Development Representative, but I was doing mostly outbounding.
Next role, I was a Sales Development Representative, doing mostly outbounding lol.
Third one for, just for good measure, was a BDR purely responding to inbounds.
So yeah, it's confusing AF with no clear standard.
Things you want to pin down as you search for roles:- Salary/OTE breakdown, followed by how many reps are at plan (RepVue is great for this).- Although every sales org will say "yeah it's mostly inbound", try to speak to current reps in the role you are targeting on LinkedIn. They should give you the honest breakdown.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
2
Sales Rep
Titles can be misleading, better to just ask your team.
FinanceEngineer
Politicker
1
Sr Director, sales and partnerships
Business development is about maturing customers/verticals/regions so that the company can sell into them. AEs are only about closing.
WheelofCheese
Opinionated
0
Sales Executive
Iโ€™ve always been in a sales role my entire adult life (20+ years) and Iโ€™ve always used these terms interchangeably. If certain industries use these titles differently, this is news to me! Interesting feedback.
Modro
Valued Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
To further confuse things thereโ€™s also Sales Executive
0
Business Development Manager
according to my experience. I see sales and business development are part of the sales process.

Business Development: As a BD rep you need to generate new business development in your target area through market research, lead generation, doing online demos, and handing over to the field sales manager.

Sales: As a Sales Manager, you will take forward conversation from the BD level and reach out toprospects in person and ask more qualified questions related to BANT, negotiate, and close the deal.
Maximas
Tycoon
-1
Senior Sales Executive
To me BD position equals Sales position as they share 90% of roles and responsibilities.

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