When you are scouting for new a Business Development Manager role, it is essential to first check out a top-notch Business Development Manager resume sample.

Business Development Managers differ from Sales Professionals because they are responsible for identifying potential customers, build relationships and offer solutions, before clients are directed over to the sales department to pitch and close deals. Business Development Managers are indirectly responsible for increasing company revenues by finding and expanding client markets and customer pools. These professionals work for large organizations, Fortune 500, multi-national companies or even small and medium enterprises.

You want to make sure your resume stands out from the rest by being both informative and entertaining to read without overwhelming the recruiter or hiring manager with irrelevant information.

What you can read in this article

Business Development Manager Resumes

Business Development Manager Example Resume

Business Development Manager Creative Resume Sample

Classic Business Development Manager Resume

Business Development Manager Modern Resume Example

Creative Business Development Manager Resume

Business Development Manager Design Resume

Create my Resume

Or download these resume examples in PDF at the bottom of this page for free

Business Development Resume Guide

Resume Sections

1. Contact Information: Name, Address, Phone, Email. Be sure to include alternative contact channels, such as your LinkedIn profile.

2. Profile Summary: View this as the introduction to your resume and include 1-3 sentences giving a broad overview of your background, years of industry experience and the industry sectors of interest. You should be specific and state which job you are applying to.

3. Qualifications Summary: Provide accurate details about the certifications and qualifications you have completed with the institution, qualification name, and dates. Don’t forget to include qualifications you are currently completing too.

4. Relevant Business Development Management Experience: Clearly state your employment history from providing details regarding the last ten years of experience up until your current position. Use brief sentences with bullet points to list the most important managerial and supervisory duties under each role you have had.

5. Other Employment Experience: This will include projects or work history outside of business development management, such as corporate sales, customer service or account management. Only elaborate on these with job descriptions if you have less than five years of Business Development Management experience. Otherwise, just list job title company and duration as to make sure there are no gaps in your employment history. This section is especially important if you are on a level slightly more junior than Business Development Manager such as an accounts executive or sales consultant.

6. Skills Summary/Key Skills: Incorporates keywords from the job posting and your specific skill set. This adds much-needed credibility to your resume.

7. Education/Licenses/Certifications/Relevant Coursework/Training: Start with your formal degrees and post-school diplomas or accreditations. List any professional development that better prepared you to work in the business development management field such as networking, market penetration, indirect advertising workshops, and business management courses.

What to Highlight as a Business Development Manager

Regardless of your experience as a Business Development Manager, there are a few vital things that employers and recruiters need to know about you to ensure that you are the right fit for their team.

Business Development Managers perform tasks such as new market identification, liaising with product development, sales, marketing, and advertising teams, reporting to senior management, collaborating with the marketing department, identifying new customers, and assigning leads to account executives. A successful resume for this role usually highlights analytical thinking, networking tenure, sales experience, analytical thinking, excellent communication, and interpersonal abilities, and strategic planning.

The first aspect to highlight is the scope of your work tenure by product type or industry area. A Business Development Manager has to identify and cultivate new client markets for the company’s products on a regional, national or global level. There are millions of companies out there with every imaginable product or solution. It would be best if you were specific about the product type or service offering you have experience in.

Secondly, the purpose of business development is growth. Business development managers are responsible for finding new business opportunities, such as projects that will increase company revenue and meet financial goals. To identify opportunities for market expansion a business development manager needs to evaluate the fiscal performance of a business based on data collected and intensive research into the activities of competing companies. To do this, they have to be familiar with economic trends within the market or field in which their business operates.

Next comes the strategic planning activities to increase customer awareness and also client satisfaction levels which are generally categorized by region or country. Remember to mention the geographic areas you are responsible for.

Once the strategic market planning is completed, business development managers need to execute these game plans and report back to senior management regarding the progress thereof. A sound understanding of sales, branding, marketing, and project management is needed to implement these growth strategies.

Setting the budget for new business programs, such as product development is also important. Business development managers need to attend conferences and networking events and roadshows which are all part of budgetary expenses. They also advise advertising and marketing departments on cost-effective ways of conducting promotional and awareness campaigns and are often responsible for overseeing the budgets related to these activities. There is a big difference between $1.5 million budget values and $100 million budgets. This information should be in your summary, as well as your position descriptions.

*Cool Tip for a stellar resume

You can create an excellent first impression by elaborating on the targets and goals you need to achieve. Be number specific here and provide actual data, for example, a 50% increase in retail customers subscriptions in the New England Area or 20% growth in international contracts from the West Africa region. This shows that you can analyze market statistics, which is necessary to determine new customer locations and marketing intelligence regarding consumer needs and requirements.

Make sure to include the following details:

The locations or regions you are responsible for, covering the average market size increase per region.
Your GPA score if you have completed a bachelor or associates degree (if higher than 3.5).
The number of account executive employees you are managing as well as the headcount figures of any admin staff.
Also mention the business development management platforms and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms you are familiar with like Streak, Tableau, Discover.Org, ZenProspect, Rapportive, and Gmelius.
Remember to include communication and collaboration tools, for instance, cloud-based systems like Slack, Asana or even Skype which you are currently using to facilitate communication between team members.
Business Development Managers travel significantly. Mention the location and countries you have visited in the past.
As a last point list examples of the main products, or product ranges which falls under your KPI’s.

BDM Career Summary & Examples

Hiring managers have large numbers of hundreds of resumes to screen and limited time to read them all in detail. Keep your career summary concise and to the point. Put the most relevant information first to capture their attention while they’re quickly scanning your resume.

Start your career summary with your years of experience in the industry and the main duties you performed. When deciding what duties to add, use the job description as your guide. For instance, if the job you are applying to highlights leading and motivating teams use those same words and phrases. The more your resume resonates with the job description of keywords, the better fit you will seem.

Next, add a line that showcases any outstanding qualities that will add value to the company. A hiring manager would be interested to know if you have “strong networking skills, creative market penetration ideas and a flair for marketing intelligence, research, and trend analytics.” It’s important to note that these qualities should be proven with examples in the professional experience section to re-enforce your message.

Finally, end your objective with your educational degrees/diplomas and any certified courses or professional memberships you may have that are pertinent to the job.

Examples:


'Focused Business Development Manager with 10 years of work tenure and exemplary planning and implementation capabilities. Highly trained in data science and market intelligence analytics with an in-depth understanding of client requirements gathering and market categorization. Certified Business Development Manager (CBDP) and currently completing a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.'


'Business Development Manager with a technology and sales background with six years’ experience in a multinational environment. An expert in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and responsible for gathering competitor product due to diligence reports regarding prospective customers. Holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Artificial Intelligence and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.'

Business Development Manager Job Descriptions, Responsibilities and duty Examples

An employer would expect to see the following proven foundational duties and skill sets within an applicant’s resume, depending on educational level and career stage.

A Business Development Manager at an entry-career stage (3-5 years experience) may:

Conduct business development and execute business strategies to develop new market channels
Develop strong relationships with sales managers, customers, and industry leaders
Assist with branding and introducing new products to client markets
Research to analyze competitor products and services
Cultivate relationships with prospective new clients by introducing sales consultants to them

A Business Development Manager at the mid-career stage (5-8 years experience) may

Establish relationships with potential clients and facilitate integration with partner service solutions
Assist in marketing strategy development for national and regional divisions
Leverage new opportunities via the execution of new business projects
Streamline profit margins through price adjustments and cost reduction analysis.
Collaborate with the marketing team to successfully present and promote products.
Conduct business analysis to deploy customized solutions for prospective clients
Represent the company at conferences, meetings, and industry events
Facilitate service level agreements and contract negotiations

A Business Development Manager at experienced/advanced stage (8-15 years’ experience) may:

Develop new customer development strategies to capture market channels and increase client penetration
Implement and execute marketing activities to increase branding and recognition programs
Build corporate relationships with customers and industry associations
Suggest improvements in business strategies based on customer feedback mechanisms
Expanded business development aligned to overall company goals
Instrumental in developing initiatives for new projects together with the product development team
Directed all meetings and produced presentations for clients
Supervise, direct and oversee a team of account executives
Approve budgets and conduct financial due diligence exercises

Highlight Your Accomplishments

Under your experience section, you may be tempted to copy and paste the list of duties you performed as detailed in your job description. The drawback to doing this, though, is that you won’t stand out from the other applicants with similar experience.
Your goal is to think about what sets you apart, what you are most proud of, or what you accomplished in your previous roles, and communicate these through action-packed statements that are compelling.

Examples:

Flat, Simple Duty:
Focus on building new client networks and create sales leads

Accomplishment Statement:
Grow email subscriber list from 200 to 3,000 in 6 months without increasing new business development costs

Quantifying Your Resume

When writing your resume, if you can answer the questions, “How much?” or “How many?” It would be best if you tried to include that number. For instance:

What is the average market size increase per quarter?
What is the average growth percentage in the last year?
What the annual 2-year profit yield?

Examples

Exceed partner development sign-ons by 25% during Q3 and Q4 of 2016.
Significantly improved market share in Asia by adding 200 revenue generating outlets during the last 12 months
Created an automated customer acquisition strategy that generated continuous monthly growth of at least 11% by improving sales funnel conversion rate
Reinvented business development strategy to include a 10% increase in sales force activities resulting in a $450 million profit yield during the last 24 months

Business Development Manager Education Section

The education section forms an integral part of your resume. In short, indicate What, Where and When regarding your qualifications, certifications or industry licenses obtained. The name of your qualification, institution, and date of completion is more than sufficient.

Remember to include current qualifications you are in the process of completing. Regarding courses and certifications, discretion and relevance must be considered.

Completed Secondary and Tertiary Education must be listed as follows:

Start with the commencement date and completion date for diplomas, associate degrees, and bachelor degrees. For courses, you can just list the date of completion. Next comes the full name of the qualification, then the full name of the institution and then the City or abbreviated State name. List your high school diploma details similarly, but only include this when you have less than five years of working experience.

Examples:

2019 – Certified Business Development Manager, American Institute for Business Management and Communication, Seattle, WA

2018 – Advanced Diploma in Data Science, Northwestern Kellogg Institute, Evanston, IL

2017 – Masters in Business Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2012 – 2014 Bachelor Degree in Sales and Marketing, University of Denver, CO

If you have less than five years’ experience, you may also add your majors, minors, GPA scores and accolades, and honors awards:

2016-2018 Bachelor Degree in Sales and Marketing, University of Detroit, MI
GPA: 3.8
Majors: Strategic Management, Marketing Management
Minors: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Business Valuation Analysis
Accolades: Deans Honors List

2013-2014 Certified Sales Professional (CSP), Mref Institute Denver, CO

2012 – High School Diploma, Key West High School, Miami, FL
Awards: Member of the National Honor Society, 2010 – 2012
Leadership: Vice President of the Science and Innovation Club, 2012

Business Development Manager Resume Skills

Although the business development field requires specific technical skills, employers also look for other skills, called soft skills. These are the main types of skills that indicate to your fit as a business development professional who will add value, has adequate knowledge, sufficient experience to expand customer markets. Incorporate these into your summary, or profile, and into your accomplishment statements.

Technical Skills Examples

Educational Attainment: A university degree is generally required to become a Business Development Manager, and the top suggested degrees are Business Management, Communications, and Marketing. If you are planning to progress to Business Development Director level or executive management and a Master’s in Business Administration is highly desirable.
Technical Aptitude: Business Development Managers need to be strategically orientated to create new business development strategies, and establish new market territories, They also need to be financially savvy to do business valuations and understand the fundamental principles of Marketing and Advertising initiatives.
Other Technical Skills: Account Management, Brand Management, Strategic Marketing, Contract Negotiation, Integrated Marketing, Staff, Management, Hubspot, Google Analytics, Data Analysis, Salesforce, Unomy, Yesware, Gmelius, TalkDesk, Uber Conference, Join.me, Boomerang, Rapportive Salesloft, Docusign, Research, Outbound Marketing, Budgets, Strategic Marketing, Research, Analytics, Social Media, Cloud-Based Collaboration Platforms, CRM Systems, Quality Control, Report Writing, Feedback Mechanisms.

Soft Skill Examples

Verbal and written communication
Leadership
Adaptability and Flexibility
Team-working
Creativity
Time Management
Decision-Making
Public Speaking
Attention to Detail
Integrity
Initiative
Empathy.
Self-Control
Collaboration
Persuasion
Persistence
Social Perceptiveness
Service Orientation
Strategic Thinking
Creative
Dedicated
Realistic
Communication
Interpersonal Skills
Negotiation
Persuasion

Qualifications/Certifications associated with Business Development Managers

Bachelor of Communication	Masters in Business Administration	Diploma in Business Management
Financial Management Certificate	Advanced Dip[loma in Data Science	SalesForce Super User
Project Management Professional (PMP)	Certified Business Development Manager (CBDM)	Associates Degree in Marketing Management

Action Verbs for your Business Development Manager Resume

Coordinating	Presenting	Monitoring
Controlling	Problem Solving	Improving
Networking	Investigating	Negotiating
Promoting	Listening	Communicating

Industries Using Business Development Managers:

Construction
Mining
Oil, Gas & Exploration
Medical Device
Life Sciences
Food Manufacturing
Consumer Goods
Aviation
Aerospace
Shipping
Metals & Steel Production
Plastics
Packaging & Distribution
Agriculture
Electronic Components
Power Plants
Specialty Chemicals
Pharmaceutical
Industrial Engineering
Information Technology
Courier Services
Transportation
Advertising Agencies
Training Consultants
Accounting and Taxation
Legal

Professional information for Business Development Managers

Sectors: Various
Career Type: Business Development, Accounts Management, Client Relations
Person type: Developer, Presenter, Networker, Influencer, Marketer, Strategizer
Education levels: Bachelor’s to Masters’ Degree
Salary indication: From $72k to $140k per annum
Labor market: Estimated 8% growth between 2016 – 2026
Organizations: Corporate, Commercial, Government, Multi-National, Small and Medium Enterprises