Business Development Blog for MBAs

This is an important question!

Q: What is the difference between an Account Manager and a Business Development Manager?

Answer:
Account Manager = Farmer
Business Development Manager = Hunter

Here are the links to some useful articles:

In short, Account Managers look after EXISTING accounts, while Business Development Managers look for new clients and new accounts.

Q: What is a Key Account Manager designation?
A key account manager looks after the entire relationship with the company’s most important clients. This can include project management, negotiation and strategic planning

Friday, March 8, 2013

Qualities of a successful sales professional:

Qualities of a successful sales professional:

1. Listening skills - very important for any sales role. The best sales people are the best listeners so listen very carefully to what your potential client’s needs and requirements are, and then mould your products and services to match the client’s needs.
2. Communication skills - when engaging in a discussion about a purchase, potential clients are only able to use one of their five senses: listening. So a sales consultant should speak clearly, concisely and professionally at all times. Remember, this is the first time this person has listened to you, even though this may be your 20th presentation that day – so don’t rush, don’t use jargon, and don’t cut corners.
3. Product knowledge - This one is easy – know the products you’re talking about! Use them, and be able to talk to your friends/family/potential customers about why they are great. When you have tried the products and KNOW how awesome they are, you can be confident in recommending them.
4. Intelligence - Although we don’t need our candidates to have formal qualifications like A Levels and degrees, we prefer to build teams of people who have lots of life experience and common sense. In our experience, when speaking to key decision makers, this is more important than formal qualifications.
5. Target-driven - Set goals, and watch your business grow as you achieve them.
6. Self-motivated - but also the ability to work in teams. This is a double edged sword as you alone will be promoting the products and the business so it pays to be self-motivated, but you are also working within a Toronto-based team so you need to be able to work with others and help motivate them and overcome any problems/issues together as a team.
7. Honesty - it is essential to be honest when marketing a product and a business. You should never misrepresent as you are representing the client and the company. In any case, misrepresentation is always discovered! The best sales consultants never have to lie to get the sales/meet targets. They rely on their sales ability and product knowledge.
And finally…
8. Commitment - this is the main attribute a good sales consultant needs. You are making a commitment to be on time, not to give up when times are tough or you’re not meeting targets, to learn about new products, to learn and memorise scripts, to achieve and aim to exceed agreed contractual targets, to support other team members and to be the best you can. Commitment is the cornerstone for all the other seven attributes sales consultants should possess.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sales Consultant

From the link: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sales-consultant.htm

A sales consultant is a person who provides analysis and training to help a business improve its sales.

Some people also use this term interchangeably with that of sales associate or salesperson, a person who sells things to other people. The training and responsibilities of a sales consultant depends on the type of consultant: one who advises businesses and other salespeople often has years of experience and training, while one who sells products may not need much training at all to start with. The work environment for both of these careers is generally fast-paced and involves a lot of interaction with people.