Business development executive
Most businesses have a group of account executives whose job it is to look after clients, although they might also be involved with the sales process too, as they have excellent knowledge of the way the company operates. That secondary role can be a full time position, however – the business development executive. This role is more strategic, as it’s taking the company’s overall business aims in the medium and long-term, and working to realise them, with a particular interest in winning new clients.
Typically, the business development executive will brief the accounts team on the clients they win, and then have little more to do with looking after them, unless they have a hybrid role (which is quite common in smaller companies). Most of the time, they will be looking out for new opportunities, contacting leads and following them up, which makes them have more in common with sales staff, except on a more strategic footing.
The skills required
Business development executive jobs go to people who can demonstrate a talent for identifying leads that will benefit the company long into the future, or which take the company in new directions. They will often be employed when a company has changed its core business model or has embarked on a new range of products and services.
With a strong emphasis on identifying leads and persuasion, business development executives are often drawn from the ranks of sales, and often no experience as a BDE is required as long as they have a proven long-term, strategic mindset.
Business development executive Jobs in Dundee
Dundee is an industrious city that has changed its roles many times over the centuries. Its North Sea-facing front made it ideal for whaling, and the industries that surround it, such as boatbuilding, whale oil processing and jute manufacture (it was discovered that jute could be lubricated with whale oil). Those industries are gone now, but after World War II the city was to have something of a boom. The company NCR set up in Dundee, initially making shop cash registers, and later moving on to making banks’ cash machines. The company was also a pioneer of the now-ubiquitous magnetic strips, and also made computers.
The electronics company Morphy Richards was formed and based in Dundee after a merger, and Michelin tyre factory was also established. All this time, industry worked along shipbuilding, but by the 1980s this industry was in terminal decline. Along came Timex, who manufactured Sir Clive Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum in the city; this home computer was a huge success, owing to its colour graphics and reasonable price. However the Timex factory closed in the early 1990s.
The city was also a publishing magnet, and many a child grew up reading DC Thompson’s famous output: Beano, Dandy and the gung-ho Commando comic books. And when they grew up, they played Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, developed by Dundee’s Rockstar Games. There is also a strong biomedical and biotech industry in the city.
Dundee is such a thriving place that no short article can do it justice. And of course, all this moving of materials and products, and the servicing of its 150,000 population means that Business development executive positions are regularly required.
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Business development executives use Cast UK
At Cast UK, we have a steady stream of business development executive jobs coming up, so if you’re a BDE or want to take the leap from sales to this more strategic role, we’d urge you to follow the link below and register with us.
If your company needs to find some talent to put its business development plans into action, you’ve found your perfect recruitment partner. At Cast UK we know exactly what companies are looking for in operational-level positions such as this, and we can create a shortlist of interview-ready candidates in double-quick time. Call us on 0333 121 3345 to speak to a consultant.