Business Development vs. Sales: What Are the Key Differences & Which Role Is Better for Your Business?

Since sales and business development are closely related, they are often confused. However, understanding the difference between business development and sales is essential because it helps your company allocate resources efficiently, measure performance, and plan strategically, as well as helps professionals understand their roles and expectations.

The concept of business development and sales is often misunderstood, but they play distinct roles in driving revenue and growth. Sales generates more leads and revenue and close deals, while business development explores market opportunities and builds partnerships and relationships.

In this article, we'll explore how these two elements have different functions, where they overlap, and how they complement each other.

What Are the Differences and Similarity Between Business Development and Sales?

Business development is the strategic process of identifying and creating growth opportunities for organizations. This process might involve exploring new avenues and growth opportunities and forming strategic partnerships. It is a long process with a broad scope, keeping long-term goals in mind.  Business development is the long game, focusing on strategic, long-term relationships and growth. It may involve forming partnerships or connections that improve an organization's reach or brand image. Business development might also lead to exploring various industries, looking for opportunities to expand by assessing market dynamics to increase reach even further. A key business development strategy involves identifying new business opportunities in previously unexplored areas. Since relationships are essential to a business's success, business development reps work on relationship building by fostering strategic connections with stakeholders or by negotiating deals.

The sales process involves directly engaging with customers to promote and sell products or services by identifying customer needs and presenting solutions. It also involves short-term goals related to closing deals and generating revenue. A sales development team focuses on meeting concise sales goals and creating revenue for the organization by closing deals with customers through email marketing or sales calls. Sales involves directly working with customers to sell products or services and qualifying leads by maintaining relationships using good communication. Conversion can feel inherently transactional, as sales efforts involve engaging potential customers and addressing their needs to meet a goal. Typically, the performance of a sales department is measured through revenue targets or quotas, and a successful sales team will hit their performance metrics consistently over time.

While sales and business development are distinct roles, there are a few ways that these functions overlap.

There are similar skills in business development and sales. Both sales representatives and business development teams need skills like good communication. Business development reps need to communicate strategically to nurture partnerships with other businesses, while sales teams communicate with customers to generate revenue, such as through cold calling. Both need to negotiate with their clients, and need skills in building relationships, such as with new partners and customers.

Both business development and sales are driven by growth objectives, but their time frames are different. Sales teams are focused on short term sales opportunities, generating revenue from customers more immediately. Business developers are concerned with long term growth, such as through new partnerships or emerging markets.

The responsibilities of business development vs sales may blur, especially in smaller companies or startups, where a few people may wear many hats. For example, a business developer may step into a sales role when a small company lacks a dedicated sales team. They may start by identifying new opportunities and markets, follow through with an initial outreach, and close the deal.

Common Job Titles in Business Development and Sales

Here are some of the most common roles found in business development and sales departments.

Business development roles:

• Business Development Manager: A business development manager focuses on building relationships and identifying growth opportunities. This may involve analyzing market trends and negotiating partnerships. Their overarching goal is to increase their organization's competitiveness by optimizing existing markets and relationships, and looking for new ones.
• Partnership Manager: A partnership manager is concerned with maintaining relationships and developing strategic partnerships. They're a part of the business development team that manages ongoing communications and partner resources.
• Market Expansion Lead: This business development rep focuses on driving growth by identifying novel markets through industry research, and creating strategies for market entry. They collaborate with other teams to adapt products or monitor performance metrics to ensure success.

Sales roles:

• Sales Representative: The role of a sales rep is to sell a company's product or service to existing and new customers. Their key activities include finding qualified leads, conducting sales presentations, and negotiating contracts. They may track sales metrics, monitor the effectiveness of the sales cycle, or identify pain points.
• Account Executive: These sales development representatives are responsible for managing client accounts and increasing revenue growth. Maintaining relationships is an important component of their role, where they need to understand their client's needs and create relevant solutions. They may analyze and prospect new customers and ensure existing client satisfaction.
• Sales Manager: These sales reps oversee their sales team to optimize their success. Their responsibilities include setting sales targets, monitoring performance, and developing strategies. Their management might also extend to training new team members and analyzing data.

Which One Do You Need for Your Business?

You may need business developers or sales representatives at different stages in your business growth. Consider the following points when deciding which of these roles to focus on.

• For early-stage startups: Business development may by more important in the early stages of a business' growth, to identify key opportunities and partnerships that could accelerate the growth of your young business. Business developers can create actionable goals for your organization, identify immediate needs and contrast them with long-term goals, conduct market research, and get input from stakeholders.
• For established businesses: Once a business has a more established strategy for growth, sales teams become essential for converting leads, generating consistent revenue, and finding new customers. Sales professionals can create buyer personas, establish a sales process, and use customer relationship management software.

No matter what stage of growth your organization is in, a balance of these two roles is important for long term success, as both positions support each other with complimentary goals and direction.

Conclusion

While easily confused, sales and business development are distinct roles that focus on things like long-term strategy or short-term revenue streams. Rather than approaching the roles of business development and sales as two conflicting roles, consider that both roles are complementary. Business development creates opportunities in different markets or with new partners that sales professionals can act on to convert leads. Both are essential for the long-term success of a business.

You may need sales reps or business development professionals. When considering business development vs. sales, evaluate your own business needs to guide your decision in choosing the right professionals. Think about whether you need to focus on long-term strategy, short-term leads, or both. By choosing the right roles or a combination of the two, you can maximize your organization's potential in both the short and long term.

— Originally written by Tiffany Quinn —