business plan for business development manager

The Top 10 Business Development Managers Strategy Templates

Business Development Managers are the architects of growth, tasked with the critical role of expanding businesses strategically. Their strategy is an actionable plan, outlining the necessary steps to identify and leverage new business opportunities while strengthening existing client relationships. It's a roadmap that aligns the company's growth initiatives with market potential and customer needs.

Get ready to dive into a curated selection of free templates designed to streamline your strategic planning process. These tools are engineered to provide clarity, direction, and a structured approach to your business development activities. Expect to gain valuable insights and practical frameworks that are immediately applicable to your strategy execution.

Managing A Business Development  Strategy

Managing a Business Development strategy is about setting clear objectives and creating a path to achieve them. It's crucial to understand that a well-defined strategy serves as the backbone of any successful business development effort. It dictates how to approach potential clients, foster growth, and outpace competitors. Without it, efforts can become disjointed and opportunities may slip through the cracks.

Clarity and Focus : A solid strategy provides a focused direction. It helps prioritize actions and allocate resources where they're most needed, ensuring that every step taken contributes to the overarching business goals.

Adaptability : In today’s fast-paced market, adaptability is key. A robust strategy must be flexible enough to accommodate market shifts, technological advancements, and changes in consumer behavior. This agility allows Business Development Managers to pivot quickly and effectively.

Alignment : Strategy aligns teams and resources, ensuring that all members are working towards the same objectives. This unity is essential for driving growth and maintaining a competitive edge.

Measurement and Analysis : Finally, a strategy must include clear metrics for success and regular analysis. This enables continuous improvement and helps Business Development Managers understand what works and what doesn’t.

For those looking to enhance their strategic planning, these templates can enable Business Development Managers to document and communicate their strategy clearly, align their team, and adjust their plans with agility. Additionally, the How To Write A Strategic Plan eBook is an excellent resource, offering over 25,000 professionals a straightforward model for creating vision statements, strategic focus areas, and KPIs. Now, let's explore the top free Strategic Templates for Business Development Managers available for immediate use, designed to enhance strategic execution and drive business growth.

Business Transformation Process Strategy Template

Implementing the right strategy is crucial for Business Development Managers aiming to navigate the complexities of transformation within their organizations. The Business Transformation Process Strategy Template is designed to structure this evolution, ensuring that changes translate into tangible benefits.

What's included in this template:

• Focus areas: Automation of business processes, enhancing customer experience, and improving data management are central to driving transformation.
• Objectives: Each focus area comes with clear objectives like increasing efficiency and reducing costs to guide strategic efforts.
• KPIs: The template includes specific KPIs such as reducing manual labor hours, empowering you to measure progress accurately.

This free template is ideal for organizations looking to evolve their operations and enhance their competitive edge. It offers a framework for identifying critical areas of work that contribute to overall business goals, thereby fostering operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

By leveraging this template, you gain access to a proven structure that simplifies the complexities of business transformation. It helps you focus on what's important, set achievable goals, and track your progress with precision.

👉 Use this free template

Strategic Alliance Management Plan Template

Strategic alliances are a cornerstone for expanding your business's reach and capabilities. The Strategic Alliance Management Plan Template is crucial for laying out a comprehensive approach to forming and sustaining these key relationships. It helps Business Development Managers to systematically manage partnerships, ensuring mutual benefits and aligned goals.

• Focus areas: Broad topics like strengthening relationships, monitoring performance, and leveraging strategic partnerships are covered.
• Objectives: Specific, measurable goals such as improving relationship management and increasing the efficiency of strategic alliances.
• KPIs: Measurable targets like the frequency of communication to track progress and gauge the success of alliances.

This free template is tailored for businesses aiming to craft a strategy for managing strategic alliances. It's perfect for organizations looking to align their partnerships with their broader business objectives. The template is designed to be adaptable, fitting any organization's unique needs.

Using this template is a smart move for any Business Development Manager looking to gain an edge. It offers a structured plan to manage strategic partnerships effectively, with clarity and measurable outcomes. Take control of your alliances and turn them into a strategic asset for your business.

Strategic Planning Template

The Strategic Planning Template is a powerhouse for Business Development Managers looking to transform ambitious goals into tangible results. It's an essential tool that fast-tracks the strategic planning process, cutting through complexity and setting a clear direction for growth and opportunity identification.

• Focus areas: The template provides four strategic focus areas such as Aggressive Growth and Value Creation to guide priorities.
• Objectives: It includes fourteen objectives to encapsulate each focus area with specific, measurable goals.
• KPIs: There are twenty-two KPIs to track progress and adjust execution for strategic objectives.

This free template is a universal fit for teams across all levels and industries. It aligns with the needs of companies, regardless of size, focusing on structured planning and execution.

Cascade's Strategic Planning Template is the tool you need to structure your strategy. It helps to navigate the complexities of business development with ease. The template ensures every action contributes to your company's growth, keeping teams united and strategies adaptable.

Integrated Master Plan Template

The Integrated Master Plan Template is a structured tool essential for Business Development Managers. It ensures all project facets are accounted for, aligning goals and actions for efficient strategy execution.

• Focus areas: This template includes focus areas like streamlining project management, enhancing communication, and boosting productivity to keep projects aligned and on track.
• Objectives: Objectives in the template are designed to be specific and measurable, such as increasing efficiency, improving quality, or minimizing waste.
• KPIs: KPIs are included to track progress towards objectives, ensuring they are specific, measurable, and achievable.

This free template is tailor-made for project managers and teams aiming for a comprehensive plan to manage and control their projects effectively. It brings together goals, objectives, and KPIs in a clear format, facilitating better strategy management and execution.

Take action now to enhance your strategic planning. The Integrated Master Plan Template is a powerful resource for achieving project success and staying ahead in a competitive environment.

Project Portfolio Management Plan Template

Business Development Managers require a strategic approach to managing a diverse project portfolio. This template is essential as it helps prioritize resources efficiently, ensuring that each project aligns with the overarching business strategy. It supports managers in optimizing their project portfolios to meet deadlines and drive success.

• Focus areas: The template includes broad topics like project portfolio management, governance, and risk management, each with distinct objectives.
• Objectives: Specific goals are outlined within each focus area, such as optimizing the portfolio and prioritizing projects, making objectives actionable and measurable.
• KPIs: Each objective is paired with measurable KPIs to track progress, like identifying a set number of high-value projects, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.

This free template is designed for teams of all sizes who are managing multiple projects and need to ensure their project portfolios contribute to the company's success. It serves as a comprehensive guide to aligning projects with business goals, optimizing resources, and driving operational efficiency.

Leverage the Project Portfolio Management Plan Template to structure your strategy execution. It's an indispensable resource for staying on track and making informed decisions. By using this template, you can ensure a cohesive approach to managing your project portfolio, fostering a growth-focused environment for your business.

Business Strategic Plan Template

The Business Strategic Plan Template is a key tool for Business Development Managers looking to solidify and streamline their strategic approach. It helps to crystalize the direction of business growth initiatives and ensures that every action taken is purpose-driven and measurable.

• Focus areas: The template includes comprehensive focus areas such as operational efficiency, brand awareness, or employee retention.
• Objectives: Objectives are specified to help achieve each focus area, ensuring they are actionable and measurable.
• KPIs: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are set to track progress towards objectives, providing clear targets to aim for.

This free template is designed for strategy leaders who want a systematic approach to crafting a business strategy. It's suitable for anyone from operations teams to executive members in sectors like Logistics, Manufacturing, Retail, and Pharmaceuticals.

Using this template allows for a structured process, ensuring your strategic plan is up-to-date, relevant, and aligned with business goals. It's an invaluable asset for staying on track and adapting to the ever-changing business landscape.

10 Year Strategic Roadmap Template

For Business Development Managers, projecting the future is as crucial as managing the present. The 10 Year Strategic Roadmap Template is a critical tool for envisioning and crafting a long-term strategy. It provides the structure to chart a course for sustainable growth and ensures that each move aligns with the overarching goals of the business.

• Focus areas: The template includes focus areas such as product innovation, marketing strategies, and production efficiency, crucial for long-term success.
• Objectives: Objectives are detailed and actionable, ensuring that each focus area has clear tasks aimed at pushing the strategy forward.
• KPIs: KPIs are tailored to measure the success of each objective, with initial and target values set to track progress accurately.

This free template is ideal for organizations aiming to create a clear and effective long-term strategy. It suits businesses across various industries looking to define objectives, set measurable targets, implement projects, and track progress to achieve desired results.

By using this template, you'll be able to structure your strategic planning over a decade, providing your team with a clear path forward. It's about making better decisions today that will compound over time, bringing you closer to your ultimate business goals.

Business Strategy Roadmap Template

The Business Strategy Roadmap Template is pivotal for Business Development Managers. It lays out a comprehensive plan to target specific outcomes. The template provides structure, enabling managers to map out initiatives and track progress, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and facilitating decision-making.

• Focus areas: The template covers three major focus areas, guiding the strategic concentration and overarching goals of a business.
• Objectives: It outlines six objectives within these focus areas, ensuring each goal is specific and achievable to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
• KPIs: Six KPIs are included to measure success and provide quantifiable targets to assess progress toward each objective.

This free template is for organizations aiming to craft a clear strategic vision. It's designed to help Business Development Managers align initiatives with business goals and measure progress effectively. It's an essential tool for any company looking to execute their business strategy with precision.

Using the Business Strategy Roadmap Template ensures a well-structured approach to strategy execution. It helps clarify your strategic direction and provides a visual representation of progress. Don't let your strategy become just another forgotten document; make it the guiding force behind your business's growth.

Strategic Management Model Template

The Strategic Management Model Template is vital for Business Development Managers looking for a structured approach to strategy execution. It's comprehensive, ensuring that growth initiatives are well-defined and actionable, aligning perfectly with long-term business goals.

• Focus areas: The template includes focus areas like operational efficiency, customer retention, and product quality to guide efforts towards achieving strategic objectives.
• Objectives: Objectives are clear, measurable, and achievable, such as reducing shipping wait times or boosting process automation efficiency.
• KPIs: Each objective comes with corresponding KPIs to track progress, for example, cutting average shipping wait times by a specific percentage.

Business Development Managers of any size business will find this free template invaluable. It requires users to methodically define their focus areas, objectives, projects, and KPIs, making it a match for those looking to develop a robust strategic plan.

Using the Strategic Management Model Template can accelerate the strategy execution process. It helps prioritize and focus efforts, ensuring that Business Development Managers are not only planning effectively but also tracking and analyzing progress for continuous improvement.

Strategic Management Process Template

Business Development Managers understand that a comprehensive strategic management process is foundational for growth and success. The Strategic Management Process Template is a powerful tool for defining, implementing, and tracking a strategy that's aligned with business goals. It ensures that each step taken contributes to the overarching objectives, enabling a clear path to success and a structured approach to strategic planning.

• Focus areas: The template includes focus areas such as improving operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth.
• Objectives: It outlines specific and measurable objectives for each focus area, providing a clear direction for strategic efforts.
• KPIs: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are provided to measure the success of the strategic objectives, ensuring they are specific, measurable, and achievable.

This free template is tailored for organizations aiming to refine their strategic management processes. It benefits companies of all sizes by providing a structured framework that aligns teams, resources, and actions with business development goals. It's particularly valuable for those seeking to maintain a competitive edge and adapt to market changes swiftly.

By using the Strategic Management Process Template, Business Development Managers can take advantage of a ready-made framework to streamline their strategic planning and execution. This saves time and resources, allowing for a focus on what truly matters—growing the business and outperforming the competition.

Best Practices For Strategic Business Development Managers

Executing a successful strategy hinges on more than just having a solid plan; it involves integrating best practices that ensure the strategy is lived and breathed within the organization. For Business Development Managers, the difference between a strategy that sits on the shelf and one that drives real growth can be found in the details of how the strategy is managed and implemented.

Communication is paramount. A strategy that is clearly communicated to all stakeholders creates a shared understanding of the goals and the part everyone plays in reaching them. It allows for greater engagement and ownership across the team. For example, The Cascade Strategy Report for 2022 highlights the importance of cultural and methodological shifts in how strategy is approached and communicated to bridge the gap between planning and execution.

Secondly, tracking and measuring progress with precise metrics not only keeps the strategy on course but also fosters an environment of accountability and continuous improvement. The right KPIs turn objectives into clear targets, making it easier to gauge the effectiveness of strategic actions. In this regard, utilizing tools like Cascade's OKR Software can enhance strategic alignment and execution within organizations by connecting daily actions to objectives and providing measurable tracking of progress and performance.

Additionally, regular strategy reviews are critical. They provide the opportunity to reflect on what's working and what isn't, making it possible to pivot or adjust as necessary. This flexibility is crucial in a dynamic business landscape where change is the only constant.

Finally, aligning the strategy with the company culture ensures that strategic initiatives are supported by the right behaviors and attitudes, laying the groundwork for sustainable growth.

By weaving these best practices into the fabric of their strategic approach, Business Development Managers can transform plans into impactful actions, fostering a high-performance culture that is geared towards achieving strategic objectives.

It's Time To Make Your Business Development Strategy Shine

Now that we've explored the diverse array of strategy templates, it's clear that the right tools can propel a Business Development strategy from good to exceptional. Each template is crafted to address specific strategic needs, enabling a laser-focused approach to growth and development.

The benefits of these templates are numerous. They provide structure and clarity, offer adaptable frameworks for various business scenarios, and simplify the process of tracking progress with precise KPIs. Whether it's enhancing operational efficiency, forging strategic alliances, or planning for the long haul with a 10-year roadmap, these templates are designed to streamline your strategic planning efforts.

It's time to elevate your strategic execution. These templates are blueprints for success that align your team's efforts with your business's overarching goals. By adopting these tools, you're not just planning for the future; you're actively constructing it with each step you take.

Remember, a strategy is only as effective as its execution. Take the first step toward a more organized, measurable, and successful strategic journey. Explore the templates, find the perfect fit for your business needs, and make your strategy shine.

Ready to see how it all comes together? Book a demo with one of our strategy experts for a more comprehensive understanding of how Cascade can revolutionize your strategic execution.

Popular articles

Viva Goals Vs. Cascade: Goal Management Vs. Strategy Execution

What Is A Maturity Model? Overview, Examples + Free Assessment

How To Implement The Balanced Scorecard Framework (With Examples)

The Best Management Reporting Software For Strategy Officers (2024 Guide)

Your toolkit for strategy success.

Write a business development plan

Now that you’re in the growth stage of your business, set things in motion with a business development plan.

A business development plan sets goals for growth and explains how you will achieve them. It can have a short-term or long-term focus. Review and revise your plan as often as you can. And keep building on it as your business evolves.

How to write a business development plan

Your business development plan is your roadmap to growth, so make it clear, specific and realistic.

What to include in a business development plan

• Opportunities for growth: Identify where growth will come from – whether it’s in creating new products, adding more services, breaking into new markets, or a combination of these.
• Funding plan: Determine how you’ll fund your business growth. How much capital do you already have? How much more do you need and how will you get it? Check out our guide on financing your business.
• Financial goals: Work out what revenue, costs and profits you’ll have if things stay the same. Use those numbers as a basis for setting new, more ambitious financial goals.
• Operational needs: Identify what things about your business will need to change in order to achieve growth. Will you need extra people, more equipment, or new suppliers?
• Sales and marketing activities: Figure out what sales and marketing efforts will effectively promote growth and how these efforts will change as the business gets bigger and better. Make sure your sales and marketing plan is sturdy enough to support your growing business.
• Team needs: You may need people to take on some of the tasks you’ve been doing. Think about what parts of running the business you enjoy most – and you’re good at – and what parts you might want to delegate to others. And give some thought to the culture you want to develop in your business as it grows. Check out our guide on hiring employees.

A sample business development plan

Avoid these common business development mistakes.

• Thinking short-term instead of long-term
• Underestimating how much money it will take to grow
• Not budgeting enough money to cover the costs of growth
• Focusing on too many growth opportunities: think quality, not quantity

Micro-planning can keep you focused

You may want to create some micro-plans for specific growth projects so their details don’t get overlooked. And you can build in some KPIs to measure your progress and successes. As your business grows, take note of your progress and make periodic adjustments to your business development plan to make sure it’s still relevant.

Support is out there

Remember you’re not the first to go through this. Seek out mentors, advisors or other business owners who can help you with your planning. Your accountant or bookkeeper may also be able to help or point you in the direction of the right people.

Xero does not provide accounting, tax, business or legal advice. This guide has been provided for information purposes only. You should consult your own professional advisors for advice directly relating to your business or before taking action in relation to any of the content provided.

Growing your business

Are you ready to drop the hammer and take your business to the next level? Let’s look at how to grow.

Before you leap into growth, reflect on where you’ve come from. Find out the stage of business growth you’re at.

Understanding your business performance will help you grow. Check out common examples of small business KPIs.

Increasing sales revenue is one obvious way to help grow your business. But how do you sell more?

You can grow your business by selling more things to more people, or fewer things to fewer people. Let’s look at how.

You’re all set to grow your business. But there’s so much to keep track of. Xero’s got resources and solutions to help.

Download the guide to growing your business

Learn how to grow a business, from planning to expansion. Fill out the form to receive this guide as a PDF.

Privacy notice .

Start using Xero for free

Access Xero features for 30 days, then decide which plan best suits your business.

• Included Safe and secure
• Included Cancel any time
• Included 24/7 online support

Or compare all plans

Get started

• Project management
• CRM and Sales
• Work management
• Product development life cycle
• Comparisons
• Construction management
• monday.com updates

Meet any target: business development plan template

A company’s goals are an integral part of its productivity. When your team understands what targets they need to hit, they have something clear to strive for and feel a sense of pride when they succeed. Setting intentions about where your business is going and how to get there is an important part of the building process.

Gain clarity about what your company’s objectives are with the help of a free business development plan template. We’ll share a fully customizable template with you that you can use on monday.com. But before that, this article looks at the benefits of using such templates and what you should include in a business development plan.

Get the template

What is a business development plan template?

A business development plan template is a customizable document that outlines the objectives of your business and actionable steps to meet them. These can be your company’s long or short-term goals, amounts needed for start-up costs, or specific milestones, such as hitting a specific monthly sales target, or getting your first repeat client. The plan outlines steps to take to get to those goals and assigns specific tasks to individuals to hold them accountable for meeting the deadlines.

A business development plan template is a pre-formatted tool that describes your business objectives and how you’ll achieve them.

Although you can always write these plans down in a regular, static document, many businesses opt to use a customizable pre-built format to get off to a strong start.

Why use a business development plan template?

As a business owner, creating a custom, agile business development plan helps you gain clarity regarding decision-making on areas, such as investments, resources, and budgeting. Unlike with pen and paper, or even a word doc, a template is dynamic. You can move initiatives around, assign ownership, store all relevant information on the template itself, and customize any aspect of the template from labels, template structure and appearance, automations, and more.

Of course, there are a lot of things to consider when it comes to creating a well-thought-out document. Below, we’ll discuss some of the things you may want to consider and include in your business development plan.

What to include in a business development plan

A business development plan comes into play during the growth stage of your business. By specifying your targets and plans of action, the business development plan becomes a roadmap for achieving growth and success. To ensure you have a strong plan, consider including the elements summarized below.

Financial goals

A business’s growth is largely based on its financial success, so it’s critical to assess your current financial position to set targets for the future. Start by:

• Looking to your past and current revenue as a baseline for what your business brings in
• Assessing your overhead costs versus your profits
• Setting goals for bringing in higher profits and revenue in the coming months and years
• Getting specific about your timeline, so you can reassess your financial position when you hit those dates

Funding plan

Meeting your financial goals and achieving financial growth requires funding. Use this section of the business development plan to determine the amount of business capital you currently have and what steps you can take to secure more funding in the future within your target market segment.

Opportunities for growth

Look at your business to identify where you have room to grow. This will vary depending on what industry and business you work in. For some, this might mean developing a new line of products or adding additional services that can attract new clients and boost revenue.

Operational needs

Examine operational needs and take a practical look at what needs to change in the daily function of your business to support expansion and further development. This could mean investing in new equipment or hiring additional personnel to oversee specific departments or projects.

Sales and marketing plans

An important part of business growth is how you promote your company to consumers. Determine a marketing strategy to get customers excited about your new products and services or to inform consumers of investments you’re making in equipment upgrades. Your marketing plans are how you’ll communicate your investments and improvements to drive growth through customer interest.

Understand strengths and weaknesses 

Creating a business development plan requires a firm understanding of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. To identify these, consider performing a SWOT analysis . You can use the resulting information to develop a strategic plan to leverage strengths and improve on weak areas across all aspects of your business.

Building your team

For a business to grow successfully, you must also expand your workforce. This means hiring new team members and learning to delegate tasks with a lower priority or difficulty level, so you can focus on matters of high-level priority. Use this part of your plan to assess what tasks you can assign to someone else and how many people you might need to hire to meet the demands of your growing business.

Having a plan to develop your business is a great foundation. But you also need tools to put that plan into action. Starting with a solution that lets you bring people together, communicate priorities, and manage tasks can increase your chances of success.

monday.com supports business development and planning

Your business development plan template is the starting point for your company’s expansion. As you move toward creating targets and future plans for your business, you can make use of the many other features and templates on monday.com to understand where you’re at with your business and what areas are ready to support growth.

monday.com lets you create workflows to plan and track projects and day-to-day processes. Connect off-platform tools necessary for collaboration and communication with team members from around the world, and leverage no-code automation opportunities to streamline repetitive tasks.

You can start with our Business Development Plan Template, customizing the columns to meet your specific needs.  Take notes, mention team members on tasks to get their feedback, or color-code your business development plan to create a visual that’s easy to digest at a glance.

Once you’re ready to put your business development plan into action, turn to our Template Center for plenty of other tools to help you get started on various tasks.

Related templates 

A business development plan template isn’t the only useful tool for growing your business. Consider some of these other options to help your teams increase efficiency and promote growth.

One-page business plan template

Our easy-to-use One-page Business Plan Template is meant to provide an overview of your objectives and deadlines at a glance. Completing the one-page business plan template creates a reference point for the scope of your business objectives that you can easily return to at any time.

Business executive summary template

Our Business Executive Summary Template is an ideal tool when you’re preparing to pitch your company to investors. It offers a guide for emphasizing the core of your business plan in a way that appeals to the interests of your target audience. You can include sales/marketing plans, staff expenses, and long-term goals to provide prospective stakeholders with a clear picture of where your business stands and where it’s going.

Writing business plans is easier when you start with a template. But knowing what to include and what might be most important can help you make the most of such documents. Check the FAQs below for some more tips.

FAQs about business development plan templates

What are the main parts of a business plan?

A solid business plan should have four key components. The main parts of a business plan include:

• An executive summary
• A marketing plan
• Key management bios
• A financial plan that includes cost and pricing information

What is the most important part of a business plan?

The executive summary is the most important part of any business plan. The executive summary acts as the preface to the overall business plan and the hook that gets readers excited about the possibility of investing in your company. The goal of the executive summary is to entice the investor to read the rest of your plan, so aim for the most polished version possible.

Build your company’s future with a business development plan template from monday.com 

Your business development strategy is critical to growing your company and meeting future goals. Using templates from monday.com can help you build your business development plan to drive success.

Having a business plan creates a 30% higher chance of growth for your business compared to businesses that don’t start with written action plans. A customizable, user-friendly business development plan template provides a starting point to realizing your objectives.

Send this article to someone who’d like it.

How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

Brought to you by

Create a professional business plan

Using ai and step-by-step instructions.

Secure funding

Validate ideas

Build a strategy

• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

Download a free SBA-approved business plan template built for small businesses and startups.

Download Template

One-page plan template

Download a free one-page plan template to write a useful business plan in as little as 30-minutes.

Sample business plan library

Explore over 500 real-world business plan examples from a wide variety of industries.

View Sample Plans

How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

Related Articles

5 Min. Read

How To Write a Business Plan for a Life Coaching Business + Free Example

1 Min. Read

How to Calculate Return on Investment (ROI)

7 Min. Read

How to Write a Bakery Business Plan + Sample

3 Min. Read

What to Include in Your Business Plan Appendix

The Bplans Newsletter

The Bplans Weekly

Subscribe now for weekly advice and free downloadable resources to help start and grow your business.

We care about your privacy. See our privacy policy .

The quickest way to turn a business idea into a business plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

No thanks, I prefer writing 40-page documents.

Discover the world’s #1 plan building software

The Plain English Guide to Becoming a Business Development Manager

Published: March 13, 2023

Do you have excellent communication skills? Are you a quick learner who enjoys gaining new business knowledge? If so, a career as a business development manager (BDM) could be a fantastic fit for you.

Business development management allows you to flex your relationship-building and problem-solving skills. In this post, we'll discuss the role and the responsibilities that come with it, and give you the steps you need to take to become one.

What is a business development manager?

A business development manager generates leads, develops new opportunities, and helps the company grow through strategic planning.

Business development managers are essential to sales orgs — as they're responsible for generating and protecting new revenue. They nurture relationships with key clients, develop new relationships, and expand the brand's presence.

So how do they do it?

What does a business development manager do?

A business development manager builds business relationships with prospective customers. And their ultimate goal is to grow the company by qualifying sales leads and expanding the business' reach into new markets.

Here are the core responsibilities of business development managers, plus the skills they need to succeed.

Business Development Manager Responsibilities

• Research prospective customers in the BDM's target market.
• Use prospecting and qualifying strategies to reach out to new leads.
• Maintain relationships with current customers.
• Reach out to existing customers and clients for new leads.
• Understand the company's product offerings, competitors in the industry, and position in the market.
• Work closely with the sales team to ensure the BDM creates a high-quality prospect-to-customer pipeline.

Business Development Manager Skills

What does it take to succeed as a business development manager? These are the recommended skills a BDM should have to excel in their role.

• Self-motivation : A BDM should be driven, disciplined, and able to work and hit their targets with limited supervision.
• Organizational skills : Business development managers should be able to manage their time and prioritize important tasks.
• Communication skills : BDMs should handle themselves professionally with prospects, customers, and colleagues. And they should have the ability to develop relationships.
• Technical skills : Experience entering data and using a CRM database helps BDMs track and manage their prospects. Specialized knowledge of their company's software ,tools, and target customers is especially valuable.

Business Development Manager Salary

According to Indeed , business development managers make an average of $73,969 annually. However, this can vary depending on the individual's experience and where they choose to work.

• Entry-Level Business Development Manager : $57,710
• Experienced Business Development Manager : $85,203
• Senior Business Development Manager : $109,596

Additionally, the average salary can vary depending on industry as well. When you search on Glassdoor for average wages, you can filter by industry.

• Technology : $60,980
• Consumer Services : $55,554
• Education : $53,798
• Nonprofit : $52,041
• Manufacturing : $66,755

Suppose the company's compensation plan includes a commission or offers employees a percentage of monthly sales. In that case, the base salary might be lower than the expected average for a business development manager.

How to Become a Business Development Manager

• Get business credentials.
• Gain relevant experience.
• Develop your technical skills.
• Create a compelling resume.
• Start your job hunt.

1. Get business credentials.

While a business development manager role generally has no formal requirements, many employers seek candidates with bachelor's degrees in sales,marketing, business administration, or entrepreneurship.

Depending on your seniority level, you might even earn a master's degree — especially if you plan to join the upper management of a company's business development team.

2. Gain relevant experience.

This experience can come from a previous job or internship experience. If you're looking for an entry-level business development manager role, previous work in this specific role might be recommended but optional.

Prior experience in sales, marketing, technology, or customer-facing roles are often acceptable — as those positions tend to require communication, negotiating, and rapport-building skills.

Experience as an entrepreneur can also be desirable because it gives you perspective on the ins and outs of running a business. This will help you relate to prospects as you identify their business challenges and look for solutions.

3. Develop your technical skills.

If you're interested in becoming a business development manager, technical know-how is a must. In-depth knowledge of software your company and prospects use (like CRM databases, communication and collaboration software, or marketing automation platforms) will be helpful. This is especially true if you plan to work for a SaaS company.

4. Create a compelling resume.

When you're ready to apply, create a resume highlighting the essential skills you've learned. If you need some resume inspiration, here are a few examples of business development manager resume templates you can use to write your own.

• Business Development Manager Resume Templates
• Experienced Business Development Manager Resume Example
• Business Development Manager Resume Samples

5. Start your job hunt.

You can find business development manager jobs by using social media like LinkedIn, or searching online job boards. You can also attend sales networking events in your area or digitally to further your chances of finding a company or startup looking to hire you.

Begin Your Career as a Business Development Manager

Put your strategic skills and business knowledge to work as a business development manager. Not only will you learn and grow, but you'll also help your company grow better.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

Sales Resume Examples from Successful HubSpot Representatives

How to Hire the Sales Executive Your Company Needs

What is a Sales Associate & How to Be a Great One

5 Roles Sales Decision Makers are Looking to Fill in 2023 [New Data]

The Best Sales Job Boards for Finding or Filling a Sales Job

What is a Business Development Rep?

7 Reasons Sales is Still a Great Career (& 7 Reasons Why Not)

How to Become a Sales Rep [+Tips for First-Time Selling]

Business Development Hiring Resources: Job Description Template & Examples

How to Become a Medical Sales Rep (Even If You Have No Experience)

Use this template to set up a 30/60/90 day sales training and onboarding plan.

Powerful and easy-to-use sales software that drives productivity, enables customer connection, and supports growing sales orgs

9 steps for writing a strategic business development plan

Updated 04 October 2023 • 7 min read

Developing a business plan can mark the start of an exciting phase, as you start charting future growth. This document serves as the roadmap for your business development strategy as you take your business to new heights.

Creating an effective business development plan can be a tough task. It requires you to think through several aspects of your business that you may not consider on a day-to-day basis.

Don’t worry — we’re here to help. This article will walk you through how to write a business development plan, so you can grow your business in the most effective way possible. 

What is a business development plan?

A business development plan is the growth roadmap for your business. It’s a strategy document that lays out where you want to take your business and how you intend to get there. 

A thorough and carefully crafted business development plan lays out your growth targets, financial projections and the tools and resources your company needs. It may also define your marketing and efforts that support your goals.

A business development plan provides clarity and helps you keep your objectives in focus during the day-to-day grind. It also provides a strong foundation for making business decisions — if you’re not sure whether a move makes sense, you can always consult your plan.

Why do you need a business development plan?

Creating a proper business development strategy can be a lot of work. But it pays dividends by providing clarity and focus. It also helps when trying to secure funding, as it shows you've thought through all the possibilities. 

A business development plan helps you:

Get clarity

A strong business development plan helps you get clear about priorities during the hectic launch phase of your business. It helps you define your goals and objectives, as well as chart out how you’ll reach them. 

Stay focused

As you dive into the day-to-day running of your business, it can be easy to get bogged down in details and lose sight of your larger goals. Your business plan provides an anchor that keeps you in place. And if you’re already in business, it can help you take a step back and refocus on the fundamentals.

Secure funding

A detailed business plan is one of the most effective ways to show investors that you can be trusted. This is especially important when you’re just starting out and have no track record of performance. Your business plan shows that you’ve thought about how your business will fare in the long run, not just in the short term.

Achieve growth

A proper business development plan should include a roadmap. This is your high-level strategy document that serves as the map to your company’s growth. It lays out how you’ll measure success, provides targets to aim for and defines your plans for hitting them.

How to write a business development plan

If you’re convinced that you need to write your own business development plan (or update the one you have), you might be wondering where to start. Let’s walk through the process. 

1. Set clear financial goals

Your business development strategy should include clear financial goals. For example, every business wants to increase sales; however, that’s not a specific goal. Instead, set a target for your sales figures within a certain timeframe, and keep it realistic by using your current numbers as a baseline.

To do this, project your revenue, profit and expenses if business were to stay the same. Then consider what a realistic target might be and include that. This number may be lower than you'd expect, but it’s more important that it’s actually achievable.

2. Refine customer profiles

Detailed customer and audience profiles help your business effectively target its marketing efforts. Your business might already have customer profiles — updating your business plan is a perfect time to update these profiles, as well. And if you don’t have profiles yet, there’s no time like the present.

You can start refining your customer profiles by examining your current customer base. Look at their demographics and habits. Then use a similar strategy to create profiles of your ideal customers.

3. Identify key growth opportunities

Next, identify your key growth opportunities. These could be new products or services, an expansion into a new market, or even a complete rebuild of your current offerings.

Whatever these opportunities are, include them in your business development plan. Articulate how and why these opportunities will help grow the business. 

4. List funding sources

Your plan should include not just the amount of funding you’ll need, but how you plan to get it — loans , equity investors or crowdfunding , for example. Now is the time to come up with an in-depth funding strategy. Doing this legwork on the front end, while developing your plan, makes it easier to focus on execution when stress inevitably creeps in. 

This part of your plan should include the sources you’ve secured, as well as those you’d like to seek funds from. It should also include how much you’ll seek from each source, what form those funds will take, and any obstacles you might encounter.

5. Determine operational needs

You’ve laid out your goals, growth opportunities and potential funding sources. Now, look over these items and determine how to make all this happen. 

Be aware that as your operational needs expand, your business expenses will also increase. For example, you may require additional equipment, a new warehouse to enable expanded logistics, or more employees to help serve customers. Whatever it is, build it into your business development plan.

6. Develop a sales and marketing strategy

Your business development plan is the perfect place to include sales and marketing strategies. Ultimately, these will be some of the key drivers for leveraging your growth opportunities and hitting your financial goals.

As you draft these ideas, run them through this simple test: Will they still hold up if you reach your growth targets, or will you need to rework them? Ideally, you want sales and marketing strategies that can grow along with your business.

7. Create your elevator pitch

Your elevator pitch is the short-and-sweet version of your company’s mission. The premise is simple: If you were to meet someone on an elevator and only had that brief ride to pitch your company, what would you say?

Some people adopt arbitrary rules on their elevator pitch, such as limiting it to a Twitter-length 280 characters. While this limitation isn’t necessary, it should give you a good idea of the brevity of an elevator pitch and the impact you’ll need to make. 

8. Identify your resource needs

You’ve identified your broad operational needs — equipment, facilities and employees. You’ll also want to identify your resource needs. These include how you might manage your technology and team members in a more specific way.

For example, if your marketing plan involves creating video content, you’ll need the proper equipment and software to create it. Your sales strategy might involve retooling your CRM or migrating to a new system. Or, your growth targets might mean that you need to move to a new accounting platform .

9. Determine how you'll measure success

Last, but certainly not least, you’ll need to decide how you’ll measure progress towards your goals. How will you know when you’ve hit that ambitious sales target or grown your business in that new market? 

You need to be able to measure your business performance and progress. Setting targets and KPIs for your employees may be good ways to keep things on track.

Business Development Plan Template

If you need a business development plan example, we’ve put together this template . It’ll help you shape your own business plan and outline the key sections. 

Stay productive and profitable with MYOB

A strong business development plan is a powerful asset for driving growth. It helps you outline your plans and stay on course, even when you’re overwhelmed with day-to-day tasks. 

Achieving your business goals is much easier when you have help — and that doesn’t mean you need to hire more people. MYOB accounting software automates business operations like invoicing, payroll, and tax reporting, so you can spend more time focusing on strategic growth.

Related Guides

How to get a business loan arrow right, how to find investors: a guide for startups arrow right.

🔔 Important Update: on February 12th we will implement a price increase on all the courses. Supercharge your career with our Business Development Courses at current rates.

• Corporate Training
• Log in Find courses

Business development plan: A step-by-step approach

• This is some text inside of a div block.

A good business development plan can set you up for success. Learn how to create your own from scratch with zero experience!

If you’re just starting with business development , chances are that you’re a little confused about how you should do it. I got lost many times during my entrepreneurial journey. One of those moments was when I had to write a business development plan for the first time.

Now, the main problem was that I didn’t have a clue about what a business development plan was to start with. And of course, when I started digging, I got even more confused. I found a lot of information online, but nothing that would tell me how to do it step-by-step.

So after some years of trying and failing, I finally found my way to deal with it and build my own business development plan.

Below I’ll explain how to write a business development plan and what information you should include in practical terms. But first, let’s define what a business development plan is.

What is a business development plan?

A business development plan is a document that helps you implement your business development strategy in a step-by-step method. It involves a lot of research on the market and customers. But also, other aspects such as your competitors and buyer persona.

So, a business development plan is a detailed summary of important steps you’re going to take to grow your business. One key aspect to remember is that a business development plan is a LIVING document. This means that you have to update your plan continuously based on new information about your ecosystem.

This helps you strategize better but also ensures that it’s a document of quality insights.

A business development plan is divided into two main parts:

• Research: in the research phase, you learn more about your market, customers, and competitors.
• Action: you use your research and put it into action. Specifically, this translates into creating a value proposition, and content, and experimenting with ideas.

You can download our template for free at this link .

Step 1: Organize your business development plan

I’m a fan of organizing information in a structured, intuitive, and efficient way. Although it may sound basic, the first thing you should think about is to have a proper file you can consult on a daily basis.

It doesn’t have to contain every piece of information. Keep it simple by including only essential and key facts that will help you build an effective business development machine. Your business development plan needs to be easily accessible and quick to consult.

In this sense, you don’t need to get fancy and start looking for the latest software that promises you great time savings. Stick to something basic yet powerful. Google Sheets is your best ally when it comes to your business development plan.

So, the main goal of a business development plan is to keep information structured so that you can spot growth opportunities easier.

You can download our template for free at this link and start your business development plan.

Step 2: Market research

Market research is a stepping stone in a business development plan. It’s an activity to gather more information about customers’ preferences and needs. Many companies overlook this step thinking that their intuition will guide them through their challenges. Intuition can be helpful, but it’s still essential to know your customers better using research and data.

After all, most ideas start off from intuition. However, basing an entire plan on assumptions is never a smart strategy to use in business development. So, do your homework and make sure you always take educated guesses before starting to work on your business development plan.

Market research takes into account 3 variables . These will tell you the realistic size of the market you’re trying to target.

1 – Total Addressable Market or Total Available Market (TAM)

The TAM takes into account the entire market you’re operating in and basically tells you how much annual revenue there is available for your product or service.

Now, finding this information can be the first bummer. To me at least, it sounded quite impossible to find out. Later, I figured that there are many people out there that dedicate their life only to market research.

You can use Google to find out this information. But of course, you first need to know what you’re looking for. The information you need, in this case, is basically knowing how many companies or people would benefit from your product or service.

You also want to know how many companies operate in your exact space both in terms of services and geography. To get relevant market news, try Googling “your industry market trends”, “your market report”, or “your industry report”.

Many big consultancy groups and governmental institutions dedicate a lot of time to this type of research. It’s a good and reliable starting point.

PRO TIP: Choose your sources very carefully. You’ll find a lot of random information, learn to filter out what you’re reading.

2 – Total Served Market (TSM)

Once you know how big your market is, you need to check how much of it is already served by your competitors.

In this case, the information you’re looking for is all about your competition. You should ask yourself first how many of them you have.

Then you need to find out how well they’re doing and start hunting for as much intelligence as possible.

The info you need to look for is how many clients your competitors claim to have, what revenue they generate, and where they are present.

First, Google keywords to identify your competitors. Right after that, you can start digging deeper into their websites and find detailed info.

Bigger competitors will most likely have good press coverage. Read these articles to gather more insight.

Last, don’t overlook the importance of customer review websites. Customers can uncover many relevant details that your competitors don’t want to reveal. And of course, make use of technology to make the most out of your research.

3 – Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)

The last step in your market research is to quantify how much you can realistically obtain with your business development effort.

Your SOM is your share in the market. So, to put it simply, it’s not possible to have an entire market buy only your products and services. There is a specific customer base that will buy from your company . So, your SOM refers to your market share and the people that can become your customers if they see a benefit from your products or services.

SOM takes into account your brand awareness, market insights, but also competition. It helps you forecast potential earnings and also gain customers. Based on the research, you become aware of what your competitors are offering to the market. Moreover, you will be able to tailor your products and services to meet the needs and preferences of your customers.

Step 3: Competitor analysis

The third step to do when creating your business development plan is to do a competitor analysis . So far, I discussed market research and how it helps you get to know the preferences of your target audience better. But, to grow your business sustainably and profitably, it’s vital that you analyze your competitors as well.

First, figure out who your direct and indirect competitors are. So, in a Google search, we try to identify or find the ID of each company that competes in your market. This can be found in the website’s ‘About us’ section. Then, the aim is to find key personalities such as managers and executives, and so on.

Once you have this information, you can move on to products and services. You can find this on your competitor’s website as well. This specific section defines what the company specializes in. You can use this information to compare your products to those of your competitors and try to find ways to improve them.

Continue by checking their clients, and the pricing they offer for their products and services.

PRO TIP: Read the customer reviews of your competitors to spot their strengths and weaknesses. Use the insights to improve your offer.

Step 4: Customer research

After identifying your market share, you can start thinking of what kind of customers within this segment, you are trying to sell your products and services to.

The best way to tackle this is by running proper customer research that will provide you with your Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona.

This is the part I like the most because it really helps you understand who you’re talking to. But how do you do it? First, if you already have some customers, start analyzing them. You want to gather more information on who they are, what they do, and their habitual traits.

For example:

• What job titles do these people have?
• How old are they?
• What communication tools do they use?
• Where do they hang out?
• What are their personalities like?
• What are their challenges?
• What do they do in their daily lives?

You can find all this info by simply checking social media profiles. Really, just by observing their social media platforms, you can get to know them in-depth! Take some time to check a few ones (at least 10) and you’re going to start seeing patterns.

Then, check some job descriptions about the people you’re targeting. This will highlight what are their professional responsibilities and how your product or service can help them. Last, it’s always advisable to run a survey.

Step 5: Build your Buyer Persona

Right after having run your customer research, you can now create your buyer persona.

The buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customers based on data and research,

In your buyer persona, you need to include all the relevant information you found through your customer research. It should look like something below:

Step 6: Value Propositions

The customer research concludes the research part of your business development plan. Now it’s time to put your insights into action and start building your business development strategy .

The first valuable asset you need to build is a value proposition.

A value proposition is the value your customers get should they choose to buy your products and services

The value proposition helps you communicate your value as a company and you can use it on your website, sales calls, social media posts, etc. Having a clear value proposition will help you attract the right audience and persuade potential customers to work with you.

Of course, a good value proposition is based on that, and if you followed all the steps, you should have all the insights you need.

To build a value proposition we will use the Job-To-Be-Done framework. This helps you identify what are the responsibilities of your buyer persona when they’re doing their job.

For example, a typical responsibility for a recruiter is to find the right talent .

Second, consider the pains and gains of your customers. Customers’ emotions are usually the reason behind their buying decisions. They influence their preferences, frequency of buying, and also which companies they buy from.

Especially the challenges are a crucial element in your value proposition because you can immediately link your solution to a concrete pain that your customers are facing.

For example, let’s go back to the example of the recruiter. We know that one main responsibility of a recruiter is to find talent. One major challenge for recruiters is to have enough time to process all the CVs they receive daily.

Now, let’s assume you work for a company that provides recruitment software that can automate CV screening.

A good value proposition, in this case, would sound like this:

Save 70% of your CV screening time using our recruitment software

Step 7: Content plan

Once you have your value proposition, the next step is to share it with your target audience. That’s when having a content plan becomes a must.

A content plan helps you strategize the type of information you want to feed your audience. It also helps you select the channels on which you should build your presence.

For content to be effective, you need to have a clear idea of your target audience when you write posts/emails, or articles. So, always consult your buyer persona before creating content.

Just like the value propositions, effective content revolves around the pain point you identified earlier. Use them to get the attention of your audience and provide valuable information that helps them alleviate these pains.

This will help you establish yourself as a valuable resource and when they will want to solve their issues, you’ll be the first to pop into their minds.

Step 8: Experiments

The last step in your business development plan is all about creativity and finding opportunities. This is the moment in which we create experiments to validate some of our business assumptions. Your experiment should be ideas that you think will bring sustainable growth to your company.

Once you identify some ideas, define some goals and set up the methodology you will follow to run this experiment. For example, if you heard of a new social media and you think your audience might be on it, build an experiment to validate if this is true and if it can bring you results.

Attach a goal to this idea, for example, generating 10 qualified leads on this new channel.

Then decide for how long you will run the experiment – ideally a couple of weeks. Once the experiment is over analyze what happened. If the experiment was successful, you need to scale this activity. If not, take the learnings for further improvements.

Read this article with 10 business development examples to have some ideas on how to implement your strategy.

The business development plan is a key document that helps you map your ecosystem and strategize your business development efforts .

It consists of a research part and an action part. In the first part, you analyze your market, competitors, and customers. In the second, you use your insights to build value propositions, content plans, and experiments.

The business development plan is a live document, so you have to update it every time you have new insights. Of course, you have to use it in your daily operations to make sure you’re on the right track.

The business development plan is one of the assets you will build during our training. Would you like to shake up your business development career and work in a more structured way? Then join our next cohort .

Last, if you are a company wanting to train your business development team, our custom training solutions are the best way to take your team to the next level.

Want to stay informed?

Explore our related blog posts.

+10 Best Business Development Training & Courses in 2024 - with Certification

Expand your business skills with our selection of the top 10 business development courses and certifications in 2024.

10 Business Development Examples

Business development examples to show you different applications of business development. All the examples are based on real-life cases.

10 Common business development activities

Common business development activities you should be doing. Check this shortlist to organize your work, improve productivity and get results.

Business Development Manager

• Certifications
• Related Topics

What Is a Business Development Manager? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

Business development managers (BDMs) supervise business development representatives and generate company revenue through maintaining customer relationships. Here’s what to know about a business development manager’s needed skills, salary and how to become one.

What Is a Business Development Manager?

Business development managers solidify client leads and assist in strategic growth planning. While business development representatives may generate and transfer leads to account executives or similar professionals, business development managers often foster existing customer relationships and seek out upsell opportunities.

What Do Business Development Managers Do?

Business development managers nurture customer relationships, explore growth opportunities and manage lead generation processes.

Business Development Manager Responsibilities

• Research and plan new growth opportunities, strategies and initiatives.
• Contact potential customers, maintain current customers and increase customer value.
• Establish business development goals and ensure quotas are met.
• Oversee business development representatives and early sales cycle operations.

Business Development Managers Within a Company

Business development managers are part of a sales team within a company and may report to a director of business development.

Importance of Business Development Managers

Business development managers ensure that customer relationships are producing value for both parties, as well as help determine sales revenue and growth goals. They act as a significant resource for companies looking to maximize long-term profits.

What Skills Are Needed to Be a Business Development Manager?

Qualifications to be a business development manager.

• Two or more years of experience in business development, sales or a similar field.
• Ability to build, maintain and produce value from customer relationships.
• Ability to guide growth planning, strategies and initiatives.

Business Development Manager Prerequisites

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or related field.

Business Development Manager Hard Skills

• Expertise with customer relationship management (CRM) software.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and related analysis tools.
• Experience with sales performance analysis tools.
• Understanding of sales automation tools.
• Knowledge of presentation and data visualization tools.

Business Development Manager Soft Skills

• Customer service skills.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Management and leadership skills.
• Verbal and written communication skills.

Tools and Programs Business Development Managers Use

• ActiveCampaign
• Microsoft Excel
• Salesforce 

How to Become a Business Development Manager

Business development manager education and experience.

Business development managers tend to hold a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or a related field.

Business development managers will need to obtain two or more years of experience in business development, sales or similar roles. Knowledge in the areas of strategy development, lead generation, customer relationship management, sales performance analysis and effective communication are recommended.

Business Development Manager Certificates and Courses

• 20 Top Sales Training Programs and Courses to Know
• Business Development & B2B Sales for Startups - Sales Valley
• Introduction to CRM with HubSpot
• The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process Specialization

Business Development Manager Career Path

After gaining experience as a business development representative or related role, professionals may move into the business development manager role. From this point, professionals can progress into roles like director of business development or vice president of business development.

Business Development Manager Salary and Job Outlook

Business development managers are expected to see a job growth rate of 8 percent  by 2028, according to Zippia.

The full compensation package for a business development manager depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average business development manager salary.

Careers Related to Business Development Manager

Related sales jobs, companies hiring business development managers, related sales careers.

Business Development Plan: What is it & How to Create a Perfect One?

As a business owner, you obviously want to expand your business and increase your network.

But the question is, how to get started on it?

It’s simple! A business development plan is the first step you need to take.

A business development plan is much more than a piece of document. It is what defines your current positioning and helps you devise and implement a strategic plan.

That, in turn, doesn’t just bring in sales, but also goodwill and long-term relations with your stakeholders.

Having a business development plan is like living a healthy lifestyle – it will only offer great things in return but it does demand a little effort and time.

Whereas, a business with no such plan is bound to misplace time, energy and suppress its growth.

So, let’s learn a little more about this business-altering plan. Have a seat because we’re in for a ride!

What is a Business Development Plan? (Definition)

A business development plan is a detailed strategic plan on how to develop your business by implementing various ideas, tactics, and strategies that assist a company in scale better in every sphere of the business. This business development plan is what defines your current positioning and helps you devise and implement a strategic plan to grow in the market.

Simply put, it is the development of long-term value that a firm enjoys from all of its stakeholders.

A business development plan is a guide to bring everyone in the organization on the same page and get them to work towards a common goal.

For your firm to not just be complacent and make big leaps in the industry, a business development plan is a must!

Now, let’s see how this development plan is beneficial for your firm…

How Creating a Business Development Plan is Beneficial?

1. helps a business boost sales.

Profitability is one of the key metrics to judge a business’s growth.

Devising a strong business development plan helps a business to understand the markets that are the most profitable and which plans need to be pursued first.

Business development plans also involve documenting your firm’s revenue model and all of its pros and cons.

This way, you can better assess what changes need to be made in your revenue model and what other streams can be added to it.

Read more:  Business Letters: Definition, Types, Format, and Tips!

2. Presents Expansion Opportunities

Expansion into new markets is always a coveted opportunity for any business.

Business development is all about staying ahead of current trends and curating plans to make the expansion possible.

It’s this research that makes you better acquainted with the best target audiences and customers for your firm and thus paving way for entering new, undiscovered markets.

3. A Better Understanding of your Consumer

As discussed earlier, a good business development plan requires assessing a company’s key demographic and target markets.

It acts from a customer’s perspective so that the business can bring forward a solution to a problem large enough to make profits.

This way the focus turns to the “customer is king” model which works to promote loyalty among customers towards your brand.

4. Improves Company Image

When business development plans are created, it’s not only the customers that are analyzed but also the daily working of the firm.

A business developer can use this information and assimilate it into marketing campaigns.

By keeping potential customers in mind, a firm can address how they strive daily to help satisfy the needs of their customers.

This makes for a solidified marketing campaign.

Now that we know why a business development plan is so crucial, let’s get to creating one!

How to Create a Business Development Plan? Follow these Steps!

Step 1. revisit your vision.

When you started your business, you probably asked yourself the “Where do you see yourself a year from now?” question.

Well, the business development plan starts right there! This is the focal point for all your inspiration.

It defines what YOU want from your firm, and that’s why it’s necessary to think-free and dream high.

Do you want to have a certain amount of sales?

Do you want to win the best local business award?

Whatever it is. Start right here. Articulating what you think you need to reap from your business is where it all starts.

It’ll serve as a baseline to get your firm going and keep you motivated despite hardships.

Step 2. Assessing your Business

The next step is to evaluate your own business.

Conduct SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, and what markets you can venture to.

Align these with your vision, check where you’re slacking and what you need to do to achieve your vision.

For example:

Acme, a beauty brand has the vision to become an international firm in the next two years. Let’s say that their strengths are:

• It resonates well with the customers.
• It is low cost and produces good profit margins.

Whereas their weaknesses are:

• Their marketing plans are not as effective as they need to be.
• Sales haven’t been picking off lately.

This way they can focus better on what needs to be tweaked and work towards attaining their vision.

Read more:  Business Documents: Definition, Types, Benefits & Steps to Create Them!

Step 3. Define your Target Audience

“When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.”

Sums it all up, doesn’t it?

Without knowing your exact audience, there is no way to make it through in any industry.

A business development plan looks forward to deciphering this and assessing changing trends which helps you find the best-fit audience.

For more details on how you can identify your target audience, check out our blog:

(Linking our target audience blog here once it’s published online)

Step 4. Identify Competition

Knowing what other competitors offer will act as a great tool to understand how your business stands out.

Assess what pricing policies they use, what marketing campaigns they’ve undertaken, and what worked for them.

This way you can identify the best strategic moves for your business moving forward!

Read more:  Business Report: What is it & How to Write it? (Steps & Format)

Step 5. Deliberate New Ideas

From the evaluation you’ve done so far, start setting priorities for what you think needs to change.

And then depending on those, start listing what all possible solutions could help solve them. Mention anything and everything you think would work.

For example: Let’s consider our previous example of Acme which was lacking on its marketing fronts. Now their possible solutions could be:

• Beginning a new marketing campaign.
• Hiring a campaign manager.
• Starting blogs or email marketing.
• Advertising in beauty magazines.

Thus, a firm can tackle all its issues by listing down every possible way to address them.

This brainstorming session may seem far-fetched but can lead you in the right direction and help you find the most accurate solution to your problems.

Step 6. Setting a Goal

Once you’ve devised a plan, it’s important to set dates.

For example: If you plan to begin a marketing campaign, make sure it gets started by a certain date and yields results by a certain date.

Only when you set smaller goals, you’ll be able to achieve your vision.

These goals will set you and the people in your firm into motion and serve as a reminder as to what’s expected of them.

Step 7. Assess your Business Plan

Although many firms overlook this part, it’s utterly crucial.

Now that you have implemented your plans and you’re ready to achieve your vision, it’s time to assess it.

Monitor the impacts and document all of it as you go, so when you get back to it a year from now, you’re more informed about what went wrong and what yielded shining results.

Read More:   Reasons Why You Should Write a Business Plan!

Now you’ve not only created your development plan and assessed it, but you’ve also got ideas and insights into what you need to include in your next one!

Sounds like a concrete business documentation plan may require an even faster and smarter tool!

Well, it’s time for you to meet Bit.ai…

Bit.ai : The Ultimate Tool for Creating a Business Development Plan

We know that creating a business development plan is a complex task and it seems like it requires highly proficient documentation skills…

Well, let us break that bubble for you!

With Bit, you can make documentation fun and exciting and create the perfect business development plan for your business.

Working with Bit is very simple. With its integrated and interactive tools, it will take you much less time to create documents and you’ll get solid results too!

Don’t believe us? Check out some of its amazing features:

• Real-Time Collaboration: When working on a document as comprehensive as a business development plan, it’s obvious that you’ll be working with a team. At such times, it’s more important than ever to have a seamless collaboration experience! Bit facilitates exactly that with its real-time collaboration feature that lets you work on the same document together, comment to exchange ideas, and chat on the side.
• Fully Responsive Templates : Want to create an exciting development plan? Bit has you covered. With its fun and awesome templates that are fully responsive on every kind of device, you are bound to have an exhilarating experience!
• Sleek Editor: A business development plan is deemed to have corrections and require edits and thus a sleek editor like Bit’s would be a handy tool to allow interruption-free editing!
• Sharing and Permissions: A development plan is a vital plan for any business and only needs to be accessed by the right people. Bit supports features like document tracking, password protection, file access restrictions, etc. which help secure your document and lets you decide who gets to access it.
• Real-time Insights: With its trackable links, you can keep an eye on who viewed the plan, for how long, and more. Bit has you covered in offering accurate and powerful insights!
• Smart Workspaces: When working with multiple teams, it’s important that everything is as organized as possible. Bit’s smart Workspaces helps you do just that! Not only can you efficiently work with different departments and teams, but you can also store information of varied kinds in a neat manner.
• Content Library: Bit has a powerful content library that you can use to save and access all your images, videos, and other digital content you might need in your business development plan.
• Rich Media Integration: One of the ways to make your development plan more comprehendible and accessible is to make it interactive. Bit lets you do that! You can  add videos, social media posts, music, cloud files, presentations, maps, charts, surveys/polls – basically every kind of rich media in your Bit doc.
• Client Portal: Bit provides a smooth experience for your team and clients to review your business development plans. All you need to do is invite clients into your workspaces by giving them ‘guest access’. The ‘guests’ aka your clients can get two types of access to the documents: comment-only and read-only.

Trust us when we say that no documentation tool out there is as robust as Bit. It even offers a free account for up to 5 users and we think you should absolutely give it a try!

Our team at  bit.ai  has created a few awesome business templates to make your business processes more efficient. Make sure to check them out before you go, y our team might need them!

• SWOT Analysis Template
• Business Proposal Template
• Business Plan Template
• Competitor Research Template
• Project Proposal Template
• Company Fact Sheet
• Executive Summary Template
• Operational Plan Template
• Pitch Deck Template

We know that everyone craves success but only very few have the patience and perseverance to reach that peak of glory.

A business development plan may not scream success when you’re creating it, but it’s a stepping stone that will take you there!

It will constantly acquaint your organization with its long-term goals, and help it strategize and execute its plans in a resounding manner.

We hope that we’ve gotten you all fired up to get started with your business development plan. Follow our steps and you’re ready to rock!

Don’t forget to let us know how it goes by tweeting us @bit_docs. We’d be happy to hear from you!

Further reads:

13 Business Goals You Must Set In 2021

Formal Report: What is it & How to Create it!

Growth Plan: What is it & How to Create One? (Steps Included)

Market Orientation: What is it & How Does it Work? (The Complete Guide)

15 Business Intelligence Tools & Software Every Business Needs!

Tactical Plan: What is it & How to Create an Effective One?

Unique Selling Proposition: What is it & How to Create Your Own?

KPI Report: What it is & How to Create a Perfect One?

Marketing Research: Definition, Process & Tools!

11 Best Text Editors For Windows, Mac, Linux & More!

Related posts

What is team bonding & why is it important, 11 best free plagiarism checker for writers, format of a perfect case study (structure & instructions), the anatomy of a smart wiki | a practical guide by bit.ai, sales manager job description: how to write it (steps & example included), 7 best google translate alternatives for 2024.

About Bit.ai

Bit.ai is the essential next-gen workplace and document collaboration platform. that helps teams share knowledge by connecting any type of digital content. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can work visually and collaborate in real-time while creating internal notes, team projects, knowledge bases, client-facing content, and more.

The smartest online Google Docs and Word alternative, Bit.ai is used in over 100 countries by professionals everywhere, from IT teams creating internal documentation and knowledge bases, to sales and marketing teams sharing client materials and client portals.

👉👉Click Here to Check out Bit.ai.

Recent Posts

How to build an effective knowledge base for technical support, 9 knowledge base mistakes: what you need to know to avoid them, personal user manual: enhance professional profile & team productivity, 9 document management trends every business should know, ai for social media marketing: tools & tactics to boost engagement, a guide to building a client portal for your online course.

• Search Search Please fill out this field.

What Is Business Development?

• Understanding the Basics
• Areas of Development
• The Process
• Creating a Plan
• Skills Needed

The Bottom Line

• Small Business
• How to Start a Business

Business Development: Definition, Strategies, Steps & Skills

Why more and more companies worldwide are embracing this planning process

• How to Start a Business: A Comprehensive Guide and Essential Steps
• How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example
• Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, How To Create One
• Marketing in Business: Strategies and Types Explained
• What Is a Marketing Plan? Types and How to Write One
• Business Development: Definition, Strategies, Steps & Skills CURRENT ARTICLE
• Business Plan: What It Is, What's Included, and How to Write One
• Small Business Development Center (SBDC): Meaning, Types, Impact
• How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan
• Business Startup Costs: It’s in the Details
• Startup Capital Definition, Types, and Risks
• Bootstrapping Definition, Strategies, and Pros/Cons
• Crowdfunding: What It Is, How It Works, and Popular Websites
• Starting a Business with No Money: How to Begin
• A Comprehensive Guide to Establishing Business Credit
• Equity Financing: What It Is, How It Works, Pros and Cons
• Best Startup Business Loans
• Sole Proprietorship: What It Is, Pros & Cons, and Differences From an LLC
• Partnership: Definition, How It Works, Taxation, and Types
• What is an LLC? Limited Liability Company Structure and Benefits Defined
• Corporation: What It Is and How to Form One
• Starting a Small Business: Your Complete How-to Guide
• Starting an Online Business: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Start Your Own Bookkeeping Business: Essential Tips
• How to Start a Successful Dropshipping Business: A Comprehensive Guide

In the simplest terms, business development is a process aimed at growing a company and making it more successful. That can include seeking new business opportunities, building and sustaining connections with existing clients, entering strategic partnerships, and devising other plans to boost profits and market share.

Key Takeaways

• The overarching goal of business development is to make a company more successful.
• It can involve many objectives, such as sales growth, business expansion, the formation of strategic partnerships, and increased profitability.
• The business development process can impact every department within a company, including sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, accounting, finance, product development, and vendor management.
• Business development leaders and team members need a wide range of both soft and hard skills.

How Business Development Works Within an Organization

Business development, sometimes abbreviated as BD, strives to increase an organization's capabilities and reach in pursuit of its financial and other goals. In that way, it can impact—and also call upon the specialized skills of—a variety of departments throughout the organization.

As the financial services giant American Express puts it, "When it comes to organizational growth, business development acts as the thread that ties together all of a company's functions or departments, helping a business expand and improve its sales, revenues, product offerings, talent, customer service, and brand awareness."

For example:

Sales and Marketing

Sales personnel frequently focus on a particular market or a particular (set of) client(s), often for a targeted revenue number. A business development team might assess the Brazilian market, for example, and conclude that sales of $1.5 billion can be achieved there in three years. With that as their goal, the sales department targets the customer base in the new market with their sales strategies.

Business development often takes a longer-range perspective in setting goals than many sales departments have in the past. As the Society for Marketing Professional Services puts it, "A traditional view of sales is akin to hunting, but business development is more like farming: it's a longer-term investment of time and energy and not always a quick payoff."

Marketing , which oversees the promotion and advertising of the company's products and services, plays a complementary role to sales in achieving its targets.

A business development leader and their team can help set appropriate budgets based on the opportunities involved. Higher sales and marketing budgets allow for aggressive strategies like cold calling , personal visits, roadshows, and free sample distribution. Lower budgets tend to rely on more passive strategies, such as online, print, and social media ads, as well as billboard advertising.

Legal and Finance

To enter a new market, a business development team must decide whether it will be worth going solo by clearing all the required legal formalities or whether it might be more sensible to form a strategic alliance or partnership with firms already operating in that market. Assisted by legal and finance teams, the business development group weighs the pros and cons of the available options and selects the one that best serves the business.

Finance may also become involved in cost-cutting initiatives. Business development is not just about increasing market reach and sales, but improving the bottom line . An internal assessment revealing high spending on travel , for instance, may lead to travel policy changes, such as hosting video conference calls instead of on-site meetings or opting for less expensive transportation modes. The outsourcing of non-core work, such as billing, technology operations, or customer service, may also be part of the development plan.

Project Management/Business Planning

Does an international business expansion require a new facility in the new market, or will all the products be manufactured in the base country and then imported into the targeted market? Will the latter option require an additional facility in the base country? Such decisions are finalized by the business development team based on their cost- and time-related assessments. Then, the project management /implementation team can swing into action to work toward the desired goal.

Product Management and Manufacturing

Regulatory standards and market requirements can vary across regions and countries. A medicine of a certain composition may be allowed in India but not in the United Kingdom, for example. Does the new market require a customized—or altogether new—version of the product?

These requirements drive the work of product management and manufacturing departments, as determined by the business strategy. Cost considerations, legal approvals, and regulatory adherence are all assessed as a part of the development plan.

Vendor Management

Will the new business need external vendors ? For example, will the shipping of a product require a dedicated courier service? Will the company partner with an established retail chain for retail sales? What are the costs associated with these engagements? The business development team works through these questions with the appropriate internal departments.

10 Potential Areas for Business Development

As noted earlier, business development can require employees throughout an organization to work in tandem to facilitate information, strategically plan future actions, and make smart decisions. Here is a summary list of potential areas that business development may get involved in, depending on the organization.

• Market research and analysis: This information helps identify new market opportunities and develop effective strategies.
• Sales and lead generation: This involves prospecting, qualifying leads, and coordinating with the sales team to convert leads into customers.
• Strategic partnerships and alliances: This includes forming strategic alliances, joint ventures, or collaborations that create mutually beneficial opportunities.
• Product development and innovation: This involves conducting market research, gathering customer feedback, and collaborating with internal teams to drive innovation.
• Customer relationship management: This involves customer retention initiatives, loyalty programs, and gathering customer feedback to enhance customer satisfaction and drive repeat business.
• Strategic planning and business modeling: This includes identifying growth opportunities, setting targets, and implementing strategies to achieve sustainable growth.
• Mergers and acquisitions: This involves evaluating potential synergies, conducting due diligence , and negotiating and executing deals.
• Brand management and marketing: This includes creating effective marketing campaigns, managing online and offline channels, and leveraging digital marketing techniques.
• Financial analysis and funding: This includes exploring funding options, securing investments, or identifying grant opportunities.
• Innovation and emerging technologies: This involves assessing the potential impact of disruptive technologies and integrating them into the organization's growth strategies.

The Business Development Process in Six Steps

While the specific steps in the business development process will depend on the particular company, its needs and capabilities, its leadership, and its available capital, these are some of the more common ones:

Step 1: Market Research/Analysis

Begin by conducting comprehensive market research to gain insights into market trends, customer needs, and the competitive landscape. Analyze data and gather additional information to identify potential growth opportunities and understand the market dynamics.

Step 2: Establish Clear Goals and Objectives

Leveraging that research, define specific objectives and goals for business development efforts. These goals could include revenue targets, market expansion goals, customer acquisition targets, and product/service development objectives. Setting clear goals provides a focus for the business development process.

Step 3: Generate and Qualify Leads

Use various sources, such as industry databases, networking , referrals, or online platforms to generate a pool of potential leads. Identify individuals or companies that fit the target market criteria and have the potential to become customers. Then, evaluate and qualify leads based on predetermined criteria to determine their suitability and potential value.

Step 4: Build Relationships and Present Solutions

Initiate contact with qualified leads and establish relationships through effective communication and engagement. Utilize networking events, industry conferences, personalized emails, or social media interactions to build trust and credibility. As your relationship forms, develop and present tailored solutions that align with the client's needs. Demonstrate the value proposition of the organization's offerings and highlight key benefits and competitive advantages.

Step 5: Negotiate and Expand

Prepare and deliver proposals that outline the scope of work, pricing, deliverables, and timelines. Upon agreement, coordinate with legal and other relevant internal teams to ensure a smooth contract execution process.

Step 6: Continuously Evaluate

Continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of business development efforts. Analyze performance metrics , gather feedback from clients and internal stakeholders, and identify areas for improvement. Regularly refine strategies and processes to adapt to market changes and optimize outcomes.

While it's common for startup companies to seek outside assistance in developing the business, as a company matures, it should aim to build its business development expertise internally.

How to Create a Business Development Plan

To effectively create and implement a business development plan, the team needs to set clear objectives and goals—ones that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). You can align these objectives with the overall business goals of the company.

Companies often analyze the current state of the organization by evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis . That can make it easier to identify target markets and customer segments and define their unique value proposition.

A substantial component of a business development plan is the external-facing stages. It should lay out sales and marketing strategies to generate leads and convert them into customers. In addition, it may explore new potential strategic partnerships and alliances to expand your reach, access new markets, or enhance your offerings.

Teams should conduct a financial analysis and do resource planning to determine the resources required for implementing the plan. Once you implement, you should track progress against the key performance indicators (KPIs) you've chosen.

Skills Needed for Business Development Jobs

Business development is a fast-growing field across industries worldwide. It is also one that calls upon a wide range of hard and soft skill sets.

Leaders and other team members benefit from well-honed sales and negotiating skills in order to interact with clients, comprehend their needs, and sway their decisions. They have to be able to establish rapport, cope with challenges, and conclude transactions. They need to be able to communicate clearly, verbally and in writing, to both customers and internal stakeholders.

Business development specialists should have a thorough awareness of the market in which they operate. They should keep up with market dynamics, competition activity, and other industry developments. They should be able to see potential opportunities, make wise judgments, and adjust tactics as necessary. Because many of their decisions will be data-driven, they need good analytical skills.

Internally, business development practitioners need to be able to clarify priorities, establish reasonable deadlines, manage resources wisely, and monitor progress to guarantee timely completion.

Finally, people who work in business development should conduct themselves with the utmost morality and honesty. They must uphold confidentiality, act legally and ethically, and build trust with customers and other stakeholders.

Why Is Business Development Important?

In addition to its benefits to individual companies, business development is important for generating jobs, developing key industries, and keeping the economy moving forward.

What Are the Most Important Skills for Business Development Executives?

Development executives need to have leadership skills, vision, drive, and a willingness to work with a variety of people to get to a common goal.

How Can I Be Successful in Business Development?

Having a vision and putting together a good team are among the factors that help predict success in business development. A successful developer also knows how to write a good business plan, which becomes the blueprint to build from.

What, in Brief, Should a Business Development Plan Include?

A business development plan, or business plan , should describe the organization's objectives and how it intends to achieve them, including financial goals, expected costs, and targeted milestones.

Business development provides a way for companies to rise above their day-to-day challenges and set a course for a successful future. More and more companies, across many different types of industries, are coming to recognize its value and importance.

American Express. " Business Development and Its Importance ."

Society for Marketing Professional Services. " What Is Business Development? "

World Economic Forum. " The Future of Jobs Report 2020 ," Page 30.

• Terms of Service
• Editorial Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Your Privacy Choices

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons

Margin Size

• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

1.1: Chapter 1 – Developing a Business Plan

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 21274

• Lee A. Swanson
• University of Saskatchewan

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\)

\( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\)

\( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\)

\( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}}      % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}}      % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} \)

Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter, you will be able to

• Describe the purposes for business planning
• Describe common business planning principles
• Explain common business plan development guidelines and tools
• List and explain the elements of the business plan development process
• Explain the purposes of each element of the business plan development process
• Explain how applying the business plan development process can aid in developing a business plan that will meet entrepreneurs’ goals

This chapter describes the purposes, principles, and the general concepts and tools for business planning, and the process for developing a business plan.

Purposes for Developing Business Plans

Business plans are developed for both internal and external purposes. Internally, entrepreneurs develop business plans to help put the pieces of their business together. Externally, the most common purpose is to raise capital.

Internal Purposes

As the road map for a business’s development, the business plan

• Defines the vision for the company
• Establishes the company’s strategy
• Describes how the strategy will be implemented
• Provides a framework for analysis of key issues
• Provides a plan for the development of the business
• Helps the entrepreneur develop and measure critical success factors
• Helps the entrepreneur to be realistic and test theories

External Purposes

The business plan provides the most complete source of information for valuation of the business. Thus, it is often the main method of describing a company to external audiences such as potential sources for financing and key personnel being recruited. It should assist outside parties to understand the current status of the company, its opportunities, and its needs for resources such as capital and personnel.

Business Plan Development Principles

Hindle and Mainprize (2006) suggested that business plan writers must strive to effectively communicate their expectations about the nature of an uncertain future and to project credibility. The liabilities of newness make communicating the expected future of new ventures much more difficult than for existing businesses. Consequently, business plan writers should adhere to five specific communication principles .

First, business plans must be written to meet the expectations of targeted readers in terms of what they need to know to support the proposed business. They should also lay out the milestones that investors or other targeted readers need to know. Finally, writers must clearly outline the opportunity , the context within the proposed venture will operate (internal and external environment), and the business model (Hindle & Mainprize, 2006).

There are also five business plan credibility principles that writers should consider. Business plan writers should build and establish their credibility by highlighting important and relevant information about the venture team . Writers need to elaborate on the plans they outline in their document so that targeted readers have the information they need to assess the plan’s credibility. To build and establish credibility, they must integrate scenarios to show that the entrepreneur has made realistic assumptions and has effectively anticipated what the future holds for their proposed venture. Writers need to provide comprehensive and realistic financial links between all relevant components of the plan. Finally, they must outline the deal , or the value that targeted readers should expect to derive from their involvement with the venture (Hindle & Mainprize, 2006).

General Guidelines for Developing Business Plans

Many businesses must have a business plan to achieve their goals. Using a standard format helps the reader understand that the you have thought everything through, and that the returns justify the risk. The following are some basic guidelines for business plan development.

As You Write Your Business Plan

1. If appropriate, include nice, catchy, professional graphics on your title page to make it appealing to targeted readers, but don’t go overboard.

2. Bind your document so readers can go through it easily without it falling apart. You might use a three-ring binder, coil binding, or a similar method. Make sure the binding method you use does not obscure the information next to where it is bound.

3. Make certain all of your pages are ordered and numbered correctly.

4. The usual business plan convention is to number all major sections and subsections within your plan using the format as follows:

1. First main heading

1.1 First subheading under the first main heading

1.1.1. First sub-subheading under the first subheading

2. Second main heading

2.1 First subheading under the second main heading

Use the styles and references features in Word to automatically number and format your section titles and to generate your table of contents. Be sure that the last thing you do before printing your document is update your automatic numbering and automatically generated tables. If you fail to do this, your numbering may be incorrect.

5. Prior to submitting your plan, be 100% certain each of the following requirements are met:

• Everything must be completely integrated. The written part must say exactly the same thing as the financial part.
• All financial statements must be completely linked and valid. Make sure all of your balance sheets balance.
• Everything must be correct. There should be NO spelling, grammar, sentence structure, referencing, or calculation errors.
• Your document must be well organized and formatted. The layout you choose should make the document easy to read and comprehend. All of your diagrams, charts, statements, and other additions should be easy to find and be located in the parts of the plan best suited to them.
• In some cases it can strengthen your business plan to show some information in both text and table or figure formats. You should avoid unnecessary repetition , however, as it is usually unnecessary—and even damaging—to state the same thing more than once.
• You should include all the information necessary for readers to understand everything in your document.
• The terms you use in your plan should be clear and consistent. For example, the following statement in a business plan would leave a reader completely confused: “There is a shortage of 100,000 units with competitors currently producing 25,000. We can help fill this huge gap in demand with our capacity to produce 5,000 units.”

• BA Bootcamp
• Skill Training
• BA Mentoring Support
• Certifications

How to Plan Your Career as a Business Development Manager

Are you ready to pave your way to success as a Business Development Manager? Well, buckle up because we've got just the guide for you! This blog will guide you in planning your career path. Whether you're just starting or looking to level up in your current role, our comprehensive roadmap will equip you with all the tools and strategies needed to become an unstoppable force in business development.

As a business development manager , having a clear and well-planned career path is crucial to success in your role. Mapping out your career path helps you set goals and direction for your professional growth and allows you to identify potential opportunities and challenges along the way.

This guide will take you through the step-by-step process of planning your career path as a business development manager. From identifying your strengths and interests to setting achievable goals, this article will provide valuable insights and practical tips on how to map out your journey toward success.

Why Is Career Planning Important?

Many professionals overlook the importance of career planning, thinking their job performance alone will determine their success. However, having a clear plan for your career can significantly impact your overall growth and fulfillment in your role.

Career planning allows you to identify what motivates you, what skills or knowledge you need to develop, and what steps you need to take to reach your desired position or level of success. It lets you stay focused on your long-term goals while making informed decisions about job opportunities or further education.

Understanding the Role of a Business Development Manager

A business development manager is a crucial position in any company, responsible for driving growth and creating new opportunities. They are often referred to as the "bridge" between the company and its clients and play a vital role in the success of a business.

The Role of a Business Development Manager

The primary role of a BDM is to identify new business opportunities by researching potential markets or industries. They analyze market trends, competition, and consumer needs to determine where the company's products or services can fill gaps or meet unmet demands. This requires strong analytical skills and strategic thinking abilities.

Once potential target markets have been identified, BDMs then focus on developing strategies to reach potential clients through channels such as networking events, trade shows, cold calls/emails, or referrals from existing customers. This involves building relationships with key decision-makers within these organizations and understanding their specific needs to tailor solutions that meet those needs effectively.

Identifying Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is vital in planning your career path as a Business Development Manager. It involves self-reflection and introspection to understand your unique skills, abilities, and areas for improvement. By identifying these aspects, you can better align yourself with suitable career opportunities and develop strategies to overcome weaknesses.

Here are some steps to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses:

• Take a Self-Assessment Test: A good starting point is a self-assessment test that measures your skills, interests, personality traits, and values. This will give you an objective view of yourself and help you discover potential strengths you may not have been aware of before.
• Reflect on Your Past Experiences: Think back on past experiences in both personal and professional settings where you felt most confident or excelled at specific tasks. These could be projects, assignments, or even hobbies that gave you a sense of accomplishment. Analyze the particular skills or qualities that enabled you to succeed.
• Seek Feedback from Others: Ask for honest feedback from friends, family members, colleagues, or mentors about your strengths and areas for improvement. Their perspective can provide valuable insights into how others perceive your capabilities.
• Conduct a SWOT Analysis: SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats – a simple yet effective tool businesses use to assess their internal capabilities and external environment.

Setting Goals and Aspirations for Your Career

As a business development manager, your ultimate goal is to drive growth and success for your company. But to achieve this, it’s essential to have personal goals and aspirations for your career. This section will guide you through setting meaningful goals to help you navigate your career path as a business development manager.

• Reflect on Your Values and Interests

The first step in setting career goals is to reflect on your values and interests. What motivates you? What do you enjoy doing? It’s essential to align your career goals with these aspects of yourself, as they will likely lead you toward fulfilling and satisfying work.

Think about what drew you to the role of a business development manager in the first place. Are there specific industries or business types that interest you? Are there particular skills or tasks within the role that excite you? Identifying these can give you a clear direction for setting your career goals.

• Identify Short-Term Goals

Short-term goals are those that can be achieved within 1-3 years. These are important because they provide stepping stones toward achieving long-term goals while also giving a sense of accomplishment along the way.

When setting short-term goals, consider what skills or experiences would benefit your current position and help move you towards higher levels of responsibility or leadership within the company.

Researching and Analyzing the Market

Researching and analyzing the market is crucial in planning your career path as a business development manager. It involves gathering information about the industry, understanding customer needs and preferences, and identifying potential growth opportunities. This section will guide you through conducting market research and analyzing it to make informed decisions for your career.

• Define Your Target Market

The first step in researching and analyzing the market is identifying your target audience. As a business development manager, this could be specific companies or industries that align with your interests and skills. Research these markets by looking at their size, growth trends, competition, and other relevant factors.

• Understand Customer Needs

Once you have defined your target market, it's essential to understand their needs and preferences. Conduct surveys or interviews with potential customers to gather insights on what they value in products or services. You can also analyze social media platforms or online reviews to understand customer opinions about existing products.

• Analyze Competitors

Analyzing competitors is another critical aspect of researching the market as a business development manager. Identify your main competitors and study their strengths, weaknesses, pricing strategies, unique selling points, and marketing tactics. This will give you an idea of differentiating yourself from them in the marketplace.

• Study Industry Trends

Staying updated with industry trends is crucial for success as a business development manager. Look at current patterns within your target market, such as new technologies or changing consumer behaviors.

Networking and Building Relationships

In today's competitive job market, having the necessary skills and qualifications for the role is no longer enough. Connecting with others and building strong professional relationships is crucial for personal and career growth.

• Importance of Networking:

Networking is actively seeking and establishing connections with other professionals in your industry. It involves attending events, conferences, workshops, or even reaching out through social media platforms such as LinkedIn. As a business development manager, networking can help you expand your knowledge base, learn about new opportunities, and gain valuable insights from experienced individuals.

• Building Meaningful Relationships:

While networking is important, it is equally essential to focus on building meaningful relationships with those in your network. This means going beyond just collecting business cards or adding contacts on LinkedIn. Take the time to get to know people more personally by asking questions and showing genuine interest in their work. This will help you establish trust and make it easier for you to reach out for advice or assistance when needed.

• Leveraging Your Existing Network:

As you progress as a business development manager, don't overlook the power of leveraging your existing network. Your current colleagues, clients, mentors, and friends can be valuable resources for career growth opportunities or introductions to potential employers. Stay connected with them regularly and keep them updated on your professional achievements.

Developing Essential Skills and Knowledge

As a business development manager, it is crucial to continuously develop and enhance your skills and knowledge to succeed in the ever-changing business landscape. The role of a business development manager requires a deep understanding of various aspects of the business world. This section will discuss some essential skills and knowledge necessary for your success as a business development manager.

• Strategic Thinking: As a business development manager, you must have the ability to think strategically and see the bigger picture. This involves analyzing market trends, identifying growth opportunities, and developing strategies to achieve long-term goals. It is essential to be proactive rather than reactive when making decisions impacting the company's success.
• Sales and Negotiation Skills: A large part of your role as a business development manager will involve sales and negotiation. This includes building relationships with potential clients, pitching products or services, and closing deals. Strong sales skills combined with effective negotiation tactics can help you secure new partnerships and drive revenue for your company.
• Industry Knowledge: To effectively promote your company's products or services, you need to have an in-depth understanding of the industry you are operating in. Stay updated on current market trends, competitors' strategies, consumer behavior patterns, and other relevant information that can give you an edge in the market.
• Communication Skills: Clear communication is key in any role, especially as a business development manager, where you will interact with internal teams.

Creating a Career Plan for Success

Planning and strategizing for your career is essential to achieving success as a business development manager. Like any other role, having a clear career plan can help you stay focused, motivated, and on track toward your goals.

• Identify Your Goals: The first step in creating a career plan is identifying your goals. Take some time to reflect on what you want to achieve in your career as a business development manager. Do you aspire to lead a team or work on high-profile deals? Are you looking for opportunities in specific industries or countries? Clarifying your goals will give you a sense of direction and purpose.
• Assess Your Skills and Knowledge: Once you have identified your goals, assessing your current skills and knowledge level is crucial. This self-evaluation will help identify any gaps that need to be filled through training, education, or gaining practical experience. As a business development manager, having strong communication, negotiation, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills are vital for success.
• Research Career Paths: Business development roles can vary from company to company depending on their size, industry focus, and growth stage. It's essential to research potential career paths within the business development field to understand the different job titles and responsibilities associated with them.

Staying Motivated and Adapting to Changes

Staying motivated and adapting to changes are key to success as a business development manager. As you progress in your career, there will undoubtedly be challenges and unexpected shifts that may require you to adapt your plans and strategies. It is important to have the resilience and determination to stay motivated and focused on your goals, even when faced with obstacles.

Here are some tips for staying motivated and adapting to changes as a business development manager:

• Keep Your Goals in Mind:

One of the best ways to stay motivated is by keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind. Whether landing a particular client, reaching a sales target, or securing a promotion, having clear objectives helps you stay focused and determined. Write down your goals and keep them visible, such as on your desk or phone wallpaper, to constantly remind you of what you're working towards.

• Celebrate Small Wins:

In addition to focusing on big goals, it's essential to celebrate small wins along the way. Daily accomplishments or milestones can bring you closer to your ultimate objectives. Celebrating these smaller victories keeps you motivated and boosts confidence and morale.

• Build a Support System:

As a business development manager, it's crucial to surround yourself with supportive colleagues who understand the role's challenges and can offer encouragement when needed. Connect with other professionals in similar roles through networking events or online communities.

As a business development manager, it is crucial to have a strong understanding of your career path and the steps needed to achieve your goals. This helps you stay focused and motivated and proactively plan for future growth opportunities. In today's fast-paced business world, where changes happen at lightning speed, staying updated with industry trends and honing new skills is essential for success.

You May Also Like

These Related Stories

CCBA Certification Exam Preparation in 2024

How to leverage ChatGPT as a Digital marketing analyst

Top 10 Books for Effective IT Project Management

Get email notifications, no comments yet.

Let us know what you think

30 60 90 Day Plan for Business Development Manager

30 60 90 day plan for business development manager is very important. People who begin to fail wind up in low-impact positions. Some have gone on to become Project Managers, while others have just straddled various related responsibilities without knowing what they want to accomplish.

Needless to say, the items they oversaw, or the things they developed or did during their time in the cockpit, all failed. To say the least, the consequences of not getting off on the proper foot may be terrible. This article will feature a 30 60 90 day plan for a business development manager.

30 60 90 day plan for business development manager

Let’s find below the steps on 30 60 90 day plan for business development manager

Your First 90 Days – Enter

Those that understand and value the necessity of honing their ax are the ones who actually smash it. Whether you are a first-timer in a new capacity or have a lot of experience, the first 30, 60, and 90 days in your new function and employment are critical.

I’ve developed a list of 32 sure-fire must-dos that you should consider completing in the first 90 days of your new work after speaking with and witnessing many awesome individuals producing products and businesses. I’ve divided them into three pieces for ease of reading and measurement:

• First 30 Days
• Second 30 Days
• Third 30 Days

These 32 steps, which have been tried and proven by many people, including myself, will undoubtedly set you on a winning run. I am confident that this will offer you a powerful boost in your new career, and please feel free to add and delete additional suggestions, approaches, and processes as needed to make them work for you.

The Foundation – The First 30 Days!

The first 30 days are critical, whether it’s your first time or not. Many people refer to the first 30 days of any employment as the honeymoon phase, but I believe they are one of the most crucial periods of any work. That’s when I’d start laying the groundwork. Here’s what I believe is crucial to understand:

It helps when we get the important components of our new position correct as a new kid on the block. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn.

No matter what profession we have, people and connections are crucial to our success. Making connections with individuals both inside and outside the firm might help you define your success in your new position. Here are some things to think about.

Connect with the Boss

Make contact with your supervisor and learn about his or her priorities. It’s critical to comprehend their objectives. Understanding the company’s vision, as well as the product’s and team’s missions, is critical. Make an effort to get your objectives stated and written down.

Connecting the Functions

Depending on your position, schedule meetings with the engineering, marketing, sales, support, and finance departments. When I’ve met with them over a cup of coffee, I’ve typically gotten a lot of good information.

Foster Empathy

Recognize the current problems that each of these stakeholders faces. I normally take notes on a mind map during these meetings and try to capture the issues in the mind map.

Who’s Who in the World

Attempt to write out the organization’s who’s who on a good A3-sized piece of paper and pin it to a pinboard. I also attempt to find and pin their photos from the directory. I have a tendency to mix up names, thus this has helped me match the face to the name.

Customer Relationship Management

Try to get on any customer calls and listen in on the conversation as if you were a fly on the wall. To acquire an overview and description of difficulties in each of your clients’ accounts, interact with their account management professionals.

Your baby is the product. It doesn’t matter what you name it: product, service, app, or anything else you want to call it. It’s critical to have a firsthand understanding of the product, its market, and its financials. Here are some things to think about:

Demonstration of SME

Get a demo of the product from the top Subject Matter Expert, Quality Engineer, or someone who is a go-to person for that product. Make a list of all the questions you want to ask. Don’t dismiss those who appear to be amusing.

Demonstrate Support

Meet with a customer support engineer for a product demonstration. Ask a lot of questions, much as you did with the SME. This allows you to better understand how both of these folks see the product. It’s critical to comprehend the product’s backstory.

Sales Demonstration

Meet with a salesperson and have them demonstrate the product to you. This might lead to some significant disclosures.

Market Dump

Gather all of the product’s market data, including competitor information, analyst data, and win-loss analysis, and place it all in one working folder. Set up time on your calendar to go over all of them.

This may seem small in some positions and occupations, but trust me when I say that if you do this on the job, your work and career will take off in a huge manner.

Financial Statements

Make an appointment with the company’s financial analyst to acquire a financial dump. Understanding the financials of a product may help you understand its performance and discover its strengths and faults by working backward. When this data is combined with market knowledge, significant breakthroughs can be made.

Methodology

It is critical to get familiar with the geography before visiting a new country. As a hunter, you must be familiar with the forest, its creatures, tribes, weather conditions, and, of course, your hunting weapon.

Rhythm of Development

Meet with the engineering team to learn more about how they produce software – release cycles, development methods, etc (Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kanban, etc.). Not understanding this can lead to unpleasant shocks, especially if your previous work experience is vastly different from your present one.

It’s crucial to know how the firm has released software in the past. Some businesses rely heavily on processes, while others don’t (consider continuous delivery models like those used by McDonald’s!).

Expenses It’s critical to understand how travel and discretionary expenses are handled. That’s something your manager should be able to assist you with. Get a sense of what it’s like to work as expenses are claimed.

The Rhythm of Stakeholder Meetings

It’s critical to understand how often you have product reviews with management, board meetings, investor meetings, and analyst meetings. Understanding essential contacts for speaking with analysts would be quite beneficial.

Finally, there are the tools. As individuals, we become accustomed to certain tools and must occasionally learn new ones. Learning is difficult, and it’s made even more difficult when we don’t know what tools we’ll need.

Each of us has our own set of problems, ranging from learning to operate a Macintosh to not utilizing Lotus Notes. Here are a few things to remember:

The IT support desk can assist you to order a laptop and/or workstation. In some large corporations, this is a time-consuming and inefficient procedure.

Install all of the software that the company requires on your laptop. When you notice that some program was not installed properly and has locked your computer, this might get in the way of your job.

Install your preferred software applications on your new computer. We all have favorites, and I’ve included a list of mine in the resources section. We just can’t work with our preferred task management software (Trello is mine), time management software (Pomodoro app for Mac is mine), and so on.

Order whiteboarding and note-taking stationery. Many large corporations take a long time to implement this. I’ve ordered Post-it notes from Amazon several times.

Set up a demo environment in which you may test your product. This is the most convenient for me since it allows me to have a firsthand look at the merchandise.

I hope you find this information helpful. The goal of compiling this list was to assist us to get a head start without wasting too much time. These are the standard operating procedures (SOP) for changing occupations or responsibilities, in my opinion. If you completed all of the above, continue on to the second 30 days!

Synthesize for the next 30 days!

Congratulations if you’ve made it through the first 30 days! You’ve now progressed to the second 30 days of challenges!

The first 30 days were spent laying the groundwork. If you’ve ever watched military combat, you’ll notice that soldiers and units move from one base to another as they prepare to assault. They build bunkers, load weapons, put out maps, designate targets, and prepare for the next counter-offensive or offensive attack.

A systematic approach is beneficial to you, the product, and its stakeholders.

So, what are our plans for the next 30 days?

Put yourself in a Passive-Active state

…and as you learn more about the product and its ecosystem, you’ll begin to connect and rejoin the dots. It’ll be crucial to concentrate on the following:

These are the three most important aspects of the second 30 days in the job. The answer is to listen more and speak less, now more than ever.

This is because the first 30 days have established the fundamentals of people, process, product, and tools, clearing the mind of clutter and establishing a clear perspective. Let’s get started on each of them.

Learning may take place in a variety of ways. Here are a few ideas that are sure to help to get you started on the right foot.

Retrospectives

You’ve probably stepped right into the thick of things if you’ve changed employment. Businesses will not wait for you to catch up, so take advantage of the chance to do a retrospective.

You can volunteer to lead a retrospective for the entire team or just yours. When I’m new to an organization or team, this is one of my favorite things to do since it offers me the benefit of being an outsider.

I’ve noticed that individuals are more comfortable performing retrospectives with someone who wasn’t present at the time of the release.

Retrospectives provide an excellent picture of how the release went, what went wrong, and how people think things may be improved. It’s also an excellent method to come up with a list of things to work on.

Analysis of Winning and Losing

Start digging further into the product’s win-loss analysis that you were able to gain access to in the first 30 days. These are fantastic resources for learning more about the product. It’s been quite useful in searching for trends in the analysis sheets from previous quarters.

Yes, the sales staff would have done this at least once a quarter. However, bringing in new viewpoints from outside the firm might occasionally assist in spotting relevant data. Another wonderful method to get some insights is to borrow time from someone in sales operations.

Iterations and Release Cycles

While retrospectives are a terrific method to go deep into the work of the team, we often aren’t available at the appropriate time. Participating in standups (short 10-minute check-ins with teams) is a wonderful approach to gain a sense of how the teams operate.

Trying to evaluate releases and how features are created, planned, how much of what is intended is really delivered, how prioritizing is done, and how obstacles are noted, depending on your job, is a fantastic learning experience.

Being a fly-on-the-wall in any product or company meeting is a fantastic experience in general. You face the danger of attending too many meetings, and these meetings might occasionally consist of conversations that you find unimportant. It’s critical that we leave such meetings and make better use of our time.

If we are unable to integrate the facts and information, learning can quickly become lost in the shuffle. Finding the correct collection of tools to help digest facts and knowledge has been critical for me. Here are a few choices that have proven to be successful for me:

Mind Mapping

I’m a strong believer in using mind maps in practically every aspect of life. I take a short 10-15 minutes after any form of learning, whether it’s through meetings or conversations and analyses, to put my learnings onto a mental map.

I even use smileys to recall how a certain individual replied to a particular message or thinking exchange. I also keep track of the times and places where these chats take place, as well as anything else that might help me remember the conversation as well as possible.

Wikimedia Commons

Another fantastic technique to internalize is to start writing down and crystallizing some of our learnings using a medium like a wiki or a Google doc. This is particularly useful when we’ve identified gaps through win-loss analysis, product documentation, and so on.

Updating this for the first 90 days will serve as an excellent initial report that you can share with your team (and, yes, your boss!). Assimilation of what we learn might occasionally lead to suggestions for new goods or ways to improve the monetization of existing ones.

It’s not about getting people to tell us what to do; it’s about getting people to tell us what they require. When I’ve had talks with engineers and even executives to understand what they need, I’ve found it quite useful.

This allows us to prioritize and, on occasion, assist customers in clarifying their sometimes hazy demands. Here are some things to remember:

Listen and share

People do not realize what they require until they get it. People may assist confirm our insights garnered from chats, meetings, and reading various texts when we share them with them. Offering to assist someone with their need is a terrific way to become involved in the first 60 days of your membership.

Whatever profession you have, you must eventually assist in the production of the product and its business. Even the smallest act of kindness at such a young age will be remembered and will aid in the development of connections.

Setting Objectives

Another effective strategy to get started on the right foot is to ask your boss to change the goals depending on what you’ve learned.

Goals are sometimes made in the first week, signed off on, then reviewed six months or a year later. For the first 90 days, I prefer to evaluate these goals on a regular basis to ensure that they are attainable and that we are providing value.

Okay, we’ve made it to the conclusion of the second 30 days!

What’s new with you? Perhaps you should go to the water cooler and get some water. Yeah? Scroll down and let’s speak about the previous 30 days when you’re ready!

Third 30 Days – Get to Work!

You’ve progressed one level – third 30 days – Congratulations!!

You’ve completed the first two months of your new job, which is a significant amount of time to complete effectively. I hope the first 30 day and second 30-day checklists were useful. If you haven’t read them yet, don’t worry; it’s never too late. Getting your feet wet…

…and getting to know the product and the company’s operations is crucial to a successful tenure.

You’ve completed the self-imposed grind for the first and second 30 days, and you’re now ready to hit the dance floor for the third 30 days. To put it another way, it’s time to take action.

You’ve undoubtedly noticed that your position has suddenly become more active — you’re being asked to assist make choices, and you’re being asked for comments from all sides – you’ve arrived!

To build on the lessons learned in the first 60 days, here are three things that have worked well for me:

• Focus, Focus, Focus
• Bias to Action

There is a lot more you can do and follow, but the three areas listed above are essential, and you should aim to make them the pillars of your profession. Let’s not spend any more time and go right in.

This is one of the most important aspects that may help you feel fulfilled while also establishing a positive reputation in your new position. Here are some guidelines you might wish to follow:

Days with a Theme

Try to theme your days, or have your calendar set up so that you may accomplish particular tasks on each of the seven days of the week. If you work a five-day week, you might want to consider.

Every day, a consumer visits another for market research, competition research, and other purposes. one day for engineering release activities planning

Set aside one day for sales activities such as workshops, sales kit updates, and so on, and another day for anything else.

I usually leave one day free to accommodate any talks or events that arise over the course of the other days’ activities.

Organizing your time

I hinted at it in the first 30 days, but I want to emphasize it now.

Whatever profession you have, you will soon find yourself swimming in an ocean where currents pull you in numerous ways and you lose control of yourself – you will have had this experience if you have previously had the position. I’ve discovered that a few personal habits perform well in this situation:

Accepting an invitation to a meeting where there is no agenda is a bad idea. If there is an agenda and you are unclear about what is expected of you, it is a good idea to check with the organizer.

Focus on your planned agenda within the allocated time periods throughout the week and avoid entertaining casual conversations – this is especially annoying if you chance to sit in an area where people stroll by regularly.

If you believe somebody is being obnoxious, put on a set of headphones – even if you aren’t listening to music, people will think twice before stopping by. It aids concentration.

Keep your supervisor and upper management informed about your working style — in my experience, socializing this during talks has worked well – it’s a win-win situation.

Concentrate, Concentrate, Concentrate

Someone is attempting to distract you every time you enter the office with a plan – it might be your employer, colleague, CEO, unhappy client, or even a phone call. The secret to your success is to keep your focus on the basics.

Is There a Bias to Action?

There are several decisions to be made, and you find yourself in the midst of them all. While examining the possibilities and selecting the best one is enjoyable, it can also become exceedingly difficult and mold you. This might jeopardize your, the product’s, and the company’s success.

The capacity to act immediately and think later is known as a bias to action. Experts in psychology and study show that the human mind comprehends and makes many decisions influenced by the unconscious mind. This is sometimes referred to as gut instinct, while others refer to it as intuition.

The Next Ninety Days

I hope this essay helps you concentrate on your first 90 days on the job. But what happens next? On the 91st day, we frequently wonder about it. Building contacts and a reputation online has been extremely beneficial to me (and many others) in my job. Allow me to explain.

Many people work hard and make a name for themselves in their workplaces. They make connections inside the firm and carry out the tasks outlined in this article. The irony is that the rest of the world is mostly unaware of it. But what’s the point?

Creating a Digital Identity

In today’s digital age, it’s critical to create a professional digital persona that people can connect with. LinkedIn is a platform that I’ve come to regard as a place where most of us exist as professionals but have nothing going on other than a profile.

What if there were more you could do with LinkedIn to help you increase your reputation and influence?

Develop and Expand Your Reputation

The first 90 days of your year set the tone for the remainder of the year and beyond. However, it’s just as crucial for you to improve your LinkedIn reputation and impact.

This will not only increase your visibility outside of your organization but also within it. Furthermore, others will notice what you do, and you will begin to receive chances and positions rather than having to hunt for them.

We hope this article on 30 60 90 day plan for business development manager was worth reading.

More Interesting Articles

• Steps to Achieve Career Goals – How to Plan to Achieve Career Goals?
• Intellectual Stimulation – What is Stimulation | Meaning | Influence
• Email Subject Lines for Networking – Examples that Opened and Read
• Scenario Questions for Fun – Popular Hypothetical Questions
• Second Follow up email After Interview – Sample that Gets Response
• Robots, Robotics, and Automation Won’t Kill off Human Jobs
• What are Your Long Term Career Goals – Interview Questions
• Importance of SWOT Analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• Impact of Automation on Employment
• Emergency Jobs in Demand in Canada in future with Growing Career Fields
• How to Ace an Interview with No Experience Questions and Answers
• Career Choices for Introverts – Jobs With, or with No Experience
• Entrepreneurial Competencies – What Make Companies from Good to Great
• Expected Salary In Resume – What is Your Salary Expectation Sample Answer
• List of Short Term Goals Examples – What are Short Term Goals?
• Why Do You Want to Be a Trainer Answers – Technical, Corporate and BPO
• Awards for Resume – Honors | Achievements | Accomplishments
• Characteristics of Business Ethics – Why Great Companies Count It?
• Types of Goals for Employees, Business, Management, or Students
• Diary Management Interview Questions and Answers

90 day business plan 30 60 90 business plan 30 60 90 day business plan 30 60 90 day plan business development manager 90 day business plan example 90 day business development plan 90 day business plan for interview 30 60 90 day medical sales plan examples 30 60 90 business plan for interview

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.