Both Business Development and Sales are essential elements in a sales person’s career.
Both have their own duties, responsibilities, and skills to develop.
Here is the real difference between these two jobs. However, there are differences between those two.
Summary Table
| BD | Sales |
| Long term sales | Quick sales |
| Requires more patience | Need to be patience |
What is BD?
Business Development is the process of finding, identifying, and gaining the interest of potential clients. This includes seeking out customers, or simply making contacts with people that have the potential to buy your product or service. You will find out their needs and identify the value they receive from your product or service. Once you have identified these needs, you must communicate them to them so they can see the value in buying your product or service. Business Development can be difficult because you must build a relationship with them before they will buy your product or service.
The first step is to understand their goals and desires by talking to them directly.
What is Sales?
Sales is when a person identifies and tries to convince people to buy a particular product or service from them. The first step in sales is finding out what their wants are and how much they are willing to pay for those wants.
Once you know what they want, you will try to sell them on the idea of buying from you instead of another company who might offer something similar but less expensive than yours.
The main difference between Business Development and Sales is that sales involves trying to convince people that your product or service is more valuable than theirs and therefore should be purchased from you instead of someone else.
BD VS Sales
Business Development (BD) is an ongoing process of identifying, researching, and developing potential clients. Sales is the process of convincing potential clients to buy your product or service. Business Development also involves a more open communication process between the customer and you. Sales requires you to be more aggressive in trying to convince people that your product or service is the best choice for them.
Business Development requires a higher level of patience than sales because you are looking for long term business development rather than quick sales. Business Development helps with long term growth in the company, while sales helps with short term growth in the company.
