4 ms·
I agree with the article but would add that a lot of times sales people are hired under the "business development" umbrella simply to not call them "sales" peop
by fab1an 14y ago
I agree with the article but would add that a lot of times sales people are hired under the "business development" umbrella simply to not call them "sales" people - most businesses don't want to be contacted by a sales person (except when you do know that you absolutely must acquire a certain widget).
At the same time, this isn't true for most startups: most startups by definition (given they do something new) don't sell existing must-have products but current nice-to-haves with a potential to become future must-haves if their transformative vision pans out.
- iamvictorious 14y agoyeah, that's absolutely true. Some people prefer to get the title of business development so they feel like they are doing something higher level and justify their education/credentials. I've noticed also some startups don't call people sales people because then at conferences people aren't turned off by meeting a sales person. I'm not opposed to these tactics but just wanted to point out the functional/true differences. Most startups are actually selling a better/different version of what does exist. Very few startups are truly category defining so as a result they are mostly doing sales. Business development as a result for most startups is really for getting distribution versus getting customers.