Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Development Agent

💰 $ - $

Business DevelopmentSalesB2BRevenue GrowthAccount Development

🎯 Role Definition

A Business Development Agent identifies, qualifies, and converts new revenue opportunities by prospecting, building relationships, and executing go-to-market tactics that expand the customer base and accelerate sales pipeline velocity. This role blends outbound lead generation, consultative selling, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration to hit quota and support strategic growth initiatives in B2B and B2C environments.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Development Representative (SDR) or Inside Sales Representative
  • Account Coordinator or Junior Business Development Representative
  • Customer Success Associate with a growth-orientation

Advancement To:

  • Senior Business Development Manager / Account Executive
  • Strategic Partnerships Manager / Channel Manager
  • Head of Business Development / Director of Sales

Lateral Moves:

  • Account Management / Customer Success
  • Product Specialist / Solutions Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Proactively source, identify, and engage new prospects using a combination of cold calling, cold emailing, LinkedIn outreach, targeted advertising responses, and networking to build a robust, qualified pipeline that meets or exceeds monthly and quarterly lead generation targets.
  • Qualify inbound and outbound leads through structured discovery conversations, qualification frameworks (BANT/CHAMP/GPCT), and needs analysis to prioritize high-conversion opportunities and improve sales efficiency.
  • Manage and prioritize a structured sales pipeline in the CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) with accurate opportunity stages, expected close dates, and next steps to ensure reliable forecasting against quota.
  • Conduct discovery and product-demo sessions (live or recorded) tailored to buyer personas and vertical-specific pain points, translating product value into business outcomes and ROI for prospects.
  • Prepare, present, and negotiate commercial proposals, pricing, and terms, collaborating with legal and finance teams as needed to accelerate contract execution and close new business.
  • Achieve or exceed assigned revenue and activity KPIs (opportunities created, qualified meetings, demo-to-close rate, average deal size, quota attainment) through disciplined execution and continuous improvement.
  • Develop and execute targeted territory and account development plans including account mapping, ideal customer profile refinement, and multi-threaded outreach to stakeholders across buying committees.
  • Execute multi-touch, high-volume outreach cadences using automation and personalization tools (Outreach, SalesLoft, Reply.io), and iterate messaging based on A/B tests and engagement metrics.
  • Build and maintain executive-level relationships to influence decision-making and position long-term strategic partnerships that create recurring revenue and expansion opportunities.
  • Collaborate closely with marketing to align on lead scoring, campaign follow-up, and content needs; provide feedback and real-world market intelligence to improve campaign-to-sales conversion.
  • Track competitive landscape and market trends, prepare win/loss analyses, and leverage insights to refine pitch, objection handling, and product positioning against competitors.
  • Coordinate internally with solutions engineering, product, and customer success teams to ensure smooth handoffs, fast onboarding, and high initial product adoption for new customers.
  • Maintain accurate records of prospect interactions, decision criteria, and objections in CRM to enable data-driven pipeline management and forecast accuracy.
  • Conduct periodic account reviews with stakeholders to identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities and to design account expansion playbooks that increase customer lifetime value.
  • Lead contract renewals and upsell negotiations where applicable, proposing value-driven expansions and bundling solutions to deepen customer relationships.
  • Attend and represent the company at industry events, trade shows, and conferences to source strategic leads, build brand awareness, and network with potential partners and channel resellers.
  • Implement consultative selling techniques to diagnose complex customer problems, recommend multi-product solutions, and capture longer-term agreements with measurable success criteria.
  • Monitor sales metrics and KPIs daily/weekly, create actionable reports and dashboards, and present pipeline health and forecast updates to sales leadership.
  • Drive continuous process improvements in outreach, qualification, and closing stages by documenting playbooks, objection responses, and scalable SOPs for the wider sales team.
  • Support pilot and proof-of-concept programs by defining success metrics, coordinating resources, and transitioning pilots into commercial agreements when objectives are met.
  • Identify and pursue partnership and channel development opportunities (resellers, technology partners, affiliates) to extend market reach and accelerate lead flow.
  • Maintain professional knowledge of product roadmap and feature releases to proactively position upcoming capabilities and upsell to prospective and current customers.
  • Mentor and train junior BD reps or SDRs on prospecting best practices, CRM hygiene, and consultative selling to raise overall team performance.
  • Ensure compliance with company policies, data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA where applicable), and contractual obligations across all sales activities.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Provide market feedback to product and marketing teams to refine value propositions and collateral.
  • Assist in preparing RFP responses, case studies, and customer references for strategic pursuits.
  • Help coordinate and execute co-marketing or joint sales initiatives with partners.
  • Shadow and support onboarding activities to ensure new clients receive clear success plans and timeline expectations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) — pipeline management, activity logging, and reporting.
  • Strong cold outreach toolkit knowledge — LinkedIn Sales Navigator, email automation (Outreach, SalesLoft), and lead enrichment (ZoomInfo, Clearbit).
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets skills for pipeline modeling, commission calculations, and sales analysis (VLOOKUP, pivot tables, basic formulas).
  • Sales forecasting and quota management — ability to produce realistic forecasts and track attainment versus plan.
  • Experience preparing commercial proposals and basic contract negotiation; familiarity with e-signature/CPQ tools (DocuSign, PandaDoc, Salesforce CPQ).
  • Consultative selling and discovery methodologies (SPIN, MEDDIC, BANT, Challenger Sales).
  • Familiarity with analytics and reporting tools (Tableau, Looker, or native CRM dashboards) to monitor sales KPIs.
  • Experience with demo/POC tooling and presenting software or solutions to technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Knowledge of lead scoring, segmentation, and ABM principles to prioritize high-value accounts.
  • Basic understanding of GDPR/CCPA and data privacy best practices related to outreach and lead data handling.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional verbal and written communication with the ability to present clearly to executives and technical stakeholders.
  • Strong negotiation and persuasion skills; a track record of closing deals and moving prospects through complex buying processes.
  • Resilience and persistence — ability to handle rejection, adapt approaches, and sustain high-volume outreach.
  • Active listening and empathy to understand customer pain and propose the most relevant solutions.
  • Time management and organizational discipline to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously and keep CRM updated.
  • Strategic thinking with a problem-solving mindset to design creative solutions for unique customer challenges.
  • Relationship-building and networking capability to cultivate long-term partnerships and referrals.
  • Collaborative team player comfortable coordinating across product, marketing, and customer success.
  • Data-driven mentality — comfortable using metrics to inform outreach cadence, messaging, and prioritization.
  • Self-motivation and results orientation — proactive ownership of targets and personal development.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in sales, business, marketing, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, or related field.
  • MBA or relevant graduate degree preferred for senior roles or strategic partnership positions.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Economics
  • Information Systems
  • Entrepreneurship

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–5 years in sales, business development, or a front-line revenue generation role (SDR, Inside Sales, Account Executive).

Preferred:

  • 3+ years of demonstrable experience in B2B sales or SaaS business development with a proven record of quota attainment, pipeline generation, negotiation, and CRM-driven process management.
Explore More Careers