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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Sales & Business Development Manager

💰 $ - $

SalesBusiness DevelopmentB2BManagement

🎯 Role Definition

We are seeking a results-driven Sales & Business Development Manager responsible for defining and executing territory and account strategies that accelerate revenue growth. This role owns the end-to-end sales cycle — from prospecting and demand generation to contract negotiation and closing — and collaborates closely with marketing, product, customer success, and executive leadership to meet and exceed quota. The ideal candidate brings strong CRM discipline (Salesforce/HubSpot), proven experience in consultative/solution selling, and a track record of building scalable pipeline and strategic partnerships in B2B or SaaS markets.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Account Executive
  • Business Development Representative (BDR) / Sales Development Representative (SDR)
  • Territory Sales Representative

Advancement To:

  • Director of Business Development
  • Head of Sales / Head of Growth
  • Vice President (VP) of Sales

Lateral Moves:

  • Strategic Partnerships Manager
  • Account Management / Customer Success Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute a territory and account-based sales strategy to achieve quarterly and annual revenue targets, focusing on high-value enterprise and mid-market opportunities.
  • Generate new qualified pipeline through outbound prospecting, targeted inbound follow-up, channel and partner outreach, and integrated marketing campaigns.
  • Conduct consultative, solution-oriented discovery calls and demos to identify customer pain points, map requirements to product value, and articulate ROI and business outcomes.
  • Manage full sales cycle activities including qualification, needs analysis, proposal development, negotiation, legal contracting, and deal close while maintaining high win rates and average deal size.
  • Build and maintain an accurate, up-to-date CRM (Salesforce/HubSpot) with activity logs, opportunity stages, forecast categories, contact records, and account plans to support predictable forecasting.
  • Own sales forecasting and pipeline hygiene: provide weekly and monthly forecasts, analyze funnel metrics, and implement corrective actions to mitigate risk and accelerate deals.
  • Design and execute targeted outreach sequences using email, phone, LinkedIn, and events to convert cold and warm leads into opportunities.
  • Create compelling commercial proposals, SOWs, pricing models and responses to RFPs that align with company pricing strategy and margin goals.
  • Negotiate contract terms, commercial agreements, renewals and upsells while partnering with legal and finance to ensure compliant and timely execution.
  • Lead account planning for named accounts, mapping stakeholders, decision criteria, buying cycles, and executive sponsors to increase share-of-wallet.
  • Drive cross-functional alignment with marketing, product, customer success, and operations to deliver bespoke solutions and expedite implementations.
  • Identify and develop strategic channel and alliance partnerships, referral programs, and reseller relationships to expand market reach.
  • Monitor competitive landscape and market trends; translate insights into messaging, positioning and tactical adjustments to win against competitors.
  • Implement best practices for sales processes and playbooks, run regular pipeline reviews and implement consistent qualification frameworks (e.g., MEDDIC, BANT).
  • Recruit, mentor and coach junior sales team members and SDRs where applicable, delivering regular training on product positioning, objection handling, and closing techniques.
  • Design and execute account expansion and retention strategies including cross-sell, upsell, and renewal campaigns in collaboration with Customer Success.
  • Manage pricing approvals and discount requests, ensuring compensation plans and incentives align to company revenue goals and profitability metrics.
  • Prepare executive-level presentations, board reporting and post-mortem deal analyses to improve team performance and strategic decision-making.
  • Plan and represent the company at industry events, trade shows, webinars and customer advisory boards to increase brand awareness and generate high-quality leads.
  • Implement measurable KPIs and dashboards (e.g., ARR, MRR, CAC, LTV, conversion rates) to track performance and inform continuous improvement.
  • Lead pilot programs and proof-of-concept engagements when required; coordinate internal resources to deliver rapid customer value and accelerate purchase decisions.
  • Collaborate with product management to prioritize feature requests and roadmap items informed by customer feedback and competitive gaps.
  • Drive pricing and packaging initiatives, including A/B testing of offers and promotional campaigns, to optimize conversion and revenue per customer.
  • Ensure compliance with company policies, sales contracts, GDPR/data privacy requirements and industry regulations while closing deals.
  • Manage complex multi-stakeholder sales cycles including C-level engagements, procurement, and technical evaluation teams to shorten sales cycles and increase close rates.

Secondary Functions

  • Maintain and refine standardized sales templates, playbooks, and objection-handling libraries for team use.
  • Support ad-hoc internal data requests, contribute to CRM reporting improvements and participate in sales operations initiatives to improve efficiency.
  • Contribute to the organization’s go-to-market strategy and roadmap by surfacing market intelligence and customer feedback.
  • Collaborate with marketing on content strategy, campaign briefs, and account-based marketing (ABM) programs to increase conversion rates.
  • Participate in cross-functional sprint planning for product launches and major customer implementations to ensure successful delivery and handover.
  • Provide training and enablement sessions for sales peers on new product features, competitive positioning, and negotiation best practices.
  • Assist with hiring, onboarding and performance reviews for sales and business development team members.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM mastery: Salesforce, HubSpot, or comparable CRM platform — pipeline management, forecasting, reporting and automation.
  • Enterprise B2B sales experience with a strong track record in quota attainment and large deal negotiation.
  • Sales methodology familiarity: MEDDIC, SPIN, Challenger, Sandler or equivalent consultative frameworks.
  • Forecasting and analytics: ability to analyze funnel metrics, conversion rates, revenue projections and churn drivers using Excel, Google Sheets or BI tools.
  • Contract and commercial negotiation: constructing SOWs, NDAs, MSAs and custom pricing agreements.
  • Lead generation and outbound prospecting techniques including cold calling, email sequences, LinkedIn outreach and account-based marketing (ABM).
  • Proposal and presentation development: creating persuasive decks, ROI models and pricing proposals for C-level stakeholders.
  • Experience with sales engagement and cadencing tools (e.g., Outreach, Salesloft) and tracking tools (LinkedIn Sales Navigator).
  • Familiarity with SaaS metrics (ARR, MRR, CAC, LTV), subscription models, and renewal management.
  • Technical fluency to collaborate with product and engineering teams on proofs-of-concept and technical evaluations.

Soft Skills

  • Strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence C-level executives and diverse stakeholder groups.
  • Strategic mindset with business acumen — able to translate market insights into winning commercial strategies.
  • Resilience and tenacity under pressure; high ownership mentality with a drive to exceed quota.
  • Relationship-building and consultative selling approach focused on long-term customer value and retention.
  • Collaborative team player who can lead cross-functional initiatives and work effectively with marketing, product and customer success.
  • Excellent negotiation, persuasion, and objection-handling abilities.
  • Coachable leader with demonstrated ability to mentor and develop sales talent.
  • Strong organizational and time-management skills; effectively prioritize competing opportunities and tasks.
  • Analytical problem solver who uses data to inform decisions and iterate on sales tactics.
  • Adaptability and comfort working in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and scaling processes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, Economics, Engineering, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or relevant Master’s degree preferred but not required.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Finance / Economics
  • Engineering or Computer Science (for technical product sales)
  • International Business / Trade

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 4–8 years of progressive sales or business development experience; 3+ years managing a territory or complex B2B accounts; or equivalent track record in quota-bearing roles.

Preferred:

  • Proven success selling SaaS, technology, professional services or enterprise solutions with average deal sizes aligned to the role.
  • Experience managing end-to-end complex sales cycles including procurement and legal processes.
  • Demonstrated ability to build and scale a sales pipeline, meet/exceed quotas, and deliver measurable revenue growth year-over-year.
  • Prior experience working with cross-functional teams (product, marketing, customer success, finance) and influencing senior stakeholders.
  • Experience with channel/partner development and international or multi-region sales is a plus.
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