A Day in the Life of a Business Development Manager
When I was asked by our Marketing and Communications Manager to write a Blog on ‘A Day in the Life of a Business Development Manager’, it made me realise just how different each day actually is for me, and the vastly different tasks I undertake.
As Business Development Manager, my role is to bring in new clients, and develop additional business from existing clients. This happens in all sorts of ways! Typically, in the course of a week, I will have spent time communicating with prospective clients by phone, email and through social media, drafted and sent proposals to prospects, sent Contracts to new clients, attended internal meetings to advise on what work is likely to come in over the coming weeks, monitored and updated our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, undertaken marketing activities, attended meetings, conferences or events, and researched current affairs in the legal industry. This list is not exhaustive, but gives you an idea of the sorts of things I get up to.
One of the reasons I wanted to ‘leave the law’ when I was a practising solicitor, was that I couldn’t stand sitting at a desk all day, doing the same thing day in, day out. I wanted a job that got me ‘out and about’, meeting new people, in new places. I can honestly say that being the Business Development Manager at The Cashroom has allowed me to do all of these things, and more. It does, however, mean that every day is different, and it is not really possible to describe a typical day, so I have simply picked one at random!
One morning last week, I set off from home at 8am to drive a couple of hours south to Dumfries for a client meeting. This was a Relationship Management meeting, something that I do with all clients on a regular basis to check that they are happy with our service, and to get feedback from them on anything else we might be able to assist with.
After a coffee and 45 minute chat, I headed to Starbucks to work on a proposal for a prospective new client looking for cashiering, payroll and monthly management accounts. After spending an hour or so finalising the documentation, and a quick sandwich, it was back in the car for a 45 minute drive to a small town further west. This time the meeting was with a new prospect I recently met at a Conference, to explain how our service works on a practical basis, and the likely fee. That particular firm has a longstanding cashier, who has indicated that she will be looking to retire early next year; a situation we encounter on a regular basis.
After this meeting, it was on to another coffee shop, to catch up on the day’s emails. Another 45 minutes, and another coffee later (yes, a high caffeine tolerance is part of the job description!), and I was back on the road, for the 3 hour drive home.
As I say, no two days are the same, and if I had picked the next day, I had a day in the office with a couple of meetings to update the teams on prospective new work, a Management team meeting, and some time blocked out for ‘brainstorming’ the next advert in our monthly marketing campaign in the Law Society Journal.
My job really does involve a lot of variety, and a lot of time out and about meeting new people…just the type of role I was looking for!
Gregor
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