The 19 Best Questions for Hiring A Business Development Manager

A business development manager (BDM) develops business relationships or strategic partnerships on behalf of an organization. BDMs work with existing clients or use their contacts to find and develop sales leads. A BDM candidate’s background and education may include a bachelor’s or master’s degree in business or marketing, as well as marketing or sales experience.

According to data collected by Zippia, business development managers make, on average, $92,614 in the U.S. Their duties may include exploring deals to land clients, contacting leads and reviewing marketing strategies. The right candidate will be familiar with contract negotiation, proposal development and closing new business deals.

The interview is an important step in the hiring process for business development managers, whose primary job responsibility is to manage sales operations, and to help grow a business by making connections and building relationships. Hiring the right business development manager can be tough — the perfect candidate needs to have strong interpersonal skills, a competitive spirit, and strong organizational and communication skills to boot. Ensure you’re hiring a great one that aligns with your organization culturally and has what it takes to do the job by reviewing our interview questions to help you get started.

• How do you turn a lead into a long-term relationship?
• For an in-person interview: Look around the room and explain why any two things in this room would be better in partnership.
• How do you use data to inform your approach to business development?
• What would you do if you found out that one of your customers was testing out one of our competitor's products?
• If you had to sell our product, what are two questions you would ask to understand the needs of potential buyers?
• What do you think are the three most important factors when evaluating a deal?
• Describe a situation in which you've had to improvise.
• How do you measure success?
• How would you approach a situation in which you did not have all the resources you needed to complete your tasks?
• Tell me about a time you used analysis to make a business-critical decision. Walk me through that analysis and outcome.
• What steps do you take to analyze trends and find new opportunities?
• Describe how you balance pursuing new customers with retaining existing ones.
• How do you handle resistance or hesitation from potential clients?
• Describe a time when you lost a client or sale. Why did you lose it? What did you learn?
• What qualities do you think make someone a good salesperson?
• How has your background prepared you for sales?
• Have you ever had to sell a product you didn't believe in?
• What's the most satisfying deal you've achieved?
• Tell me what business intelligence tools or systems you've worked with.

To assess how a candidate will be a culture add to your organization, it's also useful incorporate common interview questions.