My initial reaction when asked to write this blog was easy, “let’s just write about golf”- I play the game, I love it and can bore anyone to death talking about it. Fortunately for you all I have changed my mind.

Since joining VMA GROUP as Business Development Manager all of our internal practices have spoken about the importance of business development and how vital it is to our company. Coming from a sales background I have always been intrigued by the fact that no one at VMA GROUP says “I must make a few sales calls” but that they develop business. This got me thinking what is the difference between sales and business development or is simply that business development is a new term for sales.

These are the descriptions I have found:

Sales
Sales people have a product or service they are looking to sell and a target they are trying to hit. They are primarily focused on selling and hitting that target. Some business development skills are required to sustain the sales but their goal fundamentally is to deliver the numbers.

Business development
The job of the business development professional is typically to identify new business opportunities. Whether that means new markets, new partnerships with other businesses, new ways to reach existing markets, or new product or service offerings to better meet the needs of existing markets-and then to go out and expand those opportunities to bring in more revenue.

When I am asked what I do for a living my reply is “I am a Business Development Manager”, I am still surprised by