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Business Development Manager

​A business development manager (BDM) is the person in charge of generating new business for a company. Essentially a sales professional, a BDM’s day-to-day role involves pitching the business to potential new partners, managing client relations, and being the key contact for partnerships. A BDM is usually adept at seeking new business collaboration opportunities, and there can be multiple BDMs within a single company.

What Does a Day in the Life of a Business Development Manager Look Like?

Depending on the company, a BDM’s key responsibilities can vary widely. BDMs often participate in plenty of meetings, which could be organized around pitching the company to new partnerships, researching new partners, or liaising with existing collaborations. When working remotely, a BDM’s role will rely heavily on phone calls and video conferences. Exploring new collaboration opportunities involves a lot of research, making this one of the more independent aspects of the role. A BDM’s other tasks are typically more dynamic and socially oriented, involving a lot of speaking to both partners and clients.

What Responsibilities Does a Business Development Manager Have?

The main responsibilities of business development managers involve liaising with existing partners and securing new partnerships to maintain business flow. BDM’s explore multiple sources of business in order to maintain a wide range of opportunities. One of the key aspects of a BDM role is the ability to maintain strong relationships. This involves keeping partners motivated, happy, and incentivized. Finding the right partners is paramount, as a BDM needs to ensure their products are being shown to the right kind of clients.

What Qualifications Do You Need to Be a Business Development Manager? 

While there are no formal qualifications required to be a BDM, industry-specific experience can give you a leg up. University graduates may struggle to jump straight into a BDM role and may benefit from starting at the ground level to prepare for the more challenging aspects of the job. Certain personal skills, such as presentation skills, attention to detail, and communication skills, will help a lot. Additionally, proficiency in programs like Word and Excel will always be a benefit.

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Business Development Manager?

Communication is the most important skill for a BDM role, as BDMs are constantly communicating with partners, clients, and new contacts. It is also important to have good interpersonal skills and be adept at presenting and pitching. Attention to detail is also crucial, especially when juggling multiple client relationships. A personal touch goes a long way for a BDM, as being personable and transparent in your communication is a great way of gaining trust and building confidence. Replying to contacts promptly, following up on new contacts, and keeping in touch with your existing network are all fundamental as well.

What Does a Business Development Manager Earn?

Depending on the company, some BDM roles will pay a salary plus a commission based on certain targets. In companies like MT-finance, the BDM team works together to meet specific targets every month.

​Ely (/ˈiːli/ (About this soundlisten) EE-lee) is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, about 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles (129 km) by road from London. Æthelthryth (also known as Etheldreda) founded an abbey at Ely in 673; the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders and was rebuilt by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in 970. Construction of the cathedral was started in 1083 by a Norman abbot, Simeon. Alan of Walsingham's octagon, built over Ely's nave crossing between 1322 and 1328, is the "greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral", according to architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner. Building continued until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation. The cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott. As the seat of a diocese, Ely has long been considered a city; in 1974, city status was granted by royal charter.

Ely is built on a 23-square-mile (60 km2) Kimmeridge Clay island which, at 85 feet (26 m), is the highest land in the Fens. Major rivers including the Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse feed into the Fens and, until draining commenced in the 17th century, formed freshwater marshes and meres within which peat was laid down. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the city: a former Kimmeridge Clay quarry, and one of the United Kingdom's best remaining examples of medieval ridge and furrow agriculture.

The economy of the region is mainly agricultural. Before the Fens were drained, the harvesting of osier (willow) and sedge (rush) and the extraction of peat were important activities, as were eel fishing—from which the settlement's name may have been derived—and wildfowling. The city had been the centre of local pottery production for more than 700 years, including pottery known as Babylon ware. A Roman road, Akeman Street, passes through the city; the southern end is at Ermine Street near Wimpole and its northern end is at Brancaster. Little direct evidence of Roman occupation in Ely exists, although there are nearby Roman settlements such as those at Little Thetford and Stretham. A coach route, known to have existed in 1753 between Ely and Cambridge, was improved in 1769 as a turnpike (toll road). The present-day A10 closely follows this route; a southwestern bypass of the city was built in 1986. Ely railway station, built in 1845, is on the Fen Line and is now a railway hub, with lines north to King's Lynn, northwest to Peterborough, east to Norwich, southeast to Ipswich and south to Cambridge and London.

The King's School is a coeducational boarding school which was granted a royal charter in 1541 by Henry VIII; the school claims to have existed since 970. Henry I granted the first annual Fair, Saint Audrey's (or Etheldreda's) seven-day event, to the abbot and convent on 10 October 1189; the word "tawdry" originates from cheap lace sold at this fair. Present-day annual events include the Eel Festival in May, established in 2004, and a fireworks display in Ely Park, first staged in 1974. The city of Ely has been twinned with Denmark's oldest town, Ribe, since 1956. Ely City Football Club was formed in 1885.

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