Business Development Manager Interview Questions

Man in blue suit and glasses working on a laptop in a modern office.

To be a successful Business Development Manager, you need to be able to build solid relationships and negotiate deals. While demonstrating experience in a sales role is a good way to get your foot in the door, how you present yourself at the interview is absolutely crucial.

With so much of the job riding on your ability to get on with people and handle yourself in tough situations, the interview is the most important part of the hiring process for a Business Development Manager role.

What is the role of a Business Development Manager?

A Business Development Manager role can be referred to under various titles like Business Development Executive, Business Development Director, Sales Manager or even Account Manager. And while the titles vary, the core duties of the role remain the same.

As a Business Development Manager, you are primarily a salesperson. Your job is to conduct market research, map out potential clients, create new business opportunities and build strong relationships and partnerships with new clients as well as existing ones.

Depending on the seniority of the role, you may also be in a manager position where you are required to motivate, coach and monitor the progress of other team members.

What skills will the hiring manager be looking for?

There are no essential qualifications for a business development role. Of course, this depends on the field or industry in question. For example, if you were applying for a job as a Business Development Manager for a medical or pharmaceutical company, they may expect you to have qualifications that reflect a thorough understanding of the field.

Broadly speaking, however, the role of a Business Development Manager requires soft skills which can either be inherent or learnt on the job. Your primary function is to find new business, build relationships and close deals, so your ability to connect with a prospective client and use sales techniques to seal the deal is of far more interest to the interviewer than the highlights of your resume.

Some of the skills and attributes the interviewer will be on the lookout for include:

Communication skills (particularly listening skills)

Problem-solving abilities

Persuasion and sales skills

Self-awareness

Time management skills

Organisational skills

Calmness under pressure

Teamwork is also an extremely important part of a BDM role. Although you may be working on your own a lot of the time, your ability to communicate with the wider business and identify opportunities for collaboration across new markets is key. The hiring manager will therefore be on the lookout for signs that you are a good team player as well as a strong salesperson capable of closing deals.

Business Development Manager interview questions

The business development interview questions used by the hiring manager will be designed to see if you can think on your feet. Some may be common interview questions you’ve heard many times before whereas others will be designed to catch you off-guard.

Here are a few examples of interview questions for BDM.

Have you ever failed to close a deal with a prospective client?

This is a great opportunity to demonstrate self awareness as well as your ability to turn a weakness into an opportunity. When answering this question, don’t be afraid to admit when you have failed. Instead, use it as an opportunity to focus on what you learnt from the experience and how you will use this to your advantage in future.

Do you see yourself being able to sell our product?

Here is your time to show that you’ve done your research as part of your interview preparation. Highlight the features and benefits of their product as well as what areas of the market you think they could target. This is an opportunity to show them exactly how you would sell their product to prospective clients.

What are your three main sales techniques?

Be careful not to just rattle off generic sales tactics here. You want to strike the balance between demonstrating that you understand how sales works, and showing how you work within sales.

As a salesperson, your personality is your greatest asset. So while knowing the top techniques is important, you also need to be able to demonstrate what works for you. What do clients like about you? How do you turn a no into a yes?

Role play interview questions

Role play is a great way for the interviewer to see how you perform under pressure. It’s also the closest they can get to seeing you interact with a client prior to actually hiring you.

The key to impressing the interviewer in a role play scenario is listening. The interviewer will have chosen a certain scenario in order to test certain skills and abilities, and as such they will be dropping hints along the way. Stay calm, really listen to what they are saying and apply your sales skills to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion.