A Marketer, Salesperson, or Business Developer – Which One Do You Need? By Ed Mayuga

If your small business is successful, eventually you may want to expand to service more clients, offer more products, or open new locations.  But expansion cannot occur unless there are revenues and cash flow to support the operations.  In order to build clientele and make a sale, a business will need a combination of marketing and sales, which are two different disciplines altogether.  All too often, I see business owners making the mistake of trying to hire one person to do two jobs, and this meets with failure.
 
I often encounter small business owners who are confused by the difference among these positions and use these titles interchangeably when posting an ad for a new hire.  My professional experience in all three roles, plus my experience as an executive search consultant, has taught me that it is very important to clarify the roles and responsibilities of what business owners would like for these positions to accomplish, leading to less frustration down the road. 

When I begin a discussion with a business owner who feels that she needs to hire a salesperson to sell her product or service, my initial questions are:
• “How does this person fit into your business plan?”
• “What do you want this person to accomplish?”
• “How are you going to generate leads for this salesperson?”

Usually, this results in some confusion for the business owner, and she might say “My product or service sells itself!” or “I want a person who does marketing and sales.”

I then go on to define the different roles of a marketer versus a salesperson.  Often, the business owner has been the company’s only marketer and only salesperson, and is looking for a person that shares that same enthusiasm for her business as she does.  The problem with this approach is that it is rare to find someone who will be just as enthusiastic as you are and that person would need to quickly have an idea of how to market and sell the product or service right off the bat. 

What is required is to clarify the roles of a marketer, a sales person, and a business developer:
•A marketer – Marketing is reaching and persuading a prospective client and giving them a call to action to pick up the phone or contact you to set up an appointment.  It may involve website development, public relations, social media marketing, and search engine optimization.
•A salesperson – Closes the sale once they are in front of the prospect. They also may perform some customer service functions as well to maintain the client base and look for opportunities to cross sell other products or services. 
•A business developer – A strategic sales position, that incorporates marketing, lead generation and sales.  Often, a business developer is a sales and marketing manager that has salespeople and marketers reporting to the position, and may have little direct client interaction.  With a small sales and marketing budget, it may be difficult to hire this type of person.

Sometimes it is easier for a company to outsource its marketing function and use consultants, graphic designers, public relations firms, to create marketing pieces to help the internal sales person close sales.  As the sales person matures in her jobs, she can begin to take on the role of a business developer and work with the outsourced marketing firms, eventually creating an internal marketing position.  With all three roles, it is very important to have a clearly written position description as well as metrics to measure success.

Thank you for reading the It's Your Biz Small Business Blog