Posted by CV Nation on
If you’re looking to ace your business development manager job interview, you’ll need to get familiar with the most common interview questions and prepare your answers.
In this guide, we list the 20 most common business development manager job interview questions and provide example answers.
Use our job interview tips and example answers to prepare your own answers and give yourself a stronger chance of succeeding with your job interview.
This question is designed to kickstart the interview and enable recruiters to learn a bit about your background. While giving the interviewer insight into your background, try to frame your answer in a way that indicates you’re a perfect candidate for the job.
Focus on your career as a business development manager, rather than your personal life. This might involve talking about on your current job, your previous business development experiences and your passion for business development.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘I have worked in business development management for over 10 years. I first got into business development because building relationships and working with clients was what I was good at. Since landing my first role in business development, I have gone on to close numerous deals worth more than ten-million dollars.’
Interviewers ask this question to see if you are aligned with their company’s culture and values. This question also shows them if you’ve done your research.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘I want to work for Example Company because I am excited about the opportunities for professional growth and promotion. Throughout my career, I have always taken steps to improve my capabilities, and it would be great to work for a company that rewards that with promotion.
I am also an admirer of the work your company is doing with green energy. I’m an advocate of green energy and positive climate initiatives. As such, I feel that I share Example Company’s passion on this issue.’
This question is all about finding out if you understand the business development process and have the skills to close deals.
When answering this question, showcase your relationship building skills. Show how you nurture relationships to develop new business.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘I transform leads into new business by building genuine, robust relationships with prospects. Through my relationship building skills, I have been successful in developing hundreds of life-long, profitable connections. In my previous role, my relationship building skills were key in securing over 25 deals worth over two-million pounds.’
If you don’t have a strong knowledge of the company’s products or services, you won’t be very effective at selling them. Interviewers want to know that you’re aware of their products or services and the value they offer customers.
Do some research prior to your job interview. Find out about the company’s products or services to ensure you’ll be able to answer this question.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘Example Company provides digital marketing services to businesses in the UK and across the world. These services help companies to realise their growth ambitions and improve their bottom line. SEO, social media marketing, paid marketing and content marketing are all aspects of Example Company’s offering.’
Business development managers should be able to obtain valuable insights from data. Interviewers want to know that you can analyse data and use it to drive decision-making.
Here is an example answer to this question:
'I use data and analytics to improv decision-making and assess future trends, including risks and opportunities. While employed in my last role, I used data and analytics to support the launch of a new product. By studying data, I found that our customers preferred a membership model, as opposed to a one-time payment. We decided to change the product to a recurring payment model, which, as well as improving client satisfaction, generated a good deal more revenue for the business.’
As a business development manager, you are probably familiar with prospects trying to avoid you. Interviewers want to know that you can deal with this in the most appropriate manner to ensure you don’t miss out on sales.
When answering this question, touch on the techniques you use to ensure leads don't slip away.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘When I feel a prospect is avoiding me, I stop using sales techniques and start trying to help them solve problems. By helping prospects to solve their problems, they are much more likely to trust me and believe in the solutions I am offering.
When prospects are avoiding me, I will also ask close-ended questions, such as ‘would it be OK if I call you once per week to discuss how you’re progressing with your SEO?’’ By asking close-ended questions such as this one, prospects will usually reply positively.’
As a business development manager, a large part of your job involves obtaining new business. But you also need to maintain relationships with existing clients.
Interviewers ask this question to determine if you’re capable of juggling new business and existing clients. They want to see if you’re capable of ensuring neither is neglected.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘I ensure I equally balance my time between chasing new business and managing relationships with existing clients by using software and systems to plan my day and schedule my activities. This helps me balance my time and ensure I am not neglecting new business and existing relationships in any way.’
When asking this question, interviewers are looking for evidence that you can take accountability and learn from your failings. The key to answering this question is to show how you have used the experience to improve as a business development manager.
Use the STAR methodology to answer questions such as this one. STAR stands for situation, task, action, result. When using this method, you start by describing the situation, followed by the task, the action you took and the end result.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘When I was employed as business development manager at Example Company, I was attempting to close a deal worth over fifty-thousand pounds with a key client. The client eventually went with another company and I failed to close the deal. After assessing my actions during the sales process, I determined that I could have done more to build a genuine relationship with the client. Ever since this experience, I have always gone the extra mile to build stronger, genuine client relationships.’
Interviewers ask this question to gain insight into your long-term goals and see if you intend to stay with the company long-term.
If you don’t intend to stay with the company long-term, it would be a good idea to avoid mentioning so at this stage. Instead, focusing on how intend to develop and grow as a business development manager.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘In five years, I hope to have progressed to more senior roles within Example Company. One of the reasons I want to work for Example Company is the opportunities for growth and internal promotion. As such, I would hope that my work ethic and sales performance would be rewarded with promotion to more senior roles.’
Interviewers ask this question to see if you have the self-awareness to identify your weaknesses and improve on them.
When answering this question, avoid describing weaknesses that would prevent you from performing your job as a business development manager. For example, you wouldn’t be wise to describe relationship building as a weakness.
Here is an example answer to this question:
‘I am not very good at public speaking and communicating with large audiences. While this has not negatively impacted my job as a business development manager, it has made me very uncomfortable when speaking at conferences and events. In order to combat this weakness, I have joined a public speaking club and practised techniques to improve my confidence.’
View our guide to answering job interview questions about weaknesses, which includes 12 example weaknesses.
Interviewers may ask about your salary expectations. They ask this question to see if your salary expectations match their own.
Rather than giving a specific number, consider giving a range. For example, you could give a salary range of between thirty-five-thousand pounds and forty-five-thousand pounds. This will give you room for negotiation later if you feel you need it.
Interviewers usually ask if you have any questions for them at the end of interviews. This is a chance for you to gain insight into the job.
Always ask at least one question to show you are enthusiastic and actually care about the position.
Questions that you could ask the interviewer include:
- What do people enjoy most about working at your company?
- Could you tell me about the opportunities for professional growth at your company?
- What career paths do you see for people who are employed in this role?
