Business development managers help businesses grow - by increasing sales growth in current markets and penetrating into new markets - by managing existing clients and by acquisition of new clients.

Business development managers maintains and builds relationships with existing and prospective clients, performs market analysis, generates and follow-up on leads, team up with sales teams and helps close deals.

Success Traits - Business development managers require good interpersonal and communication skills, client relationship and management skills, leadership skills, negotiation skills, persuasion skills, organization and strategy skills. etc.

Interview - Interview questions for a Business Development Manager can be categorized into two categories - The first

Tell me about yourself?

By asking this question, the interviewer wants to see if you have the passion, skill set and experience required to be a Business Development Manager.

Best way to answer this question is to briefly talk about yourself, your education, and your experience such that the key success traits - leadership, communication skills, account management, strategy, and time management skills are demonstrated.

Example - 'I have a master's degree in business administration from XYZ university (shows that you have relevant qualification). I have five years of experience as a business development manager, including last four years for companies XYZ and ABC where I was responsible for managing and leading some of their key strategic accounts. (shows that you have relevant experience). I have extensive experience in business development, planning and strategy - in expanding businesses to current and new market areas. (Shows that you are passionate about business development). During my years as a business development manager I have overseen multiple high-profile accounts, build relationships with existing and new partners, grew our business in existing markets and penetrated into new markets. (shows your leadership and other success traits required for this job).'

Tell me about your leadership skills?

You need leadership skills to be a successful business development manager. You may lead a team, or may not, but it takes leadership skills to grow a business, plan and strategize, penetrate new markets, and close deals.

Some of the key leadership skills required for a business development manager are - vision, communication, interpersonal, negotiation, persuasion. Mention some of these skills in your answer.

What are your key strengths? What are your key weaknesses?

Strengths - Some of the key success traits required to be a successful business development manager are - communication skills, interpersonal skills, analytical skills, negotiation skills, persuasion skills, persistence, etc. Mention some of these in your answer, and make sure that you can back it up with concrete and measurable results from your previous jobs.

Weaknesses - Yes, you would certainly like to answer 'I do not have any weaknesses', but that is now what the interviewer is expecting, so be prepared to list out some weaknesses. The trick is to put a positive spin on these weaknesses.

First - do not mention any of the key success traits required for this job as one of your weakness. For example, do not say 'persuasion is my weakness' or 'closing deals is my weakness'

Second - specify a trait that is not very critical for this job and put a positive spin on it.

Describe a time when you had a conflict with a team member or client?

By asking this question, the interviewer wants to assess your conflict management skills.

You will have conflicting situations in any job. As a Business development Manager you may have conflicts with - your boss, your peers, you subordinates, your sales team, or even with a client.

There are 5 key success traits that are important for conflict management skills - communication, listening, patience, emotional intelligence, and empathy. Use one or more of these traits in crafting your answer.

Answer the question in STAR format. STAR is a methodology for answering behavioral interview questions and is an acronym for 'Situation, Task, Action, Result'. You can read more about the STAR methodology here - STAR Method

You can read more about conflict management interview questions here - Conflict Management Interview Questions

Describe a time when there was a delay in delivery to the client?

Describe what strategic approach you would take to expand our business in current and new markets?

How do you foresee the market for our product and industry in the next 5 years?

Describe the biggest deal that you have closed?

How do you generate leads, contact prospects, and build relationships?

Describe the biggest account that you have lost, how did you overcome the loss?