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That’s a question that comes up a lot. I have faced it many times as have other BD folks I know. The most common answer that I have heard from people is that BD is “sales with a fancier title.” That is actually the case for some organizations but as a lot of people who have worked with BD folks and are BD folks themselves know BD can mean much more.

My post the other day elicited a reaction from Steve Shu where he pointed out the “definition issue” that BD faces. Steve even wrote a blog post about it back in October. Steve lists a number of business development definitions he has heard over the years and I have heard most of them as well. More importantly, Steve also shares his definition of Business Development:

The role of business development is to find new strategic opportunities for the company and start the company on the path to execute (incubation).

Steve’s definition is a good one. However, it also highlights why there are so many different ideas of what BD is and what BD people do. You can execute on Steve’s definition by partnering, generating new sales prospects, working on M&A, etc.  It strikes me that the best approach may be to design a broad framework to encompass Steve’s definition of BD while also including sub-frameworks that hit each “flavor” of BD including:

• Partnership development
• Strategic market development and sales
• Strategic marketing
• Mergers, acquisitions, and financing
• New business line exploration
• Channel sales
• New product development

Again, as I continue to flesh this out I would appreciate feedback from any practitioners out there that have something to add. Together I think we can create a very compelling framework for BD practitioners.