Business Development Executive

​​Business Development Executive

A telesales executive is usually one of the first roles within a sales persons career this often starts in business to consumer (B2C) and once they have shown capability within this area you will look to move into a business to business (B2B) role.

Telesales can be broken down into several different sections the first 2 major different types are Inbound & Outbound

Outbound Telesales

These are key roles within an organisation and are often the very first part of any sales process (pipeline) through high outbound calling (telesales) the role is usually to contact prospects to either introduce your business, upsell more expensive products or services, renew existing contracts or cross sell different new products or services.

This is often a high turnover role and is not suited for everyone, however this is where nearly ever sales career starts. Through learning the fundamentals of outbound telesales you are able to set yourself up for a career within sales by knowing how to create new business opportunities and over come the fear of rejection.

Inbound sales

This is often less of a sales job and actually more of a customer service role but has adopted the sales title as you will have some targets around upselling, retaining and cross selling. If a client is calling in it usually means they are an existing customer who is looking to make a change, have a question or would like to stop using your service or product. Your role is firstly to listen and ask probing questions to fully understand what the reason for the call is. Once you feel you have a good understanding you are then in a position to look to retain, upsell and cross sell.

The 2 other main different types of positions within telesales is existing business often called Account Management or new business, the differences are:

Telesales - New business

For me one of the most vital positions within any company is new business Telesales as this is where all new business leads start, if you have a strong new business team that is constantly filling experienced Business Development Managers time with highly qualified leads you will have a healthy business. This role is however one of the hardest in sales as you will have to constantly face rejection on a daily basis as often you are working from either a list of data or companies you have researched using tools like LinkedIn to identify companies that would use your service/product. You will have to become adept at getting through receptionists, which will soon become known as gatekeepers and creating meaningful conversations with key decision within businesses. This can be a highly rewarding role both in terms of achievement but also in monetary terms as commission payments for entry level jobs can mean that you can earn in excess of the Sales Managers.

Telesales - Existing Business

Telesales Account Managers look after existing customers within a company. Customers are usually split up into account size by spend vale. This is usually the progression you will see within Account Management:

• Account Manager  

• Key Account Manager

• Major Accounts

• Account Director

As you learn your company’s products and prove that you are able to upsell cross sell and retain existing clients you will look to move up the scale and work with the largest clients your company deals with who are the lifeblood of your business and in turn becomes a vital role to any organisation.