The forging of a top gun BDM

High performance business development managers (BDMs) have a consistent focus on obtaining deliverables in terms of capturing new business and building long-term sustainable business partnerships. Their approach is a potent mix of art and science in that they are able to home in on business opportunities through a combination of market knowledge and an instinctive feel for the strategic viability of each opportunity.

According to Wayne Kedward, principal of Pioneer Business Services, a company that works with organisations to assess and improve BDM performance through training and mentoring, high performance BDMs “consistently apply a disciplined business focus that puts them at the front of their industry peers. It is in the consistency of application, service, support and drawing on their knowledge of the market that identifies them as the most successful and sought after BDMs”.

Kedward singles out BDMs who are not lone wolves, but are willing to listen to more senior sales managers and to share their knowledge with others in their team.

“Competence is more often than not demonstrated in their willingness to openly communicate ideas to others in the team and draw on their ideas, giving credit where it is due,” Kedward says.

“These BDMs are confident in themselves and their abilities — they know that there is always something you can learn from others and that it pays to work within the team to get the requisite results.”

It is not hard to recognise a professional BDM. They invariably exude confidence, are effective communicators, always deliver on what is promised and only work for organisations with a value proposition that is commercially viable in the market. However, there are exceptions to the rule where a second-tier organisation is attempting to leverage itself up a notch and hires a high performance BDM to effectively position itself in the market.

Mentoring and training BDMs

Until relatively recently it has been left to national sales and state managers to mentor and train their teams and this has been often carried out in an ad hoc manner.

New BDMs with little experience have traditionally been mentored by senior managers or a more experienced peer in the team, or alternatively have been literally thrown in the deep end and left to fend for themselves.

The old school sales managers employed the Darwinian approach and the fittest survived and thrived, while the rest were exited or left to struggle and finally left the organisation in frustration.

This is particularly true of BDMs who have come from non-sales backgrounds within the organisation. Having achieved success in perhaps an administrative or service area of the company they are ‘rewarded’ with a promotion to BDM.

It is important, however, for everyone, particularly the new BDM, to know that results are crucial to success and that BDMs who do not deliver will not survive.

It is therefore the responsibility of the organisation to ensure they provide the most thorough training, mentoring and support to their BDM teams to achieve results and success.

In the ’80s and ’90s, sales managers who understood the real benefits of putting in place carefully thought out mentoring and training programs established very strong teams that had a strong strategic business focus.

One of these managers, who led a standout BDM team at Rothschild, was John Tuxworth. Now with his team at PeopleFirst, Tuxworth works with distribution teams to get their strategic focus right and an understanding of the culture, and then addresses the key drivers of peak performance. These drivers include those that motivate BDMs to achieve superior performance, the critical elements in getting consistent performance outcomes.

“Sales managers need to understand the psychology of BDMs to ensure that the investment in the team is realised. It is no use recruiting BDMs and not investing time and resources in developing them to peak performance and putting in place programs to maintain that performance,” Tuxworth says.

Training of BDMs is an ongoing commitment and one not taken lightly by senior sales managers. The work of consultants such as Kedward and Tuxworth is increasingly perceived as adding considerable value, particularly given the industry experience they and their teams bring to the table.

Mentoring of BDMs is also an issue that has often been handled in an ad hoc manner, with senior BDMs being assigned the task of teaching junior BDMs the ropes. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency for BDMs to approach the mentoring process as a ‘just watch what I do and you’ll catch on’ exercise rather than a planned range of activities from which the understudy can garner long-term benefit.

BDMs as an investment resource

Wayne Kedward says senior sales managers are recognising that BDMs are a capital investment and are looking at the costs associated with employing them.

“The costs associated with hiring and remuneration are significant and if you look at BDMs as an investment then you want to employ the best to get a commercial return from the team,” Kedward says.

“To ensure that there is a business focus you need to ensure you can actually measure performance in a quantifiable context. However, measurement should not be limited to analysing numbers but should extend to qualitative issues such as competencies and behavioural traits.”

Charles Smith, executive director distribution atING, has worked to engender a professional sales culture within his division.

“We have always treated our BDMs as a critical investment in our business and we understand the importance of providing skilled mentors and tailored training for our people. I am acutely aware that high performing BDMs are in demand. We recognise the importance of creating a culture that transcends monetary recognition to retain these people. This includes building a strong team focus, identifying and implementing areas of development and providing attractive career paths.”

Education

The move to a qualifications-based culture within the industry has been reflected in BDMs not only completing tertiary business degrees, but undertaking additional Diploma of Financial Planning (DFP) units than those required for PS 146 compliance.

While leading financial services organisations may not see completion of the DFP as key for a BDM, it is looked upon positively by senior sales managers.

Dale Holmes, head of distribution atMLC, reinforces this view.

“A qualification such as the Diploma of Financial Planning is relevant as it brings the BDM closer to understanding the disciplines involved in financial planning. However, we recognise that while the DFP provides technical financial planning knowledge, there are critical areas of business management that BDMs need to understand and business degree courses, such as an MBA, would be of relevance, in addition to a range of small business courses and the training provided by consulting groups such as SCAT.”

The new generation of BDMs

The high performing BDMs of the future will further evolve, honing their skills to the next level where they will become more sophisticated in their approach to building sustainable business partnerships, with training and mentoring programs playing an even more significant role in addressing the needs of the BDM. The new generation of professional senior sales managers will come from the ranks of those BDMs who have only known sales cultures that engender professional standards and engage the BDMs in their own self-development.

Kedward believes those organisations that don’t treat their people as a capital investment and fail to put in place relevant competency-based training programs will struggle to maintain their market position.

“We will see a greater emphasis on people management in a broader business context. The development of high performance BDMs will be critical to the success of the organisation. Smart companies will focus on this issue and will commit the requisite resources and those that don’t will get left behind.”

There is, of course, a ‘downside’ to having a team of high performing, competent and well-educated BDMs in that they become the target of headhunting competitors. While this may be seen as positive endorsement of the team an organisation has built and developed, it is dangerous not to put in place measures to retain your star performers.

Peter Dawson is executive director ofFinancial Recruitment Group .