Is business development in biotechnology a good career option?
Yes, you’ll have high salaries, enjoyable activities, and growth opportunities even without a dedicated degree.
Business development is a good career option as it comes with a diverse set of challenges and requires deep knowledge of technology along with management skills. But the real challenges lies in acquiring and nurturing the core Soft Skills to become a good BD Manager.
Bio-Businesses are flourishing worldwide enabling more and more business development (BD) professionals to join it as a career option. BD professionals work in international markets, helping their companies to grow by developing new customers and maintaining relationships with existing clients.
Understanding Business Development
People think Business Development is the same as sales; or more like marketing. And their are many, who say that BD has to do with relationship building; setting up sales channels – distributors, agents, licensing deals etc. etc. But in the reality, especially for the International Business Development in Biotechnology, BD Professional responsibilities lies much bigger and beyond this –
Scott Pollack (see Forbes: What exactly is Business Development? and What does a Biz Dev person actually do?) suggests a definition which nicely rolls up the many different views into one:
“Business Development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.
- Customers: Find new ones and extract more value from current ones.
- Markets: Figure out where new customers “live” (both geographically and in terms of “buying mindset“) and find a way to reach them.
- Relationships: Build and leverage relationships founded on trust and integrity to facilitate opportunities.”
Major Advantages of opting business development as a career
One key advantage is that one don’t need an official management degree, and with PhD or Masters degree in Biological Science with good Professional Soft Skills one can start career in BD.
To really start with, one need passion and deep interest towards the domain and also interested to continue to develop it as a long term career since Business Development is a long term career and the understanding grows with time.
International Business Development in Biotechnology offers tremendous growth and jumpstart, so if you are an effective communicator with good sense of curiosity, adaptability, and creativity, you can quickly excel in the domain work.
Above all BD is a high salary job, where skilled professionals can easily earn approx. $36,000 yearly at entry level jobs itself.
Another main advantage is that business development is never boring. Yes, there is uncertainty. But, don’t take that as a negative thing. If you’re adaptable, business development tasks are fun to do.
One day you may be doing cold outreach. The next day, you’re meeting with stakeholders. It’s a dynamic world of work that offers you the opportunity to learn.
Future of Business Development in Biotechnology
Bio-Businesses are flourishing worldwide, and for them to grow The future of business development looks very promising.
The fundamentals of business development are unlikely to change. That is relationship building and meeting customers’ needs.
What’s more likely to change are the tools that we use to connect with others.
Social media platforms play a very important role in forming strong relationships.
The next 10 to 20 years in business development will include better ways to connect with buyers.
Over 4 billion people use social media. They spend about 95 minutes per day on social media platforms. This trend will likely increase.
As a business developer, you can leverage this. You can use it to gain new customers and generate more revenue.
This also points out that technology is important in business development. You can use tools to automate your daily tasks. Automation is one of the major trends in business development for 2022.
So, most companies today are investing in emerging technologies.
Another important trend includes mobile optimization. Over half of emails are opened on mobile devices. The number is likely to increase.
These are some important facts to know about a business development career.
Does a career in business development sound attractive to you?
To launch your business development career, choose a personalized learning journey. This will teach you the skills and tips you need to succeed.
You can choose to take a university course. But, remember that personalized training is more specific. Also, it will help you stay competitive in your role.
So, join our personalized learning platform and become a business development professional!