Case studies: Business development manager: Alan

Alan Cobham works as a business development manager for an IT software company, which provides software to the retail industry. He completed an international business studies degree at Sheffield Hallam University in 2006.

I supported myself through university with a bar job and had always enjoyed working in this type of environment. It helped me develop good people skills and good customer service skills, plus it was something I naturally enjoyed doing.

With these skills and a naturally competitive nature, after leaving university I got my first job in a sales role for an IT company, working in their call centre. After working there for some time and developing my skills further, I then applied for my current role as a business development manager.  I saw the position advertised on a graduate website and I think my degree in international business studies played a big part in getting an interview. The company’s head office is in America, so I think they liked the fact that my degree was international. That, along with my sales experience and enthusiasm for the industry, got me the job. 

I feel that my degree gave me a good foundation and understanding of how businesses work, so I already had an idea of what to expect when I started the job. My course also covered marketing, which has proved useful for promoting our products and writing the relevant literature. Another key aspect of the course was developing your presentation skills. This has been extremely useful, not just for doing presentations for clients, but also for giving confidence in the interviews.

My day to day activities vary and may range from cold calling and arranging meetings with potential clients to responding to tenders, preparing proposals and demos, and attending conferences and training events. 

The job has developed from when I first started as I now attend a lot of the meetings with potential clients rather than just set them up. I have also started to present some of the demos, which although a little nerve-wracking, is great for building your confidence and learning more about the products.

I really enjoy the variety that this jobs offers. You need to be able to juggle a few different tasks at once. Creating new business for the company is also rewarding. It’s really satisfying when I’ve secured a meeting with a potential client or helped to win a deal and you feel the hard work in getting to that point has paid off.

The less enjoyable part is the cold calling as it can get frustrating. At some points a lot of travelling is also required - going to conferences, client meetings in different parts of the country - and this can be very tiring.

For anyone wanting to enter this career, I would say that a business degree will definitely help. But having some sort of sales experience - even if it’s just working in a call centre - will also be useful. Make sure you know what is going on in the industry and be enthusiastic.