Has anyone here made a jump into business development from creative? I’m being considered for a position based on my industry experience and familiarity, but business dev is completely new to me.

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I’m a creative in BD and I have been for years. I love it. It lets you work on lots of different problems and everything has an end date, so no reworking the same ideas for 18 months.

As far as the kind of creative that would succeed in the role, I 100% agree with @CCO1 that you need a little account director in you. I also think you need a healthy measure of strategist because they’re actually going to be your most significant clients. Creatives won’t need you as much because they can do their work themselves, but the strategists don’t have a partner or many of the skills to bring their ideas to life on their own. But, you have to understand their ideas in order for you to be able to articulate them.

Here’s another thing that is important: don’t take this job if your prospective boss thinks the role of a creative on BD is just to make things look pretty or create templates. If that’s what they want, thank them for their time and leave, because you won’t have any real input and that’s a horrible place to be.

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A creative in biz dev can be a very dangerous player but it takes the right personality. Lots of soft skills. It’s all about cultivating and maximizing relationships on one hand, and organizing, strategizing and prospecting on the other. Leverage your creative problem solving abilities and don’t be a sales person. Treat the agency as your only client (with a tiny budget) and approach accordingly

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As strange as it may sound, you need a little account person in you. Being proactively thoughtful, helpful. When I started being a biz dev guy, I swear I’d never been so nice to clients in my life. The key is not to come off fake or sales-y. Potential clients don’t want to be sold or pushed. They want to be engaged and given useful information. Remember that and you’ll be fine.

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You will become keynote person. Never seen it happen successfully. Sorry. Just bring honest

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BD isn't for everyone. Some do it and love it, but a lot of people hate it. It's a different kind of stress with deadlines, pitches, closing deals, revenue forecasting, etc. I'm not a creative, but I'd recommend talking to someone you know or at your company in BD about all the good and bad before making the decision to switch. Best of luck to you!

This is outside of my company so I can’t really talk to anyone internally.

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