I’m trying to get a sense of how you all see the differences between sales and business development roles. My understanding is that sales spends most of their time calling on leads, and business development spends most of their time developing new leads. Is it that simple? I’m just curious about how you personally define and think about them, and what you think the main similarities or differences are.

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It’s different for every company and often there is some overlap.

In a nutshell, it’s about right. Definitely can vary a lot. The main difference I see is how the roles are valued. Sales usually make more because they are directly tied to bringing in the money.

Your breakdown is close. In a lot of places BD = earlier in the funnel (prospecting, partnerships, opening doors) and Sales = progressing and closing deals. But titles are messy—sometimes “BD” is literally just an SDR title with extra shine.

I think the lines do blur.

OP, how’s it going?

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