Put in simple textbook terms, Business Development is the process of finding the match between a product (or solution) and a segment in the market. Sales is the process of systematically generating revenue with the product (solution) in the chosen market segment in the race for market leadership.
Unlike many other parallel discussions and definitions, I beg to differ that they are part of a chronological format of BD (generate leads), followed by sales (convert leads). Business Development is much more personalized, complementary service vis-a-vis sales.
In fact, one of the most counter-intuitive truths of marketing is that B2B is often far more personal than B2C. Selling to a business really means selling to the director of a part of the business, the CEO, other CXOs or a small business owner.
For high value B2B sales (to the tune of ~10,000 to a few millions, depending on the industry), the conversion cycle is relatively long and may include a large amount of interpersonal contact between the individual/team and the point of contact person at a particular company or the client.
This often comes as a surprise to new entrepreneurs, who often have more experience as a consumer than as a corporate buyer or seller.
B2C marketing and sales might feel personal, but it isn’t, because B2C communication is by nature a wide net, the marketing being more about archetypes and personas. Marketing might feel personal to the consumer, but really they are just in a big bucket with others similar to them. In this case, effective marketing is not about getting to know the individual well but rather gaining an awareness of clusters of people — how to group and sort people so they can be targeted en masse.
So, while B2B Sales (Business Development) include a decision making process that characteristically needs more than one individual signing off, B2C Sales is concerned about selling of products or solutions to one individual consumer, as a part of group of similar individuals
