What does a business development manager do?
A business development manager, usually shortened to BDM or biz dev, owns the top of an agency's pipeline. They research the brands the agency should be working with, find the person who holds the budget, open the conversation, qualify the opportunity and shepherd it through pitches, proposals and procurement. On the way they keep a CRM, write the credentials deck, track the RFPs worth answering and the ones to decline, and keep the founders' calendar full of the right meetings.
The role sits between sales and strategy. A good BDM is not selling capacity; they are matching problems to a team that can solve them, and saying no to the ones it cannot. In smaller agencies the job is often held by the founder or a partner. In larger ones it is a dedicated person or a small team with targets.
Why it matters
Why a business development manager matters
Agencies are built on referrals, and referrals are lumpy. A studio can go a year on word of mouth and then watch three clients restructure in the same quarter. Business development turns luck into a system: a list of brands the agency wants, a reason to be in front of them and a cadence for staying there. It also protects the creative team from the pitches they should never have entered, which is where most agency margin quietly disappears.
In practice
How a business development manager works in practice
- 01
The BDM starts with a target list, built from the agency's best work: if the studio has won in luxury and sport, the list is houses and teams with a reason to move. They reach out with something worth reading, not a cold deck, and they get the first meeting. From there they qualify: budget, timing, who decides, what the real problem is. If it is a fit, they bring in the creative lead and build the pitch together.
- 02
After the pitch they run the close: the proposal, the scope, the contract, the procurement forms. Once the work is signed they hand over cleanly to an account lead or a producer and keep a light touch, because the next project with that client usually starts in a conversation the BDM stays part of.
At RIOT
Business development managers at RIOT
RIOT was founded by a creative director who is still in the pitch, so new business here is done by the person who will make the work. The best proof of that model is Coach, a relationship that has lasted more than a decade across campaigns, sizzle reels, Coachtopia and holiday films; the first job was won in a room, and every job since has been won by the last one. If you have a brief, send it to us and the person who reads it is the person who will answer.
Watch out
What people get wrong about business development managers
Hiring a salesperson and expecting them to sell creative work. Brands buy from people who understand the problem, and a BDM who cannot talk credibly about the work will only ever get the agency onto RFP lists. The other mistake is measuring them on meetings booked. The number that matters is work won at a margin the studio can live with, and a BDM who fills the calendar with poor fits is costing money, not making it.
