Top 12 Business Developer Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's job market, a Business Developer has to wear many hats: technical, strategic, human. A resume that shows a sharp mix of these skills—tuned to how the role actually operates—pulls you out of the pile and closer to the offer.
Business Developer Skills
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Market Research
- Lead Generation
- CRM Software
- Google Analytics
- Financial Modeling
- Project Management
- Negotiation
- Strategic Planning
- Microsoft Excel
1. Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud CRM platform that centralizes sales, service, marketing, and analytics so teams can manage pipelines, automate tasks, and keep customer data tidy and actionable.
Why It's Important
For Business Developers, Salesforce turns scattered leads and conversations into a single source of truth, speeds up prospecting through automation, and gives visibility into what closes—fuel for smarter strategy and faster revenue.
How to Improve Salesforce Skills
Make Salesforce work the way you sell, not the other way around.
Customization: Use Lightning to tailor objects, fields, page layouts, and validation rules. Build dashboards that mirror your funnel.
Integration: Connect email, calendars, quoting, and data sources. Consider MuleSoft or native connectors to keep context in one place.
Automation: Streamline routine work with Salesforce Flow. Lead routing, task creation, renewals—set them on rails.
Data hygiene: Standardize picklists, dedupe regularly, and enforce required fields so reports don’t lie.
Training: Level up through Trailhead and internal playbooks. Short, role-based modules stick.
Dial these in and Salesforce becomes a growth engine, not just a database.
How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume
2. HubSpot
HubSpot is an all-in-one platform for inbound marketing, sales, service, and CRM—built to attract leads, nurture them, and close the loop on revenue.
Why It's Important
It aligns marketing and sales on one canvas. You get cleaner handoffs, richer touchpoint data, and tighter conversion paths from first visit through deal won.
How to Improve HubSpot Skills
Automate lead scoring: Score behavior and fit. Prioritize what’s hot, park what’s not.
Personalize outreach: Tokens, sequences, and smart content lift replies and meetings.
Unify CRM data: Keep properties consistent across forms, ads, and sales stages—whether you use HubSpot CRM or sync to another.
Lean on analytics: Attribution, funnel reports, and cohort views sharpen which campaigns actually drive pipeline.
SEO and content: Topic clusters, on-page fixes, and content audits bring in intent-ready traffic.
Landing page testing: A/B test copy, offers, and forms to trim friction and raise conversions.
Social scheduling and listening: Post consistently, watch engagement, feed insights back into messaging.
Lifecycle nurturing: Build workflows that move leads from MQL to SQL with timely, relevant touchpoints.
How to Display HubSpot Skills on Your Resume
3. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s advanced prospecting tool—deep filters, lead recommendations, and account insights for precise outreach.
Why It's Important
It helps Business Developers find the right buyers faster, personalize messages with context, and track account shifts before competitors do.
How to Improve LinkedIn Sales Navigator Skills
Advanced search: Filter by seniority, headcount growth, tech stack signals, geography—build laser-focused lists.
Lead and account recommendations: Review often; refine by saving or dismissing to train the algorithm.
Insight-driven outreach: Reference job changes, funding news, or shared content to earn replies.
Save and tag: Organize by segments, plays, or regions to keep follow-ups disciplined.
InMail with intent: Short, specific, value-forward. One ask. Clear next step.
Ongoing learning: Practice social selling habits—comment thoughtfully, share POVs, build credibility.
How to Display LinkedIn Sales Navigator Skills on Your Resume
4. Market Research
Market research gathers and interprets data about customers, competitors, and trends so strategy isn’t guesswork—it’s grounded.
Why It's Important
It uncovers demand, reveals gaps, and de-risks bets, letting you choose markets and messages with sharper confidence.
How to Improve Market Research Skills
Define objectives: What decision will the research inform? Scope ruthlessly.
Mix methods: Pair interviews and surveys with secondary data from credible reports for a fuller picture.
Use the right tools: Visualization tools, survey platforms, and customer data pipelines help turn noise into signal.
Listen where your buyers gather: Forums, events, social threads—real words beat assumptions.
Competitor analysis: Track positioning, pricing, content strategy, and SEO footprints with tools like Semrush or Ahrefs.
Trend tracking: Watch Google Trends, analyst notes, and industry newsletters for early indicators.
Turn insights into action: Translate findings into ICP updates, value prop tweaks, and go-to-market tests.
How to Display Market Research Skills on Your Resume
5. Lead Generation
Lead generation means spotting and nurturing potential buyers until they’re ready to talk—and buy.
Why It's Important
No leads, no pipeline. Sustained, quality lead flow is the engine behind predictable growth.
How to Improve Lead Generation Skills
Social channels: Show expertise where your audience lives. Share insights, not fluff. Join relevant conversations.
Website optimization: SEO, fast pages, clear CTAs. Measure with GA4 and fix what stalls users.
Content that converts: Guides, calculators, case studies. Gate where it makes sense, not everywhere.
Email that segments: Target by industry, stage, behavior. Automate follow-ups, keep it human.
Events and communities: Webinars, roundtables, meetups—small, focused sessions beat generic broadcasts.
Referral loops: Make it easy to recommend you. Reward advocacy.
Paid campaigns: Tight audiences, tight messaging, relentless testing. Kill losers quickly.
How to Display Lead Generation Skills on Your Resume
6. CRM Software
CRM software centralizes customer and prospect data, tracks interactions, automates workflows, and powers reporting that sales and leadership actually use.
Why It's Important
For Business Developers, a CRM is the operating system: it keeps outreach organized, relationships warm, and forecasts believable.
How to Improve CRM Software Skills
Smoother UX: Clean layouts, fewer clicks, mobile-ready. If it’s clunky, it won’t get used.
Stronger analytics: Layer in predictive scoring and cohort views to spot patterns and timing.
Deep integrations: Sync email, calendars, chat, billing, and support so context follows the customer.
Flexible customization: Role-based dashboards, custom fields, and workflow builders that match your process.
Security and compliance: Enforce roles, audit trails, and data retention that meet regulations.
Training and enablement: Bite-sized guides, in-app help, and quick feedback loops keep adoption high.
How to Display CRM Software Skills on Your Resume
7. Google Analytics
Google Analytics (GA4) tracks how people find and use your site or app—fuel for improving acquisition, engagement, and conversion.
Why It's Important
It turns behavior into decisions. You see what drives qualified traffic, where users drop, and which changes actually move revenue.
How to Improve Google Analytics Skills
Set clear goals: Define conversions and key events that mirror your funnel. No vanity metrics.
Use Google Tag Manager: Centralize tags and deploy changes without code releases.
Segment audiences: Slice by channel, geography, behavior, and cohort to reveal what averages hide.
Ecommerce events (GA4): Implement view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase to map buying behavior.
Event design: Plan consistent naming and parameters so exploration and attribution stay clean.
Custom reporting: Build GA4 Explorations; pair with Looker Studio for executive-friendly views.
Training and certification: Keep current with GA4 changes and measurement frameworks.
Audit regularly: Validate tags, deduplicate events, confirm domains and filters after site changes.
How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume
8. Financial Modeling
Financial modeling builds structured spreadsheets (or tools) that forecast revenue, costs, cash flow, and returns—decision support with numbers.
Why It's Important
It clarifies upside, exposes risk, and anchors go/no-go calls in logic rather than hunches.
How to Improve Financial Modeling Skills
Excel mastery: Advanced formulas, dynamic arrays, scenario analysis, and macros—speed and accuracy matter.
Best practices: Clean layout, clear assumptions, transparent drivers, and error checks.
Market fluency: Track industry benchmarks, pricing dynamics, and cost curves so inputs make sense.
Specialized tools: For certain cases (real estate, FP&A), consider platforms like Argus or Adaptive.
Reps and feedback: Build models from case studies, seek critique, iterate until logic is airtight.
How to Display Financial Modeling Skills on Your Resume
9. Project Management
Project management plans, runs, and lands initiatives on time and budget—turning ideas into shipped outcomes.
Why It's Important
For Business Developers, it keeps cross-functional efforts aligned, risks surfaced early, and resources pointed at the right goals.
How to Improve Project Management Skills
Strategic alignment: Tie every project to a clear business objective and kill work that drifts.
Agile where it fits: Short cycles, frequent demos, quick course-corrects. Adapt as facts change.
Use the right tools: Asana, Trello, Monday.com—pick one, standardize it, and keep it clean.
Relentless communication: Cadences, decision logs, and single sources of truth beat chaos.
Stakeholder management: Map influence and expectations; set crisp updates and check-ins.
Retros and risk: Review what worked, track risks publicly, and assign owners.
How to Display Project Management Skills on Your Resume
10. Negotiation
Negotiation is the craft of trading value to reach durable agreements that move the business forward.
Why It's Important
It secures better terms, preserves margins, and builds partnerships that last beyond the first deal.
How to Improve Negotiation Skills
Preparation: Nail your objectives, walk-away points, and the other side’s pressures.
Communication: Ask open questions, listen hard, summarize often. Clarity calms tension.
Emotional intelligence: Regulate tone, read the room, and separate people from problems.
Option building: Create multiple paths to yes—price, scope, timing, extras.
Practice: Role-play, post-mortem past deals, and refine your playbook.
How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume
11. Strategic Planning
Strategic planning sets direction and allocates resources to win over the long haul. For Business Developers, it means spotting growth seams and mapping the plays to reach them.
Why It's Important
It aligns teams, prioritizes bets, and keeps execution tethered to outcomes—so momentum compounds.
How to Improve Strategic Planning Skills
Market insight: Keep a constant pulse on customer needs, competitors, and shifts that matter.
SWOT with teeth: Be honest about strengths and gaps; turn opportunities into specific initiatives.
Goal frameworks: Use SMART goals or OKRs to make ambitions measurable and trackable.
Actionable roadmaps: Owners, milestones, budgets, dependencies—no fuzzy edges.
Adaptation: Review quarterly. Cut or double down based on evidence, not sunk costs.
KPI discipline: A handful of lead and lag metrics beats a dashboard zoo.
Continuous learning: Post-implementation reviews keep the strategy muscle strong.
How to Display Strategic Planning Skills on Your Resume
12. Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is the workhorse for analysis, modeling, and reporting—fast to build in, powerful when mastered.
Why It's Important
It lets Business Developers quickly test scenarios, visualize trends, and make numbers tell a story stakeholders trust.
How to Improve Microsoft Excel Skills
Advanced formulas: INDEX/MATCH or XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, OFFSET, dynamic arrays—precision and speed.
Pivot mastery: Slice large datasets, build slick summaries, and drill where it counts.
Clear visuals: Choose the right chart, reduce clutter, highlight what matters.
Macros and VBA: Automate repetitive steps and standardize outputs.
Power tools: Power Query for cleaning and shaping data; Power Pivot for robust data models.
How to Display Microsoft Excel Skills on Your Resume
