How to be a good Business Developer in AdTech: the keys

In addition to Account Manager positions, the Business Developer or Sales role is one of the most popular in the AdTech industry. Their mission is to reach new businesses and clients (both publishers and demand partners), contact them, and manage to sign new contracts that will ensure the economic success of their companies. 

It is not an easy job and requires a wealth of experience, but at companies like Tappx, you can start from the bottom in a Junior Sales role and work your way up to reach the best of your ability after some time, learning, and training. 

However, to be a good Business Developer, you must have certain soft and hard skills. Let’s take a look at them in this article starting with the day-to-day tasks of this challenging role. 

The day-to-day duties of a Business Developer 

As a Publisher Business or Sales Developer in AdTech, you will: 

• Prospect, contact, and onboard new publishers and new partners: this includes all the legal bureaucracy and the tech integrations needed with the SSP to start working together
• Analyze data that helps you identify new opportunities, make decisions, and optimize results
• Identify new market trends and relevant tools to be adopted
• Achieve delegated sales objectives 
• Establish close relationships with new partners
• Work with the technical team and other departments to optimize performance results
• Prepare activities reports (results, plans, and market trends)
• Attend occasional national or international events (client meetings, trade fairs, and developer events) and do online networking through LinkedIn

To carry out all of these tasks properly, you will need to develop some hard skills after working in the industry for some years. However, experience comes with time, the starting point is the following soft skills. 

Fluency in English is a must in an industry which is as international as AdTech. Other languages are a bonus.

Soft skills needed to be an AdTech Sales Developer

As you will have to find out new business, you need to be inquisitive and be able to research, read, and keep an eye on everything that could be a potential opportunity for your company. 

You should also need to be good with networking and have excellent communication and commercial skills to contact and build long-lasting relationships with new clients. 

You will also need an analytical mind and a goal-oriented approach in everything you do. A can-do attitude and problem-solving skills are also keys to success as a Business Developer in AdTech. And last but not least, you need to be flexible and adaptable to a changing environment, clients with evolving objectives, and a constantly innovating market. 

Above all, your attitude, organization, and motivation to learn and improve will be 70% of your personal success as a Sales Developer in AdTech.

The essential hard skills every Publisher Business Developer needs

As we mention at the beginning of this article, at Tappx we have a Pre-Sales program for those who are too young or don’t have enough experience yet in the AdTech industry to be a senior Business Developer. If this is your situation, you can start working with us in a Junior Sales or Pre-Sales role. Having the soft skills we mentioned above, plus a good attitude and motivation to learn, we will help you with the hard skills and broad knowledge required to make the jump to a Business Developer position. 

Hard skills include:

1. Strong understanding of programmatic and AdTech environment preferably: it is important to have an in-depth knowledge of the market to understand our clients’ needs and clearly see how we can help them as soon as possible.
2. Excellent negotiation, communication, and presentation skills: you will have to reach new clients, listen to their needs, and explain how we can help them. The first impression is the most important.
3. Goal orientation: having your challenges clear and working to achieve them is a key part of your job.
4. Proven track record of driving growth through KPI optimization: this is the only way to measure your work and be sure you are doing a great job.
5. Strong analytical skills: to find the best approach to each kind of client and the best moment to contact them.
6. Time management and being well-organized: to make the most of your time, iterate between tasks, and not get stuck.
7. Good level of Spreadsheets and CRM Tools: as they will be part of your day-to-day tasks. 

Having at least 2 years of experience in the AdTech industry will also be extremely valuable for this position, especially when it comes to dealing with the most important publishers and being more comfortable at networking events. If you already know some partners from the industry or have interesting contacts on LinkedIn, for example, it will be much easier for you to be in the right place at the right moment and close good contracts.

So, what do you think? Do you meet these requirements and want to work as a Business Developer with us? Take a look at the job opportunities we have open at the moment and apply for the one that best fits your profile. If you don’t find your vacancy open at this moment, you can also send us your CV to people@tappx.com. 

Remember that we have a special Pre-Sales program for those who are starting out in the industry and want to become senior Sales or Business Developers. This can be a good opportunity if you don’t have enough experience yet but are motivated and eager to learn.