Both sell, but they do not sell the same revenue. A Business Developer goes after revenue that does not exist yet: a segment you do not cover, a country where you have no references, an offer nobody has bought so far. A traditional sales representative grows revenue that already has an address: an established product range, a territory, a portfolio, enquiries that come in.
For an employer, that difference has very practical consequences: how long before the first result, which profile to look for, how to structure the package and, in Belgium, even which employment status applies. This guide works through each one and complements our page on Business Developer recruitment.
In short
- A Business Developer opens: new customers, new segments, new channels. A sales representative develops and converts business on an offer and a market that are already established.
- A Business Developer’s first revenue arrives after at least one full sales cycle. Judging them on revenue from the first quarter is a reliable way to lose them.
- The profiles differ: tolerance for uncertainty and the ability to build from scratch on one side; consistency, disciplined follow-up and command of the offer on the other.
- A Business Developer’s package has to reflect the slow start: a stronger base salary and milestone-based variable pay in year one.
- Under Belgian law, commercial representative status depends on the actual work (prospecting and visiting customers), not on the job title.
Two sales jobs, two starting points
The traditional sales representative, whether field sales, inside sales or account manager, works on mapped ground. The offer is known, the pitch has been refined, the brand opens doors and marketing feeds part of the diary. They prospect too, but where the company already has customers and references. Their value lies in turning that potential into orders, month after month.
The Business Developer starts from a much blanker page. They have to find out who to sell to before selling, test a message nobody has validated, understand why prospects say no and feed that intelligence back to management or product. Depending on the company, the remit covers end customers, distributors or partnerships, and a high failure rate is part of the job. Our Business Developer job description sets out the day-to-day tasks.
Job titles say very little. In Belgium, it is not unusual for a vacancy headed “Business Developer” to describe a field sales role on an existing territory, or for a “sales representative” vacancy to ask the hire to open a region where the company has no customers at all. So before talking about profiles, describe the remit. If your question is really about managing strategic customers, we compare the Business Developer with the Key Account Manager in a separate article: Key Account Manager or Business Developer: who does what?
Business Developer vs sales representative at a glance
Here are the differences that matter when you write a brief. One role can combine both columns, provided you say so.
| Criterion | Business Developer | Sales representative |
|---|---|---|
| Remit | Create new revenue: segment, country, channel, offer | Grow and convert revenue from an established offer |
| Starting point | Few or no references, message still to be built | Known brand, references, proven pitch, inbound enquiries |
| Time to first revenue | At least one full sales cycle, plus time to build a pipeline | A few weeks to a few months, the time needed to master the offer |
| KPIs | Qualified meetings, pilots, new customers, market feedback | Revenue, margin, conversion rate, retention |
| Rejection rate | High, and expected | Lower, the offer has already found its market |
| Internal contacts | Management, marketing, product | Sales manager, customer service, logistics |
| Core skills | Autonomy, tolerance for uncertainty, market curiosity, ability to structure | Consistency, disciplined follow-up, command of the offer, customer relationships |
| Pay | Stronger base at the start, milestone-based variable, then variable on new accounts | Base plus variable linked to portfolio revenue or margin |
The logic overlaps with the hunter and farmer distinction, which we cover in hunting vs farming: recruiting according to your sales cycle. It goes further, though: a sales representative also hunts, but on ground that others have already cleared.
The sales cycle: the difference employers underestimate
A sales representative taking over a territory becomes productive fairly quickly: the customers exist, the history is in the CRM, the offer already sells.
A Business Developer follows a different curve. They have to identify targets, secure meetings, understand objections and adjust the message before taking the first deals through to signature. The minimum time before meaningful revenue is therefore at least your usual sales cycle, plus the time it takes to build a pipeline. If your customers take six months to decide, a Business Developer who starts in January will rarely sign before the summer, and the first contracts will often be smaller than those of your long-standing customers.
When things go wrong, the problem usually sits in the dashboard. Management that applies a portfolio rep’s KPIs to a Business Developer concludes after two quarters that they “bring in nothing”, while they are doing exactly what they were hired to do. Performance management should follow the phases of opening a market:
- In the first months, activity and learning: target accounts contacted, meetings secured, objections documented, adjustments suggested to the offer.
- Next, pipeline quality: qualified opportunities, pilots or trial orders, weighted value of deals in progress.
- Finally, results: new customers signed, revenue and margin from accounts that were not in your figures before.
Set these milestones in writing before the hire and present them to candidates during the process. A candidate who accepts three-month revenue targets on an untouched market without a word has probably never opened one.
Those first months often decide what follows. We follow them with the managing director and with the new hire, well beyond contract signing.
Expert view
We support clients and candidates before, during and after the hire. Not out of courtesy: by design. The first three months of a sales or management hire shape what happens for the next three years. If onboarding fails, the placement is lost, regardless of how good the sourcing was. That’s why our support doesn’t stop at contract signing. It’s also why our clients come back: they aren’t signing for a recruitment, they’re signing for a long-term partnership.
Profile: what makes one succeed can make the other fail
On a CV, the two profiles look alike. The difference shows in how the person works. A successful Business Developer can hear no several times a day without losing energy. They organise themselves when there is no process and no pitch, they are as interested in the market as in the sale, and they turn what they hear into concrete proposals for management. They like what is new, and they often get bored once the work becomes repetitive.
A successful sales representative is consistent. They keep up a steady rhythm of visits and follow-ups, know the offer inside out, look after their customers and keep the CRM up to date. They deliver predictable revenue. Dropped into a market that has to be opened from nothing, they can lose their footing, and that says nothing about their talent.
The competitor’s star rep trap
This is a frequent casting error. The company wants to open a market and hires the best seller of an established competitor. Their figures are excellent, but they were achieved with a well-known brand, an installed customer base and a support team behind them. In a business with no references in that market yet, they discover a different job. The reverse move fails too: a brilliant Business Developer handed a stable portfolio ends up bored, then gone.
How to check before you sign
Ask candidates to walk you through a real market opening: where they started and how long it took to the first signature. Put them to work on your own target market, with a 90-day plan or a cold-approach role-play. We cover these methods in our articles on assessing a Business Developer’s hunting skills and on the interview questions to ask.
An assessment of your finalists combines an in-depth interview, role-plays, a competency analysis and the KOAN personality test, which we have used for 30 years. KOAN reads competencies, drivers and behavioural dynamics, in other words how a person reacts under pressure and to change. Its sales competency model includes perseverance and a results-oriented approach, two dimensions that clearly separate market-opening profiles from portfolio profiles.
Pay: you are not paying for the same thing
A sales representative’s pay is fairly simple: a base salary plus variable pay linked to portfolio revenue or margin, paid monthly or quarterly.
Applying the same scheme to a Business Developer creates a mechanical problem. If variable pay depends only on signed revenue and your cycle runs six months or more, they will earn almost nothing in their first year, precisely when they are putting in the most effort. Good candidates know this, and those who accept anyway often leave before the first contracts land.
The structure that works best follows the phases of the role: a more comfortable base at the start, variable pay tied to measurable milestones in year one (qualified meetings, pilots, first customers signed), then a gradual shift towards revenue and margin generated on new accounts. The rest of the package follows Belgian practice for sales roles: company car or mobility budget, group insurance, meal vouchers. For salary levels, see our article on the average Business Developer salary in Belgium.
Commercial representative status follows the actual work
Many Belgian field sales staff are employed under commercial representative status (représentant de commerce, handelsvertegenwoordiger). The Federal Public Service Employment defines this contract as one in which an employee undertakes to prospect and visit customers with a view to negotiating or concluding business (page in French and Dutch), under the authority and on behalf of an employer. The activity must be carried out as a main and constant occupation, though not necessarily an exclusive one.
For an employer, the key point is that the classification depends on the work actually done. A Business Developer who spends most of their time prospecting and visiting customers to negotiate deals may therefore fall under this status, whatever their title. One who mainly works on partnerships or remotely is further from it. The status has concrete effects: pay may be fixed, commission-based or mixed, working-time rules do not apply, and some rules on ending the contract differ from those for other white-collar employees. The framework is set by the Act of 3 July 1978 (Article 4 and Articles 87 to 107). Describe the actual work in the contract and have the classification checked by your employment law adviser before hiring.
Business Developer or sales representative: which one should you hire?
The answer lies in your growth plan. Where will revenue come from over the next two years: customers and markets you already have, or ones you do not have yet?
| Your situation | Profile to favour | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Established offer, inbound demand, territory to cover | Sales representative | The market exists and needs consistent conversion |
| Existing portfolio under-exploited or poorly followed up | Sales representative or account manager | The potential sits with your current customers |
| New segment, region or country | Business Developer | The first references have to be built |
| New offer without reference customers | Business Developer | The message and the target still need validating |
| Building a network of distributors or partners | Business Developer | The work is about agreements rather than orders |
| Start-up looking for its first customers | Business Developer | The market and the sales cycle are still unknown |
| SME that can only fund one role | Hybrid role with a written split | Workable if the market-opening targets are protected |
For young companies, where the first sales hire often sets the method for everyone who follows, see which Business Developer profile to hire for a growing start-up.
The hybrid role, on one condition
In many Belgian SMEs, the same person manages existing customers and has to win new ones. The risk is well known: an existing customer calls, prospecting waits, and a year later the new market has not moved. For a hybrid role to work, the time split has to be quantified in the brief and in the target agreement, for example 60% portfolio and 40% new business, with separate KPIs for each. State it plainly to candidates: those looking for a pure market-opening role will withdraw, and that is a good thing.
Before you publish the vacancy
Choosing between a Business Developer and a sales representative comes down to three questions: where growth will come from, how long you can wait for the first revenue, and what package you can sustain during that time. Once those answers are written down, the profile becomes clear. On our assignments, the average time between the client’s signature and the candidate’s is 12 weeks, on a retainer basis with a six-month replacement guarantee. If you would like your brief challenged, our page on hiring a Business Developer in Belgium explains how we work.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Business Developer a salesperson?
Yes, it is a sales role, but with a market-opening remit: a Business Developer creates new revenue (customers, segments, channels), whereas a sales representative develops and converts revenue from an offer and a market that are already established.
What is the difference between a Business Developer and a BDR?
A Business Development Representative (or SDR) is a junior role that prospects and qualifies meetings for a senior seller, without taking the deal to signature. A Business Developer usually handles the whole opening, from first contact to contract.
Does a Business Developer earn more than a sales representative?
At equal experience, the main difference lies in the structure of the package. A Business Developer needs a stronger base at the start and milestone-based variable pay, because their first contracts come after at least one full sales cycle.
How long does it take for a Business Developer to pay off?
At least the length of your sales cycle, plus the time needed to build a pipeline. The first months are managed with activity and pipeline indicators; revenue comes after.
Can a good sales representative become a Business Developer?
Yes, if they cope with uncertainty, can work without established processes and enjoy building. Past results do not prove it: check whether they have already opened a market or an account without references, and test them on a market-opening role-play.
Should a start-up hire a Business Developer or a sales representative?
To find the first customers and validate the message, a Business Developer. A sales representative becomes relevant once the offer has references and demand is steady enough to be converted at volume.
