There is "sales" and "business development"; these overlap but they are different.
In "sales" you have a playbook that at least seems to work. The reason I say "seems" is that the real metric that matters is lifetime customer value -- you could be making a lot of sales but not a lot of profit in the long term, not have a clear understanding of what is happening, and then find yourself in a great deal of pain later.
"Sales" is an optimization problem of taking something that works and making it better.
"Business Development" is entirely different. If you succeed at that you write the playbook, get big commissions, buy some nice suits and a nice car, get a "VP of Sales" position. A lot of people don't succeed at it.
In "sales" you have a playbook that at least seems to work. The reason I say "seems" is that the real metric that matters is lifetime customer value -- you could be making a lot of sales but not a lot of profit in the long term, not have a clear understanding of what is happening, and then find yourself in a great deal of pain later.
"Sales" is an optimization problem of taking something that works and making it better.
"Business Development" is entirely different. If you succeed at that you write the playbook, get big commissions, buy some nice suits and a nice car, get a "VP of Sales" position. A lot of people don't succeed at it.