One of the more interesting themes I’ve noticed recently, both in conversations with clients and when discussing new leadership hires, is the role of business development.
Few would argue against its importance. Most organisations recognise that suitable growth depends on identifying new opportunities, building relationships and developing a healthy pipeline of new business.
Yet when the conversation turns to ownership, things often become less clear.
Is business development a sales function? A marketing function? Or something distinct that sits between the two?
In my experience, this lack of clarity is more common than many organisations would like to admit. Whilst marketing and sales typically have clear mandates, business development often operates in the space between them, influencing growth but without always having the same level of structure, accountability or ownership.
As a result, organisations can find themselves investing heavily in commercial growth whilst lacking alignment around one of the functions best placed to support it.
The challenge is rarely capability. More often, it is organisational design.
The Misunderstood Role of Business Development
Business development is often conflated with sales or marketing, but in reality, it is a distinct and strategic function.
At its core, BD is about creating long-term value through identifying opportunities, building relationships and developing partnerships that drive sustainable growth. As defined by the Business Development Association, it is a strategic process focused on “identifying, creating, and capturing value” across markets and relationships [Business Development Association, 2026].
Operating cross-functionally, BD connects sales, marketing and wider business strategy to enable sustainable growth [Investopedia, 2026].
By contrast, marketing builds awareness and generates interest, whilst sales convert these opportunities into revenue. Business development identifies where future growth will come from, therefore establishing its role as a connector, bridging the gap between the two functions. It is precisely this positioning, however, that creates complexity.
A Structural Gap, Not a Talent Gap
Despite years of discussion around alignment, many organisations still operate within functional silos. Marketing owns the top of the funnel, sales owns the bottom and business development is expected to operate across both, often without a clearly defined mandate.
This lack of clarity creates ambiguity in:
- Reporting lines
- KPIs
- Budget ownership
- Strategic influence
In this context, it is unsurprising that BD is often diluted across functions or absorbed into sales, reducing its ability to have strategic impact.
Importantly, the consequences are measurable. Many organisations overestimate how aligned they actually are, highlighting a persistent disconnect between perception and reality. Research shows that only 8% of companies achieve strong alignment between sales and marketing, despite widespread recognition of its importance [Pipeline, 2025].
Business development is situated directly within this gap.
Why Business Development Falls Through the Cracks
1. Conflicting Definitions of Success
Marketing and sales functions have traditionally been measured against different benchmarks: marketing success is typically defined by lead generation, engagement, and brand performance, whereas sales is driven by revenue, conversion rates and quota attainment.
Business development does not sit comfortably within either framework. Its impact is naturally longer-term, centred on building high-quality pipelines, establishing strategic partnerships and identifying new market opportunities rather than delivering immediate, measurable outputs. Without clearly aligned or shared KPIs, the value of business development can be easily overlooked, leading to it being undervalued or misunderstood within the wider organisation.
2. Misaligned Timelines
Sales teams are driven by quarterly targets. Marketing balances short-term demand with longer-term brand development.
Business development, however, typically operates over an even longer timeframe. Identifying future growth opportunities months or years ahead, entering new markets or developing strategic partnerships.
This mismatch makes BD harder to prioritise in organisations structured around short-term performance cycles.
3. The “Handoff” Problem
Many organisations still operate with a linear view of the funnel, where marketing generates leads and sales closes them.
In practice, today’s buyer journey is far more complex and non-linear. When BD is reduced to simply “feeding sales”, its strategic role is diminished.
In reality, BD should inform both:
- Where marketing focuses its efforts
- Which opportunities sales prioritises
Without that integration, insight is lost and pipeline quality suffers.
4. Siloed Data and Systems
Disjointed technology stacks and fragmented data ownership continue to create friction between teams. When marketing and sales operate on separate systems, or measure success using different metrics, the visibility required for effective business development simply is not there.
This lack of shared insight limits coordination and clarity, ultimately leading to duplicated efforts, operational inefficiencies and missed commercial opportunities.
The Business Impact of Misalignment
The cost of misalignment is well-evidence and commercially significant. Some estimates suggest that sales and marketing misalignment costs businesses up to $1 trillion annually in lost productivity and revenue [ToplineResults, 2024].
Beyond financial impact, it also leads to:
- Poor lead quality
- Low conversion rates
- Inefficient use of budget
- Frustrated teams
Conversely, alignment between teams can not only improve overall morale, but:
- Alignment between sales and marketing can generate up 25% more sales-qualified leads [Hubspot, 2023]
- Sales and Marketing teams that communicate and have complementary goals and KPIs have improved win rates, and can reportedly see a 20% or higher growth in overall business revenue [Pipeline, 2025]
- Organisations with aligned teams are more likely to close deals and generate higher-quality opportunities [Hubspot, 2023]
Business development, when not clearly positioned, becomes both a symptom of this misalignment – and a potential solution.
Reframing Business Development as a Strategic Function
Addressing this challenge requires a shift in how organisations define and position BD.
Rather than placing it within marketing or sales, leading organisations are taking a more integrated approach. Reflecting the increasing importance of alignment in organisational performance, strong alignment creates clarity, improves execution and enables sustained success [McKinsey, 2025].
Key Shifts Include:
- Creating clear ownership: establishing BD as a defined function with dedicated leadership, accountability and strategic remit
- Defining shared metrics: aligning BD, marketing and sales around shared revenue and pipeline objectives, rather than siloed KPIs
- Integrating insight loops: ensuring BD insights directly inform marketing strategy, messaging and targeting, as well as sales prioritisation
- Investing in hybrid talent: effective BD professionals combine commercial acumen, strategic thinking and strong communication capabilities, bridging traditional functional boundaries
Final Thoughts
The conversations I’m having suggest that business development has not lost relevance. In fact, quite the opposite.
As organisations look for new avenues of growth, enter new markets and compete in increasingly complex environments, the ability to identify and develop opportunities is becoming more important, not less.
The challenge is many businesses are still unclear on where business development sits, how it should be measured and who should ultimately own it.
For leaders building commercial, marketing or communications functions, this presents an important question. Is business development simply supporting growth, or should it play a more strategic role in shaping where that growth comes from?
Until organisations answer that question, business development will continue to sit between teams, limiting it impact, and ultimately, the value it can create.
VMA Group supports organisations in building high-performing marketing, communications, and commercial teams. If you’re reviewing how your BD capability is structured, or looking to hire talent that can operate across functions, we’d be happy to start the conversation.
