Business Development Manager

Join our team at CLEVER°FRANKE

You are entering an exciting time as a Business Development Manager at CLEVER°FRANKE as we build our client base around the world.

Are you driven by the excitement of finding prospects, making new connections and building long-term relations with clients to drive business growth?

CLEVER°FRANKE is an enthusiastic, multi-disciplinary team of 40+ people with 15+ nationalities from across the world. We are interaction designers, visual designers, developers, project managers and data analysts. All with a passion for what we do. We are curious about the world around us and apply the same curiosity to our work and projects.

As a Business Development Manager, you have a genuine interest and curiosity in complexity and data, especially in our core business of (interactive) data visualization. You are someone who recognizes potential long before it’s obvious. You'll be responsible for finding new clients and closing new deals, guiding clients from the first conversation to signing contracts. With your experience, you'll build trust with potential clients and shape possible collaborations, helping the company grow.

As a Business Development Manager you will contribute to the following:

• Bring in the work: Shape and qualify leads, take charge of finding new clients and closing new deals, transforming cold leads into sustained client relationships, initiating and responding to client communications to identify valuable collaboration opportunities, gather market intelligence, and guide the process from the first talk to signing contracts.
• Deal shaping: With your agency or consulting background, you can earn the client’s trust through understanding their needs and walk them through unfamiliar territory. You shape winning deals that match our company's expertise and serve as the foundation for successful partnerships.
• Proposal writing and contract formation: Craft compelling proposals together with our design and development specialists that win over clients and seal the deal. In later stages, you will create sales contracts, manage expectations and ensure smooth transactions.
• Project team hand-over: Create a briefing, with an accurate scope of client requirements, for the project team to set them up for success and align expectations.
• Account management: Keep an eye on the long-term relationship with the client, identify opportunities for new projects with existing clients, and revive old engagements. Ensure a smooth transition between account management and ongoing advisory engagements to increase the likelihood of repeat business.

You will work closely with management and senior members of the team and have experience in selling complex consulting, design and development solutions to a professional audience.

What you bring

As a Business Development Manager, you will bring 5+ years of experience. You have a hunter mentality, driven by the thrill of securing new opportunities rather than tending to existing accounts. With your expertise, you will build trust and foster potential collaborations to drive company growth. Key skills include:

• Proven track record of success in proposal writing and negotiation
• Commercial heart, skills in (cold) acquisition, assertiveness in pursuing opportunities while maintaining professionalism and respect
• Hands-on approach to business development, seamlessly transitioning between strategic planning and operational execution
• Entrepreneurial mindset, ready to seize opportunities, innovate and drive growth
• Detail-oriented and demonstrated success in sales contract formation
• Comfortable with ambiguity; flexibility is essential
• Leveraging your (international) network of prospects
• Experience in deal sizes ranging from €100k to €2M
• Knowledge of working with sales workflow tools like Pipedrive, Hubspot and Sales Navigator
• Proficiency in spoken and written English
• Agency experience, particularly in the creative sector, is a plus
• Strong affinity with domains like Financial Services, Life Sciences, Communication & Marketing, Mobility & Logistics, Energy transition, High-tech, AI and Innovation is a plus

We’ll give you

• Full-time/part-time role (32-40 hours per week)
• A competitive salary, based on your background and experience
• Support from a friendly, passionate, down-to-earth team
• A personal development budget of 1000 euro per year for trainings tailored to your personal and professional growth
• A personal wellbeing budget of 250 euros per year (purchase a bike, fitness or yoga membership)
• Two extra holidays per calendar year, because we all have events in our life that we need time for (weddings, celebrating religious or cultural events)
• Hybrid working from our studio or home – (at least 2 days per week in the studio)
• A healthy, abundant lunch every day in the studio
• Paid train expenses from your home to the studio
• A collective pension plan
• A MacBook and all the peripherals you need
• Inspiring team events; such as our annual team prototyping day, team trainings, sport events and conference visits

We’ll support you

We find it important that you grow and challenge yourself and we want to ensure that you are supported in this. That’s why we offer:

• Training courses: tailored to your experience level and needs, personal development planning, and feedback sessions
• Our People & Culture Manager and your Lead will help you with your professional and personal development
• CLEVER°FRANKE Development week: about 3 times a year, we organize a week where the entire studio fully focuses on personal and professional growth, outside of client projects
• CLEVER°FRANKE Prototype Day: a day full of creativity, innovation, learning, and working with colleagues in a hands-on environment

Please note that for this position we are looking for someone who has an EU working permit and already lives in The Netherlands. The position is based in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

For more information about this job opening, contact Charlene Benjamins at charlene@cleverfranke.com.