Day in the Life of Business Development
Dr Martin Jennings talks about what it’s like to work in Peak Proteins as a Business Development Associate.
Have you ever thought, what really is “Business Development” in the life sciences/CRO sector and is that something I’d be interested in doing? Here is my experience of what the role involves as I chart my first six month journey in a business development role at Peak Proteins…. with the added benefit that I can send a link to my family and friends when they ask “So what is it exactly that you do?”!
Well, for a start, during my first six months at Peak Proteins as a Business Development Associate I have experienced quite a bit of change! We have moved, been acquired by Sygnature and launched our new brand. It has certainly been a fun six months and very different from the academic lab-based role which I had been in for quite a long time.
Joining Peak Proteins
After a long stint in academia and after a lot of self-reflection during lockdown I had decided I wanted a change. What that change would entail just yet, I wasn’t exactly sure. I contacted Peak Proteins about any job vacancy they might have informally and had several talks with people which seemed to be moving towards a Protein Scientist role. It was after speaking to Hazel Weir that I got an email asking if I would consider a role in Business Development based on the fact that I talked passionately about helping my wife set up and run her nursery business for five years. I was away camping at the time and after some googling I came to the realisation that Business Development is a very broad term and I was non-the-wiser! After further meeting with Hazel, I got a much better understanding of the role and made the decision to leave the lab and join Peak Proteins.
Business Development at Peak Proteins
As I mentioned above, Business Development (BD) is a broad term that essentially means any activity that aims to grow the business better over time. Definitions of BD overlap with sales, marketing, project management, budgeting and finance among others, but what does this actually mean in terms of day-to-day activities?
At Peak Proteins, our BD team is the primary contact point with clients. My role involves identifying and speaking to potential new clients to discuss their needs and present the services we offer. It also involves promoting Peak Proteins, through generating content (like this one you’re reading!) for our website and newsletter and attending conferences – something we’re starting to do again including PEGS. I have already written two articles for our blog. The largest part of my time, however, is spent generating research proposals and associated costs for clients. The way we operate at Peak Proteins is very much like research collaborators so generating these quotes certainly isn’t grabbing a list of products and prices. A typical quote involves a good deal of background reading on a particular protein. I then use this to help inform construct design, an expression and purification strategy, and any requirements for x-ray crystallography and structural work . Depending on the client’s request, I collaborate with our scientists who have the specialist skills and knowledge, and get their input on how best to tackle the project. Our BD team however are all experienced cell and protein scientists which is important for us to be able to understand our client’s needs and develop a solid strategy catered to the protein of interest.
What I Like About My Role
The main thing I enjoy about my role in BD is the variety. I have had the opportunity to write about interesting topics for our blog articles, been deeply involved in our website redesign, spoken to a lot of very smart and passionate people from many different kinds of organisations, and have learnt a great deal about a lot of very interesting proteins and projects through generating our proposals. My role involves diving deep into a protein topic for a short while before moving onto another, which I enjoy. After transitioning from a bench lab role, I still feel I contribute a great deal of scientific input and I get to watch the projects I have proposed come to fruition and see happy clients at the end. Our BD team works very closely with the scientists at Peak Proteins who all contribute ideas to quotes which means I get to keep abreast of lab work and follow the projects I’m interested in or have been involved with. I’m very analytical and love a good spreadsheet; at Peak Proteins I am been able to apply this to examine of how the business is growing and analyse what might be driving this. BD allows a good deal of creativity too and I have enjoyed creating logo ideas for our key services.
As a scientist I never have thought I would end up working in and enjoying a role in BD. So, if you are a scientist and fancy a change of direction it might be worth exploring a similar role. If you have an interest in business, are creative, and have a good sense of communication then it might be a perfect fit.
