What is business development?
Are you considering a career as a business development manager?
Have you asked yourself what are the best business development courses?
Which business development courses should you learn from to become the best business development manager companies always want to work with?
This article analyzes the best business development courses for beginners, professionals, and experts. We used a variety of parameters like ratings, reviews, and past students.
What does a business developer do?
How can a professional learn business development skills?
Ideally, you can learn business development in college and earn a degree. Professionally, you’d be a business developer.
There are exceptional and certified business development courses you can go through to learn the skills needed as a business development manager.
And for this, I have looked through the best business development courses on platforms like PLURALSIGHT, UDEMY, and Coursera.
What is a business development course?
A business development course is a certified course that teaches beginners and professionals to start or advance their careers in business development. These courses go through skills like business management, market research, and corporate relationships and will improve your general performance in the business development sector.
7 Best Business Development Courses
#1. Becoming a Business Analyst by Casey Ayers, Heather Mylan-Mains, and Michael Krasowski.
To harness all the skills required to become a professional business development manager, you must learn which businesses are important in identifying opportunities for startup growth.
This course covers the basics of business development and analysis.
You must work with data and analysis to develop a business or company.
Why do we love this PLURALSIGHT business development course?
This business development course focuses not only on the “wins” in business development. It also goes through real-life challenges to help you build experience and skills.
To add to this, this business development course is perfect for beginners, intermediates, and experts as well.
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- Putting people first as a business development manager.
- Living in an IT team as a professional business manager.
- The best practices for effective requirement gathering for business analysts and managers.
- The technical aspects of a business.
- Life of a business analyst and manager.
- Project management and business analysis
What’s included in this business development course:
- Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced sections.
- 14 hours of on-demand video content.
- A total of 6 courses from Casey Ayers, Heather Mylan-Mains, and Michael Krasowski.
How much does “Becoming a Business Analyst by Casey Ayers, Heather Mylan-Mains, and Michael Krasowski” cost on PLURALSIGHT?
#2. Business Development: Grow With Strategic Relationships by Alex Genadinik
This business development course is an excellent option for beginners or professionals looking to create strong business relationships and grow brand partnerships.
It is instructed by Alex Genadinik and has over 9,300 past students with a 4.5-star rating.
This course will teach students how to foster positive relationships that grow their businesses and brand. After this course, you’d learn to negotiate great deals for businesses.
Why do we love this UDEMY business development course?
This business development course focuses on technology and information, which is brilliant because most business development courses do not. And in today’s world (and with the high growth of AI), I think businesses need to pay more attention to technology.
Students will learn how to structure and develop deals and relationships to grow a business.
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- Introduction to business development (and welcome new students).
- Real live case studies of business development options.
- How to foster great business development relationships seamlessly.
- How to book lots of meetings and what to do in the first meetings.
- Business card networking.
- Deal and negotiating terms and tactics.
- How to pitch professionally.
- Getting familiar with meeting-scheduling software.
- Conclusion (last section).
What’s included in this business development course:
- 2 hours 44 minutes video content.
- 12 downloadable resources.
- 10 sections
- 28 lectures
- Mobile and TV access.
- Lifetime access.
- Certificate upon completion.
How much does the “Business Development: Grow With Strategic Relationships by Alex Genadinik cost on UDEMY?
#3. Business Mind – Mastering Business Development by Sobair Barak
This business development course by Sobair Barak is a no-brainer for beginners looking to build a career as a business development manager. This UDEMY course has over 1,400 ratings (one of the highest on this list), with a 4.2-star rating.
You learn about business development, product development, and business unit development.
Students learn how to master business development. The course teaches students how to understand customer needs and convert them into solutions to grow businesses.
Why do we love this UDEMY business development course?
This business development course teaches students the basics of interpersonal selling, customer journey, and sustainable customer relationships.
This program even goes deeper to reach students to understand buyer behavior. We’re talking about marketing as a business development manager.
You’d learn marketing strategies, segmentation, sales promotions, expansion, and more.
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- Definition and Introduction to Business Development.
- Product perspective of business development.
- Sales perspective of a business development manager.
- The marketing perspective of a business development manager.
- Finally, merging all perspectives (or course sections) in the business model canvas.
What’s included in this business development course:
- 4.5 hours of on-demand video content
- 35 lectures
- 5 sections.
- 13 downloadable resources
- Mobile and TV access
- Lifetime access
- Certificate upon course completion.
How much does the “Business Mind – Mastering Business Development by Sobair Barak” cost on UDEMY?
#4. Business Development & B2B Sales for Startups – Sales Valley by Patrick Dang
One of the largest business development courses in today’s review article is the “Business Development & B2B Sales for Startups – Sales Valley” course instructed by Patrick Dang.
This business development course has over 34,000 past students with a 4.5-star rating from over 7,700 ratings.
Students will learn the sales valley methodology to build great relationships for businesses. You’ll also learn the business development deal structures you can use to grow any business.
Why do we love this UDEMY business development course?
I particularly love this course because it teaches some of the best marketing methodologies or promotes a business or brand.
Students are taught how to write exceptional emails that can get swift responses even from influencers. The course would also help you build effective lead-generation funnels for your business.
Finally, this course goes in-depth into the Art of selling through meetings. You can expect to learn some of the most effective ways to pitch your products or services to your target customers.
This is great for beginners looking to build a career as a business development manager.
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- Introduction to business development.
- Setting yourself up for success as a business development manager.
- Business development and sales strategy
- Setting your goals as a business development manager
- Lead generation for business growth.
- Cold emails.
- Setting your first meeting and closing your first deal.
- Remote sales training.
What’s included in this business development course:
- 6 hours of- demand video content
- 36 lectures
- 5 course sections
- 14 downloadable resources
- TBV and Mobile access.
- Lifetime access to course content.
- Certificate upon completion.
How much does the “Business Development & B2B Sales for Startups – Sales Valley by Patrick Dang,” cost on UDEMY?
#5. Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses, Part I by Edward D. Hess
The ‘Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses Part I’ is also an excellent choice for people looking to become professionals in business development.
The course is also one of the biggest on this review list. It is rated 4.7-star, has over 75,000 past students, and is hosted on Coursera.
I love this business development course because it is certified and offered by the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. It’s one of the most certified business development courses online today.
It is instructed by Edward Hess, a Professor of Business Administration.
Why do we love this Coursera business development course?
One aspect I love about this business development program is its focus on the challenges of the private business sector. Thus unlike most business development courses listed here, this one is specific for private businesses.
Also, what is a better way to learn the ins and outs of business development from a professor in one of the best institutions in Virginia?
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- Course overview and introduction
- The truth about business growth.
- Fellers Gourmet Workshop.
- The 4 Ps.
- Growing a Business.
- Designing an effective business growth plan.
- Final exam (test).
What’s included in this business development course:
- Flexibility deadlines
- Shareable certificate upon completion
- 9 hours of on-demand video content
- 32 videos
- 6 articles
- 6 quizzes
How much does the “Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses, Part I by Edward D. Hess cost on Coursera?
#6. International Business I by Doug E Thomas, Ph.D.
The next best professional business development course is the ‘International Business I’ Coursera course by Doug E Thomas, Ph.D. With over 71,000 past students, this course is also popular among business development managers and professionals.
This course teaches students the basics of growing a business internationally.
Have you ever wondered how several brands run multiple business branches in different countries?
This course understands the importance of global relationships and thus introduces students to the international environment’s socio-economic, political, and cultural basics.
Why do we love this Coursera business development course?
Unlike all other courses, this business course focuses on building businesses globally. And that’s what makes it unique.
Looking to foster great relationships that expand your business or brand to international markets? This Coursera course by Doug E Thomas, Ph.D., is highly recommended.
Now what is the course outline for this business development program?
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- Introduction to the course and course outline.
- What is Globalization?
- Is Globalization New?
- How do political and social institutions affect national economic development?
- The role of culture in business development and growth.
- What are the gains from Trade?
- Free or Managed Trade?
What’s included in this business development course:
- Flexible deadlines according to your schedule
- Shareable certificate upon completion
- 7 hours of demand video content
- Subtitles available in Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, and Spanish
How much does the “International Business I by Doug E Thomas, Ph.D.” cost on Coursera?
#7. Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization by Luann J. Lynch, Almand R. Coleman, Mary Gentile, R. Edward Freeman, and Alex Cowan
The last best business development course on our review list is the ‘Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization’ Coursera course instructed by Luann J. Lynch, Mary Gentile, R. Edward Freeman, and Alex Cowan.
This course is also offered by the University of Virginia, which means it’s certified and will equip you with the right skills to work as a business development manager.
The business development program will teach you the four ways to grow and scale a business. This could be through outsourcing, employing, or acquisitions for business growth.
It also shows students how to use journal entries and prepare T-accounts for business transactions. This will help professionals take down detailed and necessary records within an accounting period.
Why do we love this Coursera business development course?
I love this business course because it focuses on helping professionals get familiar with innovative tools.
As we’ve seen, the technology sector has been on the rise, and businesses need to learn and adapt to these tools. The business development course will teach you how to use these tools to design an effective business model.
What you’ll learn in this business development course (course outline):
- The basics of financial accounting.
- Ethical leadership through giving voice to values.
- New models of business in society.
- Innovating with the business model canvas.
What’s included in this business development course:
- Flexible deadlines according to your schedule
- 159 on-demand video content.
- 100% shareable certificate.
- Content is 100% online, so you can access it anywhere.
- Mobile and TV access.
- Lifetime access to course content.
- 5 articles
- 6 quizzes
How much does the “Entrepreneurship: Growing Your Business Specialization by Luann J. Lynch, Almand R. Coleman, Mary Gentile, R. Edward Freeman, and Alex Cowan” cost on Coursera?
Conclusion
What are some Business development courses for free with certification?
Yes, there are many free business development courses with certification but come to think of it…
As a recruiter, will you hire a business development manager with a certification from a premium institution or a free course?
Some free certifications are especially if you’re just starting a business development career. You can start with some free courses that offer certification then we highly recommend that you go for the premium certification programs to boost your career chances.
Thus here are our top 3 free online business development courses with certification:
- Business Development by monday.com
- Advanced Negotiations by EdApp
- Youth Entrepreneurship: The Business Model by Unitar
Finally, what are business development skills?
Now as someone looking to foster his career in business development, certain skills are required by companies or corporate bodies before hiring a professional business development manager.
Some of these skills are;
- Management and leadership
- Finance
- Business intelligence
- Accounting
- Business communication
- Sales
- Corporate negotiation
- Marketing
- Project management
- Data analysis
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase after clicking. Please understand that I recommend these resources because they are useful, not just because of my commissions. Please do not purchase unless you need the materials to achieve your goals. Read the disclaimer.
I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.
