Business Development Résumé Summary Statement

Dear Deb,

Q. Would you have a better suggestion for this opening summary statement?

"Especially skilled at opening doors and building relationships that result in win-win sales scenarios for customers and companies alike".

Thank you in advance!  - MB, Rockford, IL

A.  I am not sure from this question if you are truly referring to a summary statement or want to use this as more of what we would consider a branding statement. The sentence below, which is a reworded version of what you wrote, could be either a branding statement or part of a summary, depending upon how you choose to organize your document.

This sentence would not make an ideal lead in if it were part of a summary. You would first want to describe your strengths with a few choice adjectives and then add this sentence as part of a 4-6 sentence paragraph or a bulleted list with no more than 5 or 6 bullets.  Again, it depends upon the format and style of your résumé.

Highly skilled at developing new business and nurturing key relationships to create win-win scenarios.

A summary statement has to be powerful. The reworded version above removes redundancies while providing similar information in a concise way. The original sentence had 21 words whereas the new sentence has only 15. That is a substantial difference!  When busy hiring managers and recruiters review résumés, unnecessary or convoluted wording can lead to a loss of interest. Here are a few more tips about creating an effective summary statement:

• Your summary should answer the larger question of why they should hire you.
• It should be focused on what they need, rather than what you want. 
• Good summary statements highlight core competencies, relevant skills, and past experience while touching upon notable accomplishments.

Each résumé is somewhat unique and while many people create their own résumé summaries, hiring a professional résumé writer to develop a high impact summary statement has advantages. The summary appears in the top third of the page and is of critical importance to the résumé. If you have a mediocre summary, it is likely you will be perceived as a mediocre candidate. Either way, it is a good idea to get some feedback on your summary statement so you ensure that it makes the most positive impression of what you offer. 

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Comments

[Matthew]

Hello Debra,

I have a very strong background in sales (20 years) and I have now found myself in Business Development. This is much different field and I am not sure of what to incorporate into my summary. Most of my accomplishments are from the sales arena. With Linkedin and other resources I want to make sure I am representing the profession correctly.

any ideas? Thanks.

[Debra Wheatman]

Hi Matthew:

Thanks for writing. Business development and sales are really very closely related - depending on the type of sales position you were / are in. If you are referring to going from B2C to B2B sales, then yes, I agree with you. Business development, like sales is about generating new customers, opening new markets, driving the development of new and existing accounts - all things that can be showcased in your summary section. I would also recommend including one or two noteworthy achievements in the summary that you are proud to showcase. This will quickly grab the reader's attention.

Best,
Debra

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