30-60-90 day plan for business development managers
On this page
- What does a business development manager own that an account executive does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- Which outreach and partnership rules does a new business development manager check?
- Which numbers should a new business development manager baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the hiring manager ask at the check-ins?
- What the hiring manager owes a new business development manager
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new business development manager should spend the first 30 days building a market thesis (the ideal customer profile, a tiered target account list, a map of the partners who already reach those buyers and written rules of engagement with the sales team), days 31-60 starting outreach and partner conversations, and days 61-90 proving the motion with qualified pipeline, a first partner-registered deal and a two-quarter plan. Because most new-business cycles run longer than 90 days, the plan judges leading indicators rather than closed revenue. As of November 2026, the outreach itself is regulated even between businesses: CAN-SPAM for email, the FCC's TCPA rules for calls and texts to mobile numbers, and antitrust and anti-bribery rules for partnerships and hospitality.
This plan is for the sales leader, founder or general manager hiring a business development manager to open a new segment, region or partner channel. If the seat inherits a territory and a pipeline, the 30-60-90 day plan for account executives is the closer fit; if it books meetings for others, use the 30-60-90 day plan for sales development reps; if it covers a geographic patch of existing accounts and distributors, the 30-60-90 day plan for territory managers fits better; and if it leads a team of sellers, see the 30-60-90 day plan for sales managers.
What does a business development manager own that an account executive does not?
| Area | Business development manager | Account executive | Sales development rep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A segment, region or channel with little or no pipeline | An assigned territory, often with inherited opportunities | A list of accounts and a meeting target |
| Main output | A repeatable motion: a target list, partners and qualified pipeline in a new market | Closed revenue against quota | Accepted meetings for account executives |
| Partners | Recruits and signs resellers, referral partners or alliances | Works deals that partners bring | Rarely involved |
| Deal terms | Negotiates partner agreements and first non-standard deals with legal and finance | Works within standard pricing and discount authority | None |
| What 90 days proves | Whether the segment or channel is worth more investment | Whether the rep can run full cycles to the team's standard | Whether the rep's outreach books meetings that hold |
Titles blur. Some companies call a closing role "business development" and some call a partner role "alliances." Write down in week one which of these the seat is, because the plan below assumes the first column.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Business Development Manager, [segment / region / channel]
Reports to: [name] Start date: [date]
Mandate: [e.g. open the mid-market healthcare segment / build an MSP reseller channel]
Support: [SDR, marketing, solutions engineer, partner manager] CRM: [ ]
Typical sales cycle in the core business: [N] months
DAYS 1-30 — Build the market thesis
Goals:
- Read the last [12] months of won and lost deals that look like
the target segment; note why each was won or lost
- Interview [5] customers, [3] account executives, product and
the deal desk or finance partner
- Write the ideal customer profile and a target account list of
[100] accounts in [3] tiers, with a reason to call per tier
- Map partners who already sell to these buyers: resellers,
integrators, consultants, associations; list existing agreements
- Learn the approval path: pricing and discount authority, standard
NDA, MSA and partner agreement templates, legal turnaround
- Learn the outreach and CRM rules: opt-outs, mobile consent,
lead source and partner-sourced fields, opportunity stages
Deliverables by day 30:
- Market and partner map, with the thesis on one page
- Rules of engagement signed off by sales leadership: account
ownership, handoff to account executives, deal registration,
credit for partner-sourced deals
Check-in: day 30
DAYS 31-60 — Start the motion
Goals:
- Personal outreach to tier 1 accounts; sequences with SDR
support for tier 2
- First discovery meetings, written up in the buyer's words
- First meetings with [10] partners; [2-3] into a pilot with
joint account mapping
- One event or association meeting where the buyers gather
- Weekly pipeline review with the manager; objection log kept
Deliverables by day 60:
- Qualified opportunities created to the company's stage definition
- Partner pilot agreements through legal review
Check-in: day 60
DAYS 61-90 — Prove the motion
Goals:
- Mutual action plans and first proposals on the top opportunities
- First partner-registered opportunity
- Win and loss interviews on anything that closed or stalled
- Present a two-quarter plan: segments to keep, partners by tier,
pipeline goal, resources needed, and what to stop
Deliverables by day 90:
- Pipeline against the ramp target, with sources split
(outbound, inbound, partner, event)
- Partner scorecard and an approved two-quarter plan
Check-in: day 90 — full reviewNumbers in brackets are examples. Size them to the segment, the deal size and the support the seat really has.
Which outreach and partnership rules does a new business development manager check?
These federal rules commonly reach business development work. They are summarized as they read in November 2026, they are not legal advice, and state, foreign and industry rules add more, so confirm the company's own policy with legal in week one.
| Area | What the rule says | What the BDM checks |
|---|---|---|
| Cold email (FTC CAN-SPAM guide) | The law makes no exception for business-to-business email; messages need accurate headers, honest subject lines and a valid physical postal address; opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days; hiring another company to send does not transfer the responsibility | Sequences carry the footer, opt-outs sync between the engagement tool and the CRM, and partners or agencies sending for the company follow the same rules |
| Calls and texts to mobile numbers (47 CFR 64.1200) | Calls to wireless numbers using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice need the called party's prior express consent, and prior express written consent when they carry telemarketing; consent revoked by any reasonable means must be honored within 10 business days. The FCC confirmed in Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17 (February 2024) that AI-generated voices count as artificial | Whether the dialer, texting tool or any AI voice agent triggers these rules, and where consent for mobile numbers is recorded |
| Business-to-business telemarketing (16 CFR 310.6(b)(7)) | Calls to businesses are exempt from most of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, but not from its bans on misrepresentations and false or misleading statements; calls selling nondurable office or cleaning supplies get no exemption | Call scripts and voicemail claims about price, results and affiliations are accurate |
| Partnerships with competitors (FTC guide: dealings with competitors) | Price fixing, bid rigging and market division are always illegal; collaborations between competitors are often procompetitive, but carry risk when the companies stop acting independently | Any co-selling, teaming or referral deal with a company that also competes goes through legal, and nobody discusses prices or splitting customers or territories |
| Gifts and hospitality for public buyers (5 CFR 2635.204(a); DOJ: FCPA) | Federal employees may accept unsolicited gifts worth $20 or less per occasion, and no more than $50 a year from one source, never cash; the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions bar corruptly giving anything of value to a foreign official to obtain or retain business | The entertainment policy, a gift log, and approval before hosting anyone from a government or state-owned customer; state and local rules differ |
| Referral fees in regulated markets (HHS OIG: Anti-Kickback Statute; 12 CFR 1024.14) | Paying for referrals of business payable by federal health care programs is a crime under the Anti-Kickback Statute; RESPA bars fees for referring mortgage settlement services | Legal approves any referral fee or revenue share before it is offered to a partner in healthcare or mortgage-related markets |
The email rules are covered in more depth, with the opt-out mechanics, in the sales development rep plan.
Which numbers should a new business development manager baseline?
The measures below are examples. Agree the definitions in month one, especially what counts as a qualified opportunity and how partner-sourced deals are tagged, or the day-90 review becomes an argument about attribution.
| Layer | Example measures | What it tells the manager |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | Tier 1 accounts with an engaged contact; partner first meetings held | Whether the target list and the message reach the right people |
| Conversion | Discovery meetings to qualified opportunities; partner meetings to signed pilots | Whether the thesis holds when buyers and partners hear it |
| Pipeline | Qualified pipeline value by source; coverage against the next two quarters' goal | Whether the segment can carry a number |
| Partner activity | Partners with a registered deal; joint accounts mapped | Whether signed partners actually sell, or only signed |
| Deal shape | Average opportunity size and cycle length in the new segment against the core business | Whether the economics justify more investment |
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | One-page thesis grounded in won and lost deals; tiered list with a reason to call; partner map; rules of engagement signed | A list bought from a data vendor with no thesis; no conversations with customers or account executives; account ownership still disputed |
| Day 60 | Discovery meetings written up in buyers' words; first qualified opportunities; partner pilots in legal review | High activity with few replies and no change of approach; partners signed without any joint account plan |
| Day 90 | Pipeline near the ramp target with sources split; a first partner-registered deal; a plan that says what to stop | Pipeline padded with deals outside the profile; promises of custom terms the company cannot deliver |
A filled example
Business development manager: Marcus Bell (invented), the first business development manager at a security awareness training company that sold direct to mid-size firms, hired to build a channel through managed IT service providers. All details are examples.
Day 30: His map listed 150 service providers in three states. He found six already reselling informally, at three different discounts and with no agreement. Account executives feared losing their accounts, so his rules of engagement gave a registered deal 90 days of protection and split credit on joint accounts.
Day 60: Fourteen partner meetings produced three pilots, each with a reseller agreement legal had reviewed and a joint account map. Two co-selling calls ran with account executives on overlapping accounts, and the informal resellers moved onto the standard discount.
Day 90: Four partner-registered opportunities, one closed. His two-quarter plan asked for a part-time partner marketing budget, kept the pilot partners in two states, and dropped a third state where partners mostly sold to very small firms below the company's profile.
How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
Give every finalist the same brief: the segment or channel, the core business's average deal size and cycle, the support the seat will have and one known obstacle. Score the plans with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. The interview guide for sales roles covers the role play for the earlier rounds, and the business development representative screening questions fit the junior outbound seats a BDM often works with. Questions that separate a business developer from a strong closer:
- "You start with no pipeline. What would you need to show me by day 60 that this segment deserves more investment?"
- "A partner asks for a large referral fee and exclusivity in a territory. What do you check before you answer?"
- "Our account executives worry you will take their accounts. How do you set the rules?"
- "What would make you recommend that we stop pursuing this segment?"
Strong candidates talk about the thesis and the evidence that would disprove it, and they name the internal people they need (legal, finance, product) as clearly as the buyers.
What should the hiring manager ask at the check-ins?
- Day 30: Which 20 accounts come first, and why now? Which partners already reach them? What is the approval path for a non-standard deal, and how long does it take?
- Day 60: How many first meetings became qualified opportunities, and why did the others not? Which partners are active, and which only signed?
- Day 90: What is the pipeline coverage by source? What have you learned that changes the thesis? What should we stop doing?
What the hiring manager owes a new business development manager
- A written mandate: the segment, region or channel, and what success looks like in two quarters, not only in 90 days.
- Rules of engagement backed by sales leadership, including commission or credit for partner-sourced and jointly worked deals.
- A named contact in legal and finance with an agreed turnaround for NDAs, partner agreements and pricing exceptions.
- CRM fields for lead source and partner attribution set up before the first opportunity is created.
- A travel and event budget, and SDR or marketing support if the plan assumes it.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Result | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Outreach before a thesis | Activity with no learning; a burned target list | Month one builds the profile and the reason to call first |
| Signing partners without enablement | A long partner list and no registered deals | Measure partners who register a deal, not partners who signed |
| Ignoring channel conflict | Account executives stop cooperating | Written rules of engagement before the first partner deal |
| Judging day 90 on closed revenue in a nine-month cycle | Good hires look like failures | Judge leading indicators; set the revenue target for the cycle length |
Adapting the plan
- Partnerships and alliances roles: weight months two and three toward joint value propositions, integration or co-marketing commitments and partner-influenced pipeline, and add the partner's own sales leaders to the stakeholder list.
- Staffing and recruiting agencies: the output is new clients, signed fee agreements and job orders; the business development email templates for recruiters cover outreach to hiring managers, and client onboarding starts the day the first fee agreement is signed.
- Public sector: add the procurement calendar, RFP and bid deadlines, and the gift rules above to month one, and expect formal bids to replace much of the outbound motion.
- Healthcare and mortgage-related markets: no referral fee, revenue share or free service goes to a partner until legal has reviewed it against the rules above.
Questions people ask
What should a business development manager do in the first 30 days?
Study won and lost deals in the target segment, interview customers and account executives, write the ideal customer profile and a tiered target account list, map the partners who already reach those buyers, and agree written rules of engagement with sales leadership on account ownership, handoffs and credit for partner-sourced deals. Outreach starts in month two, once the thesis and the approval path for non-standard deals are clear.
How should a business development manager be measured in the first 90 days?
On leading indicators, because most new-business cycles are longer than 90 days: first meetings with target accounts, qualified opportunities created to the company's stage definition, pipeline value, partners signed and partners who have registered a first deal. Closed revenue is a fair 90-day measure only when the normal sales cycle is shorter than the ramp.
Do cold email and calling rules apply to business-to-business outreach?
Mostly, yes. As of November 2026, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email, and the FCC's TCPA rules on autodialed and artificial or prerecorded voice calls to wireless numbers apply whoever the called party works for. The Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts most business-to-business calls, but not its bans on misrepresentations. This is not legal advice.
How is a business development manager's plan different from an account executive's?
An account executive usually inherits a territory and a pipeline and is judged on closing it. A business development manager usually starts with no pipeline in a new segment, region or partner channel, so the plan spends the first month building a market thesis and a partner map, and judges days 31 to 90 on whether the motion creates qualified pipeline that someone can close.