Business Development Strategist; Marketing​/Creative Agency

Taoti Creative is looking a Business Development Strategist to join our agency's business development team!

(Sorry in advance for the long read. But this is your career we’re talking about here! It’s worth the extra detail, right? The right fit is critical for both of our sakes, so please forgive us in advance for the verbosity.)

Now, about the Job...

It’s one thing to have brilliant ideas and technical knowledge to put together a solution for a client. But it’s another thing to be able to write it and articulate it in a clear, concise, and compelling fashion. That’s your job: to be a driving force behind coming up with winning themes and ideas and then translating them into proposals and pitches.

Our business development process is extremely collaborative, so it’s not like we throw an RFP at you, lock you in a dark room, and say, “here, write a response to this.” As our opportunities come in, our team evaluates, qualifies, and strategizes them. As a team, we decide which opportunities to pursue and what our big ideas are. That’s where you step up.

You borrow bits from old proposals, take ideas from our team, add in your own two cents, and set out to write the world’s best proposal that will get us in the room with the client (metaphorically speaking) to win the work.

Let’s be clear: this is a business development role, so you should be comfortable with the idea that you build relationships with prospects and clients to increase revenue. And within the team, a lot of your time will be spent writing and putting together proposals and other client communication. But it’s not your (primary) job to go find leads or be the leading voice in pitch meetings (though if you want to, you can do it).

We think apart of being a good Business Development Strategist is getting inside the head of the prospect. You will need to have calls with them to determine if we are the right fit and to identify what they need. You will also need to research them to understand how to connect their needs to what we propose, creating a proposal that emotionally connects with them.

And no, this is not a commissioned position (Taoti doesn't actually have any commissioned positions). Everyone works on a fixed salary (with bonus opportunities) here.

• You have a demeanor that projects confidence and credibility.
• You are comfortable speaking with others during pitches and calls.
• You write unbelievably well.
• You have 3-5 years of business development or account experience in the world of web development, strategic communications, marketing, etc.
• You eat 80-page RFPs for breakfast.
• You WANT to write proposals. It’s not a chore. Not something you have to do as punishment. Not something you do when you run out of other things.
• You’re not afraid to let some personality show through your writing and know how much is the right amount of ‘edgy.’
• You know Word inside and out. You’d never dare individually format a heading without applying a style. You know how to create dynamic TOCs. You could teach Clippya thing or three.
• While you may not be an artist, you know how to make a fine-lookin’ document.
• You’re collaborative. You’re not afraid to get out of your chair and go ask a dev about why a client would want SOLR and how you should position it in the proposal.
• You can work directly with clients to refine and revise proposals, scopes, and other documents.

• Review RFPs to determine if we are the right fit.
• Qualify opportunities by setting and leading calls with the client to discuss their needs.
• Write engaging proposals that separate Taoti from other agencies.
• Work with other members of the agency to price out and create winning engagement approaches.
• Develop winning strategies for client pitches, build rapport with the client, and prepare the internal team for success.
• Negotiate contracts with the client.
• Support other members of the agency to help them drive revenue with existing clients and prospects.

• Stand out. When you apply, make an impression.
• As a full-service agency, we do more than our fair share of web development. So, experience with Drupal and/or Word Press is a HUGE plus. So…