GetMyInvoices – Behind the Scenes: Head of Business Development

Today we continue our series “Behind the Scenes” with an interview with Christian Heimrich. The 30-year-old business economist has been GetMyInvoices’ Head of Business Development since the beginning of 2019.

Christian, business development is a multifaceted term. How is it defined in GetMyInvoices?

In particular, we are occupied with the question of where we want to go. My department is decisively responsible for the growth of GetMyInvoices. Specifically, that means creating action plans and ideas to expand on existing business areas, develop new areas, and define additional business models. Of course, this is putting it in a very abstract way. We continuously work on extending our core product, for example, and on developing complementary solutions. We coordinate new activities with Sales and Marketing, and work closely with our Project Management department. Every week brings something different. That’s what makes my job so exciting and varied. At GetMyInvoices, we don’t have rigid job descriptions – we play ball across departments, so to speak. This is how new dynamic ideas emerge, which we then implement in conjunction with the team.

Could you describe a few tasks for us?

As I said, it’s difficult to break down, but I’ll try to outline some. We are responsible for the re-structuring of processes, for instance within our Sales division, and involved in a lot of strategy topics. Currently the topic of internationalization is on top of the agenda. As well as that, we look after our partners and develop new use cases together with them, which benefits both parties, as we can address further target groups. At the moment we are trying to implement hypotheses-driven working more strongly to create better structures. It’s one thing to have ideas or be inspired. It’s another thing to actually implement those ideas.

What does hypotheses-driven working mean, specifically?

When we have an idea we first implement it in a trial. New sales mechanisms are tried out on a small group of buying personas. When those activities run successfully, we establish them in standardized processes.

Can you give away what you’re planning in the long run?

Sure. Our goal is the development of an Enterprise Suite, where small and medium-sized businesses can find solutions to automate and optimize their processes. The first steps have already been taken. For example, we already established numerous modules within fino to speed up work on documents. Those include, for instance, our OCR solution fintract, which extracts all relevant data from documents in just seconds and thus eliminates manual recording. Currently we have a multitude of product ideas for businesses in the pipeline, to automate their processes and support them regarding digitization.

What requirements should a Business Development Manager meet?

Be curious, be excited about innovation, and definitely know your way around operations. What I mean is, creativity alone isn’t enough. It’s much more important to actually implement that creativity. I don’t think that there is the one particular way to be successful in business development.

How is Corona affecting your workday?

In my case, Corona has changed comparatively much regarding work structure. Before the pandemic hit, I spent about two days a week on the road, leading workshops or calling on partners on-site. All that has obviously been cancelled, which hasn’t impaired our business, though. At the moment, I’m in home office four days a week. Once a week I meet the entire team in Kassel. I’ll probably continue things in that vein, as that way I can plan in a very structured manner.