Follow the Money: Take Action with Proactive & Purposeful Business Activity

Don’t wait, make things happen: position yourself to increase your surface area for opportunity

Build An Organic Sales Organization

As my career has evolved, I learn, and continue to consider other ways to do things, I realize how much your willingness to be an ambassador for your own organization must feel like a positive approach. If you’re doing it to check the box, you’ll struggle to represent your company to your ability or you’ll feel guilty if you aren’t on board. When you see the value in your organization’s purpose, it allows for a sense of pride in promoting your company positively.

If you get there, you have an organization full of the most genuine sales people that will naturally follow the money and listen for opportunities advancing your company. They will be the best front line of business development you could hope for because they believe and want the company to thrive.

Shift In Context: Leveraging Career Experience Focused on Partnership Development

Early in my career, a big part of my role was focused on account development:

• Protect

• Retain

• Service

• Saturation

• Leverage

• Build Partnership

• Organize

These core responsibilities turned into other areas to elevate my game and the business:

• Efficiency

• Systems and Process

• Continuous Improvement

• Scalability

• Increased Margin

• Reporting and Analytics

• KPIs

• Employee Retention

• Risk Mitigation

I stumbled into operations leadership through looking for cost reduction, profitability, associate satisfaction, visibility for the client and internally, and with focus on exceeding customer expectations.

Taking that operations, talent, and services expertise and applying my experience to identify and establish new partnerships and identify opportunities while they’re hot, and ideally before they’re hot, it’s all about following the money.

Follow the Money

Not “show me the money” or follow the money in a gambling sense, but follow the money in a market demand and business intelligence sense. What does this mean? It means you listen to the market, because the market will tell you where to go. Market intel tells you who what, where, why, and how. Professionals growing a business then connect the dots, securing business partnerships and arrangements to capitalize on these opportunities.

How: By Following Angles and Connecting the Dots

• Projects

• Economic Development

• Organizations and associations

• New Construction

• Announcements

• Investment

• Hiring and Firing

• Opening and Closing

• Business news, supplier networks, industry pulse…

What’s Next?

You found the money, how do you capitalize?

—> Connection, collaboration, sales, marketing, branding, and closing

You need decision makers and stakeholders to know and like you better, and see your value above other options. You need prospective clients to think of you when they need support or are ready to buy a product or service.

Following the money is great, but activity, consistency and process locks up the business to drive revenue. Follow the money, follow the problems, provide solutions, and create customer satisfaction.

Don’t Stop, Execute and Close

Follow-up, one of the most fundamental practices in business is also where many “professionals” or wannabes struggle. Follow through, key to success and customer delight. And winning.

What other activities are core to building trust and partnership?

• Honesty, Integrity

• Fairness

• Clarity

• Market Intelligence

• Understanding Problems

• Solutions Focused

• Driven to Provide Value

• Likability

• Presentable

• Talk With Purpose

• Do What You Say, Say What You Do

• Don’t Be Boring, Be a Person with a Life

You master even a handful of these areas, and you have an increased opportunity for partnership success, and an opportunity to follow the money, connect the dots, and allow the door to open because people want to meet and work with you.

»> Follow the Money + Credibility + Activity  = Revenue

Following the money allows for better, more efficient, and purposeful activity. Understanding who needs and wants your help, and can potentially afford it, coupled with timing makes for a more fruitful business development process. If you learn to understand your market and listen to it, you’ll develop into a much better business, sales, partner, operations, talent, procurement, finance or leadership professional. And you’ll be a valuable asset to your organization because you’ll not only provide value in your role, but be a business developer from any seat.

Work for a great organization, or build one, and believe with purpose to elevate it to its fullest potential. Follow the money, follow your mind, follow your heart, follow what lights you up and energizes you. Follow up and follow through for your people and clients.

Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Please repost or share with someone who may benefit from this edition.

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