Enhancing Business Partnerships

In this short video, Tim answers a listener's question about how to be a better business partner.

Transcript

Question: What tactical advice do you have for being a better business partner? For example, do you have tips for working cross-functionally with finance vs. sales, and how do you leverage those partnerships?

Answer: It starts with being a normal person. Put the lawyer hat aside for five minutes and learn to connect with people. Build those relationships really for the sake of wanting to build relationships with another human more so than that relationship being a means to getting something done. I do think that it's important that you approach, in the example you gave, sales vs. finance, I think it's important that you approach them differently. What I mean by that is you have to have an understanding of why they're asking you the question that they're asking and what they're trying to get at.

With sales, it's often deal-related. With finance, there's a myriad of things that they could be coming to you with. So having a good understanding of what these people are trying to accomplish and what role in that you actually play is really important.

And if you don't know, ask. Take the time to learn. Usually, people are more than happy to talk to you about why they're coming to you.