A friend of mine recently began working for an IT company as a leader and business developer. On his first day the CEO gave him the following advice. “Think of your opportunities as trees. They are all of different heights with fruit that is either easy or hard to pick.”
What a great piece of advice. The concept of tall trees and low hanging fruit is regularly used in the business world, particularly in the realm of business development. But what do these metaphors mean, and how can they be applied to your business? Let’s take a closer look.
Secrets of tall trees
Tall trees are businesses that have a large, established market presence. These businesses have a lot of resources at their disposal and can easily reach new customers through their existing networks and marketing channels. Tall trees are often seen as difficult to reach. But once there, you find a wealth of opportunities for growth and success.
Mysteries of low hanging fruit
Low hanging fruit refers to opportunities that are easily accessible and don’t require much effort to take advantage of. These opportunities are often the quickest way to grow your business and can provide a fast return on investment. Of course, Low hanging fruit are found in a variety of areas, including customer acquisition, marketing, and product development.
Applying fruit and trees to business development
In business development, the goal is to find and take advantage of the right opportunities that will help your business grow. This means looking for both tall trees and low hanging fruit. Here’s how you can apply these concepts:
Identify Tall Trees: Start by identifying the tall trees in your industry. These businesses are well-established with a large customer base. Consider how you can work with them or learn from their success.
Find Low Hanging Fruit: Look for opportunities that are easily accessible and don’t require much effort to take advantage of. This could be a new market or customer segment with existing products or services. Or a new product or service that you can offer to your existing customer base.
Balance Your Approach: It’s important to balance your approach, so you’re not only going after the low hanging fruit, but also looking for ways to reach the tall trees. This could mean taking on a new challenge, investing in your business, or developing new skills to align with the needs of these customers.
Final thoughts on low hanging fruit
Ultimately, tall trees and low hanging fruit are two important concepts to consider when it comes to business development. By finding the right balance between these two approaches, you can ensure that your business is growing and developing in the right direction. So start identifying the tall trees and low hanging fruit in your industry, and start taking advantage of the opportunities that will help you grow your business.
Low hanging fruit
Are looking to begin your Business Development journey but are not quite sure where to start? Download my quick start guide to business development. This gives a series of simple activities to quickly set you on the right path.
For a definition of business development you can check out my take in this post here.
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