Mary Kay Laird
Business Development Director, Supporting Strategies
“I've learned that the most powerful thing you can do in business is listen — really listen — before you ever try to sell anything.”
10
Clips
6
Quotes
4
Topics
13
Minutes
Business Development Director at Supporting Strategies who spent 17 years as COO at 4th Street Performance Partners — so when she talks to business owners about their pain points, she's lived every one of them. Mary Kay started at Deloitte, managed 401(k) plans at Fidelity, and was working from home in 2002 writing content for Fidelity's first website on dial-up internet. She's not a hardcore salesperson — she focuses on genuine fit, plants seeds rather than pushing, and screens for client mindset over industry. She loves the chaos of cleaning up messy books and seeing everything fall into place.
In Their Words
“Business development isn't cold calls and pitch decks. It's building genuine relationships and finding where your strengths match someone else's needs.”
— Mary Kay Laird
“I've learned that the most powerful thing you can do in business is listen — really listen — before you ever try to sell anything.”
— Mary Kay Laird
“The Cincinnati business community is special. People here actually want to help each other succeed. That's not something you find everywhere.”
— Mary Kay Laird
“I try to reassure them that it's okay not to know everything, because I couldn't do what you do. But what we do, we do well.”
— Mary Kay Laird
“Things come full circle. Your community will support you if over time you develop trust and you're present.”
— Mary Kay Laird
“Authenticity is the core of everything. People can sense when you're being real, and that's where trust begins.”
— Mary Kay Laird
Watch & Listen
“That came through trust, through referral, through genuinely caring about their mission.”
-- Mary Kay Laird
MORE CLIPS