I was chatting with a colleague recently about changes and trends in the world of sales, and he shared some insight with me that you might find valuable. My colleague is a vice-president of sales for an international firm based in Ottawa; in retrospect, his insight was painfully obvious, but it has changed how we here at Progress are thinking about future business opportunities.

His advice was this: follow the money. We talked for some time about what that actually means, and his take was that industry sectors are always changing, as are the markets they serve. The industries that are riding the waves of growth are those in which the most money can be found. So if you’re looking for sectors where you can prospect for new customers, all you have to do is follow that money.

What drives growth in the emerging sectors is both opportunity and capital; there are enormous amounts of global capital looking for the next new sectors to invest in. So when the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA) held its annual general meeting in Halifax in May, I had an opportunity to speak to some people who work in that world and a chance to hear where they are looking to find placements for their funds.

I learned that venture capitalists are looking at several sectors, but one in particular was on most people’s minds: technology. More to the point, the re-emergence of technology. And not just information technology, but also tech-nology that makes whole industries more advanced, productive, secure, and green.

Technology, then, seems to be a place to look for strong long-term growth potential. Other areas are the environmental and alternative-energy sectors. Those sectors

contain billions of government dollars and equal amounts of private capital, and they will be in play until the entire planet is green.

Energy is also perceived as a strong sector, and there’s lots of money already there. So while it may be a given for most investors to pursue the fossil-fuel energy industry, it’s going to continue to be a place where money flows and companies with good products or services can successfully sell. Health care, biosciences, and life sciences are major destinations for both government and private investment. People are living longer than ever, and a greater awareness of health issues and how science addresses them will drive growth in this area for years to come.

One area that is of great interest to investors and that is in the early stages of development is technology-driven education. Universities, community colleges, and private companies have been exporting training and educational programs for several years, but with the growing markets for education in Africa, India, rural China, and South America, the opportunities in the ed-ucation sector are going to become extremely attractive.

Finally, a few people at the CVCA conference insisted that transportation is becoming a hot sector for investment, particularly in the short-sea shipping, rail, and technology companies that are driving new efficiencies and global opportunities into an older sector. So if we were to consider how to “follow the money” in a sales strategy, these sectors would be a good place to start. The industries are hot. Capital is flowing in, and suppliers’ needs will continue to grow.

Follow the money. It’s simple but sound advice.