What is a Relationship and what does it really mean? What kind of relationships do we have in our business? Who do you want to be known for?
This question came up in an interview about growing your business with relationships. What does the work “relationship” really mean. After all, we can have many different kinds of relationships in our business.
What is a business relationship? a state of connectedness between people the friendship, contact, communications etc which exist between people. For business who transact business together.
What I do know is that your business is about relationships, as business comes from people, this is how business is circulated.
We can have relationships with suppliers, vendors, referral partners, co-operative or collaborative partners.
A Friend – is someone who you support and have their back, in other words you care about them and will back them. It will vary depending upon on what you personally feel a friend is. For example, someone on Facebook may feel another person that they don’t know very well as a friend. This to me, would be an associate or someone I would like to know more. Are we really friends? Are they willing to attend or share or come to my events? Are they willing to engage with me, have a conversation so we can get to know each other? Do they even want to be friends with me? Maybe, maybe not. This is something you need to decide for yourself.
A Colleague – could be a co-worker or someone you work with at work or on a project. Someone who may or not be a friend. Who have a common purpose and respecting each other’s abilities to work toward a purpose.
A Referral Partners are trusted people in our network who are willing to exchange to give us referrals, they are vital in helping us to grow our own businesses, the best way to get referral partners is to grow a team get my book here in how to do it. What makes a good referral partner?
Clients/Customers – who have bought from you one time or another and you definitely want to stay in touch with them.
Vendors or Suppliers – they supply you with services or products and if would great for you to stay in touch with them and develop a relationship with, as there maybe be times in which you can collaborate and share business with.
Whatever kind of relationship that you develop, they all take time and effort to maintain. You must be willing to give, share and support, not to just take, otherwise as I say, they will un-friend you. People will judge you by your actions, not by what you say. Who do you want to be known for?
Take what you want to be known for and go out and listen to people, stay in touch with them, is this always easy? No. However over time you will have some great people willing to support and help you. Have a goal to help 3 – 10 people a day.
