Early in my consulting career I started telling people the consulting business is a relationship business. I was right, just a little short sighted.

Actually all business is a relationship business.

All work is a relationship business.

All leadership is a relationship business.

And while our focus in this article is on business or professional relationships, I believe you could say, at some level, life is a relationship business.

Regardless of how you would say it, it is hard to overlook the importance of relationships in all of our professional endeavors.

Having stronger relationships creates less stress, promotes higher productivity, improves speed and efficiency and helps our work in almost every measurable way.

Like most anything of great value, strong relationships don`t just show up on their own. If you want relationships at all, let alone better ones, you must do something. You must do your part, take responsibility and do the things that will build relationships for mutual benefit.

While there are many things you can do to nurture relationships, the seven that follow are things you can do – right now. And, when done consistently, authentically and with sincerity, each will help you nurture and grow the professional relationships you desire.

Make it a priority. If relationships are important to you, you must make them a priority. I know you are busy. I know you have plenty to do. I know that unless there is a major problem or conflict, relationships won`t logically show up as an urgent item on your to-do list. (If you have conflicts or an issue, you need a different article!) If relationships really are important to you, put your focus and your calendar where your mouth is. Spend time doing the things that will build relationships, rather than neglecting them. Neglecting relationships lead to weed-filled garden results. What`s that, you ask? A big mess!

Care. If you want to nurture relationships, you have to sincerely care about people, their thoughts and feelings, and their well being. It is often said (and I`ve seen the quote attributed to different people) “People don`t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Your professional expertise and knowledge matters, of course, but keep it in perspective. When you do, let people know you care. And if you really don`t care, you need to think long and hard about why that is true.

Make connections. Connections come in many forms. On one hand we need to connect with people on things that matter to them. This, of course, starts with caring. We also can make connections for people with other people. Once you know their interests and needs, you can introduce them to others, connect them to resources and/or connect them to anything else that would help them.

Be trusting. Want more trusting relationships? Trust others. Look for opportunities to show your trust, knowing that people tend to live up to the trust placed in them. Will you occasionally be disappointed? Sure. But will you build relationships further and faster in every other situation (and perhaps even in the relationship where you are disappointed)? Absolutely.

Expect the best. Much like trust, you can expect the best of other people. People can tell when you are being cynical or have low expectations. People can also feel it when they know you believe in them and have confidence that they can succeed. Ask yourself – how often do I truly expect the best for others? And, when I do, do I let them know?

Listen. It seems so simple, yet it is most often overlooked. Think about any person you know, and realize that they likely yearn to be really listened to. Do you ever feel that way? And how do you feel about another person when they really listen to you? If you are like every person I`ve ever met, when you are listened to it strengthens the relationship with that person. You can do that for others – anytime (including right now). LISTEN!

Take the lead. Inherent in all of these suggestions is one important element. If you want to nurture relationships in whatever way you choose, you can go first. Relationships won`t grow unless someone takes action. Be the one to go first. Make the first move. Offer the olive branch. Make the apology. Ask the first question. You get the idea. Take the lead.

These are just 7 of probably 107 (or more) strategies you can use to nurture your relationships and help them grow. I encourage you to take personal responsibility for the quality and health of your relationships, today. All of these tools can help you take that responsibility and take your relationships to a higher level now – and forever.

Remarkable leaders know the quality of their relationships directly impacts their leadership success. That is why many leaders build their relationship skills – and all other facets of leadership – by participating in The Remarkable Leadership Learning System – a one skill at a time, one month at a time approach to becoming a more confident and successful leader. Get $748.25 worth of leadership development materials including two months of that unique system as part of Kevin Eikenberry’s Most Remarkable Free Leadership Gift Ever today at http://MostRemarkableFreeLeadershipGiftEver.com. Kevin is a bestselling author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://www.KevinEikenberry.com).

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Eikenberry
http://EzineArticles.com/?Seven-Ways-to-Nurture-Business-Relationships&id=4315175

The reason revenue stability is relevant to the topic of sheltering business relationships and personal asset protection is because when you shelter a relationship, your goal is to protect it from a bankruptcy court.

The word “relationship,” in this case, and with respect to the bankruptcy court, refers to assets that can be tangible or not so tangible. Suppose that you have spent 20 years building a safety supply business (you sell hats, goggles, fire extinguishers, gloves, etc), and during that time you have established relationships with the very best vendors in the business. You know the best vendors to purchase safety products from and the right person to talk to at those vendor businesses to get the best deals.

You have established personal relationships with all the right people in these businesses. And suppose that you have never created any purchasing contracts, so nothing is in writing. Suppose that if you had to start all over developing these excellent relationships, it would probably take you 10 or 15 years to do it all over again.

And suppose that if you had to start all over, you would immediately lose 20% from the bottom line because you would not be able to get all those great discounts. If your bottom line is 3 million then those relationships are worth $600,000 per year, and that could be huge. It is huge, percentage-wise, for any business.

And these numbers are realistic. In fact, vendor relationships can be so important that losing them could lead to the complete failure of a business.

The key here is that these relationships are worth money. These are assets to the business (and to you personally), and since these relationships are an asset, the bankruptcy court can take them away. And this is especially true if you have a file cabinet full of purchasing contracts or customer contracts. If this is the case, it is possible that these contracts could be seized by a bankruptcy court and sold to another safety supply company. However, these relationships are more difficult to convert into money. In any case, knowledgeable business persons understand the inherent value of business relationships.

To learn more about Business Turnarounds, Commercial Debt Reduction, or Business Management and other related topics, order Andre’s books directly from Amazon.com, or get details here: Andre Larabie

Andre Larabie is a published writer and successful business coach. Get a free excerpt from his book on commercial debt reduction at: http://www.AndreLarabie.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andre_Larabie,_Ph.D.
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-it-is-Important-to-Shelter-Business-Relationships&id=4265721

It is no secret that good relationships are the key to success in business. But in our increasingly online and virtual world, where relationships are more often than not conducted on Facebook and Twitter, it can be easy to forget the power inherent in a well-conducted business lunch.

Author Robin Jay does a great job of reminding us what an important business and relationship tool a professional lunch can be in this sincere and illuminating book. Though the idea of eating in front of someone you don’t know can be anxiety-inducing for some, Jay makes a convincing argument that the potential rewards more than outweigh the possible risks.

This book covers every detail of the business lunch transaction and the appropriate way to proceed when taking clients to lunch, from someone who clearly knows what she is talking about. Pointers include picking up clients for a first lunch (to make it easier on them and to avoid any confusion at the restaurant), how to discreetly pay for the lunch (including the smooth trick of paying in advance so that you can impress your guest by having taken care of everything), and a helpful list of things and topics to avoid (alcohol and politics).

Though the purpose of the business lunch is clearly to improve your success and your bottom line, the author never comes off as caring only about making money off of the people she takes to lunch. To the contrary, it is clear that her success in her field came about because she truly came to like and care about the people with whom she was developing business relationships, and her willingness to be a listening ear and a friend, through foul weather and through fair. If you are looking for a way to rejuvenate your client base and to close more deals, this is definitely a book you should read and take to heart. (Get your copy here!)

Article Source:  Sarah Beek

Many often wonder about whether social media is scalable, especially in light of the benefits social media delivers in terms of connections between businesses and their customers. In fact, as I noted here at the Huffington Post, social media is a return to what the neighborhood restaurant or “Mom and Pop” business has always done to succeed: maintain and strengthen relationships with customers.

If you are embarking on the use of social media as a trend or because you think it is the new media platform that can replicate what you used to do it is worth remembering that even 300 million televisions in American homes can’t fully bring a brand to life. If your focus is all about scale, reach, impressions and size, then you may be missing the benefits of the emerging era of real, interactive Web connections that enable businesses to have meaningful and valued relationships with its customers and other stakeholders. Proceeding down the old route may be just as likely to inflame customers as you are to induce them.

However, if you are thinking about social media from a customer centric perspective and looking at it as a means to transform your business of today with the intimacy of the Mom and Pop shop of the old days, then you may be thinking about how to also reach this state across a large scale operation. Just as a TV – or two or three – in every home doesn’t guarantee brand intimacy, neither does a computer – or two or three — in every house and all your office desks, lap, or hand for that matter.

So as long as we remember that intimacy, sincerity and customer relationships come first when we talk about social media, lets take a look at how size matters.

When the telephone was first invented and deployed, it was only for the few. Many could not imagine its use, or ubiquity – let alone business applicability, or even reliance. Today the telephone (wired and wireless) have become ubiquitous, full-featured – voice mail, conference calls, call forwarding etc – and virtually every business employee has one or two.

At Dell, we are scaling our social media capabilities across the business much like telephones became just a part of how you do business and connect with people you need to be in touch with to do a better job. Here are some of the principles we are following:

• Listening is a critical first step for any solid relationship. Through listening, identify the topics people are talking about. Those solid listening skills are best deployed in making sure the topics of conversation across the Web are routed to the people in your organization who should be aware of them.
• Think of the telephone operator who connected calls throughout your business or across town – before we put a phone on everyone’s desk and enabled direct dialing. Those telephone operators made sure to connect the conversations on the Web to the relevant part of your business.
• Getting plugged in and connected takes relevant customer clusters and puts them in touch with relevant parts of your business. This turns what was a massive, real-time, moving conversation, into a number of meaningful, substantive, manageable opportunities where business experts can listen learn and engage real time, bringing value and customer insight to what they do.
• What seemed more like a party line or a bad connection becomes individually connected calls.
• We adhere to a governance model that embeds social media across the enterprise – product and engineering teams, customer and tech support, sales, marketing, HR and more.
• What could be intimate, but may not scale, is the operator being expected to answer everyone.

By scaling social media with these tenets in mind, we can listen and communicate through “people-to-people” interactions that are relevant and personalized. As Chris Brogan advises, “People want the warm touch” and we expect to get even better at recognizing and embracing returning visitors to Dell.com, offering them personalized recommendations based on their previous behavior, connecting with them on Twitter and thanking our customers on a more consistent basis.

Applying these lessons to any business or brand of any size proves intimacy has value and brings a brand to life. Social media allows companies who follow these principles to learn and engage daily to build a better, bigger business and strong relationships with customers.

Article Source:  Social Media & Building Relationships

The goal of any professional marketing campaign should be to grow a customer base, and no small business owner can do this in a vacuum. The most successful marketers in any industry are those that are social and get out into their communities to meet people, particularly targeting those that make the big business decisions for potential clients, or are the gatekeepers to connecting with these key individuals. There are of course two main challenges involved in this process: figuring out where to find the people that are decision makers or can get to them directly; using the right tactics to speak meaningfully to these people with a strong, relevant marketing message.

Where Do the Gatekeepers and Decision Makers Hide Themselves?

For small business owners providing goods or services that are trying to build their client base, successfully marketing to those that will make decisions means knowing where they hang out, both during and after work hours. Many business owners only get these marketing tricks “sort of” right by failing to completely fine-tune their search. They throw out a huge net and say, “I want to find anyone that makes a decision about anything important within my target market.”For example, the owner of a small accounting firm that provides services to small medical offices might decide to attend networking events with hospital administrators or pharmaceutical reps. These events might connect this person to a lot of people that do make decisions for large hospitals and may have connections to smaller offices, but ultimately do not provide direct connections to the right decision makers and gatekeepers. These networking events might start relationships that over time indirectly connect the accountant to the right person through referrals, but when time is money, the months and years this might take are unnecessary time wasted. A better fit would be to find a local conference, trade show or meeting place well-attended by doctors or administrative assistants working at small medical practices and go straight to the source.The most efficient marketing tricks will always be those that produce the highest number of qualified, viable leads. Small business owners that are great at getting these leads are those that know the specific problems of their target clients inside and out and can explain how their products or services help solve these problems in a way no other similar product or service available can. Being able to accurately find the places those that make purchase and contract decisions and delivering a marketing message that resonates in an appropriate setting where the target customer or client will be receptive is one of the best small business marketing strengths anyone can have.

The Gatekeeper or Decision Maker Is Not Instantly Interested

The harsh truth is, no matter what industry a small business owner is in or what product or service he provides, his/her target clients don’t have to and will likely not care about the average – and even above average – sales pitch that comes across his/her desk.

Everyone from administrative assistants – the standard “gatekeeper” at most companies – to company presidents, CEOs, CIOs, staff accountants or human resources directors get overwhelmed by hundreds if not thousands of people trying to sell their products and services on a daily basis. They are also typically pretty hip to age-old tactics of “tricking” them into standing at attention.

I often start my speeches by asking members of my audiences, “What business are you in?” I usually get a whole range of answers, even from within the same company, and they are very insightful. I really only ask the question to remind them of one thing — they are in the people business. We are all in the people business.

People do business with people they like. That’s it — not the lowest prices, the most established company or the one with the biggest budget or fanciest ad campaign. If we like and trust someone, they will get our business. We are all in the people business.

Building relationships has always been the foundation of any business, but it has become increasingly important as those relationships have become increasingly visible. The work life and home life line is blurred with social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn becoming new portals into our lives. People are talking about your company. Shouldn’t you be at least listening? Shouldn’t you really be part of the conversation?

There used to be a huge work/home divide. People actually used phrases like, “Never mix business with pleasure.” If you still find yourself thinking or saying this, you may want to find a new career.

I often tell people that I have the best job in the world, but I know it’s a lie. I get to travel around the country making people laugh and make them feel differently about the way they work. I love what I do, but it’s only the best job in the world for me. You may shudder at the idea of speaking to thousands of people. That’s good. You don’t have to be like me; you have to be like you.

The workplace is increasingly becoming a place for individuals to shine. We are no longer expected to be just a worker following procedures but a unique individual bringing ideas, passion and our own strengths. It’s a whole new way of working. It’s a whole new way of thinking.

I look at it this way. No matter who you work for, you work for yourself. Someone else may write your paycheck, but every action your take shows people who you are. As you change jobs or move companies, you take that reputation with you. You are building a brand. Our company loyalty is fickle; our people loyalty is intact. We do business with people we like.

Are you in a position that plays to your strengths and lets you be who you really are? I hope you are smiling and saying to yourself, “Of course I am; why is she even asking that?”

If you are not yet following your passion, ask yourself some questions: What comes easily to you? What would you do if you didn’t need the money? How would you like to be remembered?

Whenever I choose a company or an individual to work with — from my hairdresser to my biggest clients — I ask one question. Do you love what you do? It’s my measure of how good they are going to be.

Aileen Bennett is a professional speaker and author who is obsessed with communication. For more information, go to www.thatspeaker.com. She can be reached at aileen@thatspeaker.com.

Article Source:  Building Relationships

As a new computer solution provider you might not have been thinking pro-actively about the importance of business relationships. Once you realize how critical business relationships are to your business though, you simply need to dive in and get started.

Accelerate Your Business Relationships

If you want to accelerate the business relationship building process there really is no quick or fast cure. There is no magic pill you can swallow and overnight wake up with a strong network of business relationships.

Business relationships are a time game and a numbers game. You have to spend significant time to get reasonable numbers. Not surprisingly, the 90/10 rule applies to business relationship development. For every 10 hours of discretionary time, you should spend nine of those working on your business relationships and the remaining one hour, keeping up with IT technology.

If you really want to accelerate your relationship building, think about putting in a consistent 8 to 10 hours per week joining business organizations and getting active in them. Instead of going to 2 or 3 events a month with 20 or 30 people, go to 2 or 3 events a WEEK instead. If you do this you will meet 80-100 people and your odds of creating strong business relationships will increase greatly.

The Bottom Line on Business Relationships

Business relationships aren’t born overnight. Not knowing anyone or being new to an area are not justifiable excuses for not developing business relationships. The people won’t come to you so you need to commit to go to them. The more active you are in your community and in business organizations the higher your chances of making high potential business relationships.

Article Source:  http://businessorganizational.doodig.com/2010/03/24/business-relationships-build-them-when-you-dont-know-anyone/

Whether you are a business owner or a job seeker you have probably been told to network. Networking is often an important part of a marketing plan. Frequently people resist networking because it seems overwhelming and they are not sure how to do it. Others try it once with little success and decide that it is not worth the effort. Networking is one way to start to build relationships with people who can help you. Building relationships takes time. Going to a networking meeting is just the first step. Here are some tips to make going to a networking event easier and more productive.

1. Decide on the networking groups that make sense for you. Does the group attract your potential customers? Does it put you in contact with your strategic partners? Does it help you stay current in your field? Could you learn new skills that will help you find work or business? Meetings that involve potential customers or strategic partners get you in touch with your target market. Meetings that teach you new skills or keep you up to date can get you in touch with mentors and peers.

2. Once you decide on a group to join, become an active member so others will get to know you. Meeting someone once is just the beginning. You want to cultivate deeper relationships.

3. Arrive early to each meeting and leave time to talk to people after the meeting has concluded. Networking occurs before and after the meeting.

4. Be prepared to help others if you want help from others. Your openness is felt and will be appreciated.

5. Listen more and talk less. Ask people questions and get them talking about themselves and their business. Find out what they are struggling with or what they are celebrating.

6. If you exchange business cards with someone, write down the date of the meeting and what the event was on the back of the card. Jot down a couple of notes about what you talked about so you can refer to your conversation when you contact that person again.

7. Write a personal note to those you meet and add them to your mailing list or contact management system or spreadsheet. To keep the connection mail them an update, tip, or article once in a while.

8. Set some goals for the networking event. Who do you want to meet? How many contacts would you like to make? What did you want to learn?

9. Identify the movers and the shakers in the group. These are the people who know everyone else and can introduce you to others.

10. People are not really part of your network until you have a relationship with them. Some of those you meet you will want to stay connected with through email or regular mail. Others you will want to make an appointment with and talk to them via phone or in person.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alvah_Parker