Earlier this week I interviewed a potential new recruit for our business who saw the graphic and asked how much emphasis we actually put on that. On reflection my response was possibly too detailed and in hindsight maybe went on a little too long however the question made me really reflect on its meaning & how important it is in business for everyone. Every business no matter what industry they operate in needs to build rewarding relationships in some form or other, but how they go about it differs greatly. As a Sales Director working in the service sector, for me, the single most important factor for building relationships is trust.
After this, I seek to build relationships in a variety of ways, with the emphasis being mainly on the following;
- Meeting face to face, it is very hard to initiate or maintain a relationship remotely, no matter how great modern technology is.
- Treat others the way you expect to be treated in return.
- Make sure both sides have mutual benefit in doing business together.
- Tackle any problems head on & don’t let issues fester.
- Try to view your company through the eyes of your customers so that you understand their perspective enabling you to go the extra mile to maintain the relationship.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that any good business should seek to build rewarding relationships internally too, it’s not something that just applies to customers. We work really hard to create the best possible conditions to cultivate meaningful long lasting connections and we have reaped the benefit of this, both by having several members of our team that have been with us for many years, as well as resulting in 70% of our business being repeat business. Building Rewarding Relationships is vital to any successful business.
