Business Relationships
Developing healthy business relationships helps you to increase your sales, meet people with new ideas and create a profile for your firm. It does not matter what type of business you are in; constructing better business relationships with clients and contacts takes time. Here are some useful tips for building better relationships.
Set Goals
You should know what you want to accomplish from a particular business relationship. Do you want to meet up with potential clients, suppliers, potential referrers or job applicants? Setting goals will assist you in evaluating which business relationships are worthwhile.
Be Prepared
Have an open mind and a professional approach. Always bring your business cards and be prepared to explain what your business does using a short “elevator pitch”. A smile and a proper handshake always help too.
Join Local Business Organisations
Your Chamber of commerce, industry related groups, business organisations and local charities are all great places to begin making contacts. When attending meetings, be sure to mingle. Don’t focus all of your time and attention on one or two people – work your way around the room. Ensure that you obtain contact details from those you have been talking to, and follow this up soon after the event with an email or LinkedIn invitation.
Harness Technology
CRM systems and social media can assist in keeping track of your business contacts. You can set up alerts and reminders to keep in touch with your contacts and build email distribution lists in order to keep your contacts informed about your products, services, offers etc.
Connect Offline
Linking on social media is a fine start, but in order to build proper business relationships you need to invest some time in meeting face to face. Set a target to meet, say 10, business contacts per month for a coffee and a general chat.
