Your ability to build and keep relationships is likely showing up in your business results. I am always inspired by companies with stand-out retention rates and high percentages of employee new hire referrals. I have always loved learning from top producers and high impact CEOs about their success. In both of these scenarios, excellence in relationship building stands out. Relationship building is not a soft skill thing, it is a stand-out skill that accelerates impact on results and is so fulfilling. Great relationships solve a lot of problems, be it a quick referral to fix something or a perfect referral to fill a gap. Always be advancing your relationship building skills.
Here are some best practices that I’ve pulled together over the years to sharpen what I teach and practice around relationship building in business.
1. You need vision.
First, you need to know WHO your potential strategic relationships are and when you meet them you must paint a vision for how you will help each other. Right fit is so important. If you have not thought through who first, sustainability most likely will not be present. When two people or parties have abundant opportunities to help each other, the vision can be so bright.
2. Always focus on the win-win.
In order for any relationship to sustain, both parties have to be fueled by the time spent engaging in the conversation and activities. Every meeting agenda is designed for both parties to win and accountability systems are in place to help each other stay committed to success on both sides.
3. Make it simple.
Help others help you. This could be anything from providing copy and paste templates or giving a platform to share your relationship’s thought leadership. If both parties make it simple for the other to help, you’ll see a lot more activity.
PeopleForward Network is going to start a mastermind-like learning session to help us all get better at relationship building together and advance our business results. Interested? Email me at: nikki@peopleforwardnetwork.com
