Business feeds on building relationships.
What begins as a just a one-off sale of something small can build into a relationship that lasts for many years. You should never think of a sale as a single event. It could be the beginning of a long standing business relationship and if done correctly and professionally, the relationship never ends. Nor is it just about you selling things to a client, although that obviously helps your profits. You’re providing a service, but maybe you can recommend the client to someone else? That’s networking in it's simplest form, everyone helping everyone else.
What creates a good working business relationship?
In an ideal world, every business relationship long-lasting one. Hopefully some of these contacts can be made on ziizu. But the world isn’t perfect, so many business relationships are short term for a number of reasons. It could be because the client isn’t satisfied, doesn't have the needfor an ongoing business relationship, or perhaps because you didn't communicate properly and so a potential opportunity was lost. These are all missed opportunities. A real working relationship involves good communication. It’s built up over a period of time, with give and take, providing good service and help. The client might refer you to others who can use your goods and services, and you will recommend them to others with whom you do business – taking care, of course, to ensure that the client receives good service. What you’ll find is that your relationship is more likely to be with a single individual, or a few individuals, rather than with an entire company. They’re your contacts and represent the company to you and in return you represent your company. On that personal level they can call and ask you for favours, information and so on, and you can do much the same with them, and boost each other’s business.
The main factors for a successful business.
The most important thing you can give a client is of course great service. A good relationship with a client is built on ongoing excellent service that’s appreciated. Yes, all clients should receive excellent service, but it’s just a fact of life that with some people you build a relationship and with others you simply don’t. As the relationships builds and lasts, offer the client some deals to let them know you appreciate their lasting business. Everyone likes a discount, especially if you combine it with continued excellent service. Use word of mouth to recommend your client in an appropriate situation. It might not be often, but also let the client know what you’ve done. That’s not only to avoid surprises later, but to give you brownie points with them – in return they may well recommend you to others, especially if your service has been everything you promised. Small things like Christmas gifts and promotional materials might not seem like a lot, but cement a business relationship. Often it can be little things that count the most so don't under estimate it.
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