If you want to grow your business you need to grow your relationships. Your relationships are the foundation. The larger the foundation, the greater your capacity for growth becomes. So what’s the best way to build these relationships? Here are four essentials to get you started and if you’ve been around us for any amount of time you’ve probably heard these before. If you’ve heard these before, the next question is… Have you implemented these things into your daily activities?
The 4 Essentials:
Be Positive: The first non-negotiable in business is to have a positive or professional attitude. If you can’t be positive about where you work then your time there has run it’s course. It’s time for a change. Your attitude affects your coworkers and it affects your customers. A negative attitude will damage your relationships as well as the organization’s relationships with its customers. Focus on the strengths of your coworkers and your company. Know what your organization does best and promote it.
Be Persistent: Statistics show that 80% of employees quit offering a product to the customer after the first attempt and 80% of customers purchase after the fifth contact from an employee. There’s a disconnect. To build relationships you must persist in your efforts to match the customer with the right product at the right time. If you truly believe what you’re offering the customer is the right thing then why would you even consider quitting after the first attempt.
Be Organized: Have a plan. Write things down. If you’re still using the “sticky note” system then you’re really not organized. Do you have a systematic plan for staying in touch with your best customers? Do you utilize a personal as well as a team calendar. One of the biggest excuses we hear for not taking time to build relationships is… “I don’t have time”. If you ever use this phrase you probably aren’t organized. We all “have time”, some of us are just better organized than others.
Be Team Oriented: Understand that everything you do impacts those around you and the team as a whole. Your attitude, your persistence and your level of organization impacts the team positively or negatively. Consider this… are you a “net gain” or a “net drain” on the organization. Are you abiding by the “non-negotiables”? Are you an advocate of your organization? Managers, are you matching talents to tasks on your team? As you go about your day, consider how your actions or inactions are impacting your team.
To Be or Not to Be… which will you Be?
