15 Jul 09 Building Lasting Business Relationships

Building up lasting business relationships with clients is the best and most surefire way to strengthen your business, and ensure future growth.  Through managing and building relationships that you already have, the company gets a better reputation, and also helps you grow as you keep the old clients in addition to adding new ones.  Long lasting business relationships can be hard to manage at times, but the payoffs are well worth any of the headaches on your road to setting that foundation.

When you’re attempting to set up what could be a long term relationship between your company and a client, one of the first things to remember is to always keep a certain amount of your focus on them.  Never forget about former business associates in your quest to gain new ones, as that will make you stray away from your guaranteed business.  It’s never a good idea to give up a guaranteed client by threatening your relationship with them using a new marketing campaign to attract new clients, that doesn’t focus or apply to them.  Never forget the people that helped you in the past.

One way to end a relationship quick is to make promises you cannot keep, as that’s essentially the same as lying, and nobody wants to be lied to, especially in a business relationship.  Only make commitments to your clients that you know you or your company are capable of keeping/following through.  This way you don’t raise expectations to unrealistic levels from your clients, and you are always given goals that you can achieve, making yourself look all the better to an established clientele.

Always ask for feedback, this way you can learn what a client is expecting from you or your company.  This will also allow you to correct any inadequacies that they may see within your corporation, saving a client that may have gone elsewhere had you been left unaware and unable to fix a problem that they had.

Finally, have fun.  Clients are more likely to stay with a company enjoy the work that they are doing, as it shows a vested interest in the goals that they want you to accomplish.  Nothing shows your willingness to provide a client with their desired outcome, like your desire to do your job.

Tags: Building Relationships, Business Associates, Business Relationship, Business Relationships, Clientele, Commitments, Headaches, Inadequacies, Long Term Relationship, Marketing Campaign, New Business, New Marketing, Payoffs, Promises, Reputation, Unrealistic Levels