Think back to a time you made an important purchase.
All things considered equal, did you buy in favor of the sales clerk or representative you felt the strongest connection with?
The success of your business ultimately boils down to the strength of the relationships you have with your clients and customers, business peers, vendors and support staff.
Do you know the lifetime value of your clients? In other words, do they usually buy once a year, once a month and for how long before they no longer need your product or service?
During the course of your relationship with them, how much revenue will you generate?
Say for example the lifetime value of each client is five to ten thousand dollars. Would it make sense to do everything necessary to keep them for that lifetime?
A recent U.S. study confirmed that 68 percent of customers are lost due to perceived indifference. They have little sense of relationship with the seller which translates to a weakened sense of loyalty.
Product price was a distant second accounting for only 14 percent while death, moving, buying from a friend and being sold by a competitor made up the remainder.
Knowing also that it costs significantly more to find a customer than to keep one, would you also agree that having a strong relationship with your ideal customers would lead to referrals of other high quality customers?
The relationships you build with your clients and customers are key to longevity, quality referrals and reduced acquisition costs, but it doesn't end there.
Relationships with members of your business community determine the amount of referrals, exposure, joint ventures and strategic alliances you create. By showing a genuine interest in creating success for others, you will be invited onto committees, into mastermind groups and select memberships.
Word of mouth is a double-edged sword. It can be a powerful business builder or a deadly business crusher and how you relate to your peers determines that outcome.
The same goes for vendors. Showing gratitude and appreciation for their efforts goes a long way in generating exceptional service, timely shipments and their going the extra mile to meet or exceed your expectations.
And whether your support staff is a virtual assistant a thousand miles away, or your retired Aunty Betty next door, the amount of appreciation, acknowledgement and confidence you show in them will translate to pride in their work and commitment to your success.
What are you doing to create strong, long lasting relationships with the people who will either add to or lessen your levels of success?
Mark the words of Maya Angelou, "People will forget what you said and will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
Make a commitment to build stronger relationships starting today and your business will be greatly rewarded.
2007 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source Laurie Hayes, founder of The HBB Source, and creator of The Complete 12-Step Guide To Starting A Home-Based Business and The HBB Survival Guide, helps freedom seekers fast track their journey from employee to home-based entrepreneur. Get her free ezine packed with helpful resources at www.thehbbsource.com
It's All About Relationships - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Hayes's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 The risk of business relationships being personal
|
| |
 A young woman came up to me at a talk I was giving last weekend in LA and asked "What if you try to treat business relationships as personal relationships and people use personal things about you against you in busi...
|
|
Some are naturals, but everyone can get better
|
| |
We were recently doing Relationships for Revenue Growth training for some of the sales force of a large technical company, and throughout the day, we had great discussions about the power of turning business relatio...
|
|
Something you have, not something you do
|
| |
I'm always trying to find ways to stop saying "Networking." (It's about RELATIONSHIPS, folks!) Never Eat Alone reader Chad Cheek gave me some simple but powerful ammunition.
|
|
Networking – A major element of success for your business
|
| |
It is a well-documented fact that relationships are important for business success. But many people do not have the time to build relationships because they are too busy running in the rat race. People who do not b...
|
|
Relationship Building - 5 Tips and 5 Questions
|
| |
By building great relationships in your organisation, you will shift the baseline way up. So that when you need to manage, it will be much easier. Think how climbing a mountain from sea level is so much harder than ...
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
