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Strategies for Relationship Building: Getting Back to Basics

Guest post by: Rita B. Allen

Article Overview: Building relationships with your clients, customers, employees, colleagues, managers, teammates and all other appropriate stakeholders is the core competency required in business today. You need strategies to do so in a proactive, strategic and deliberate manner. The key is to create your own formula that works for you and fits your style, approach and needs. The formula is made of many steps......

Strategies for Relationship Building: Getting Back to Basics

You could certainly plan and function more effectively if you had a crystal ball that would tell you what's on the horizon over the next six months, 12 and beyond.

The reality is, no one has crystal balls, magic wands or fairy godmothers to help navigate through these uncertain and complex times.

The magic, instead, lies in your ability to focus your business, whatever discipline you may be in, on the tried and true basics of building solid and long lasting relationships.

Building relationships with your clients, customers, employees, colleagues, managers, teammates and all other appropriate stakeholders is the core competency required in business today. You need strategies to do so in a proactive, strategic and deliberate manner.

The key is to create your own formula that works for you and fits your style, approach and needs. The formula is made up of the following.

Planning - 30% Include an even mix of strategy, execution, accountability and discipline - create your "formula" & stick to it! Steps required in the planning process:

Self Awareness - Be ready and able to articulate your personal brand, value-add, differentiating factors, goals and aspirations. Know yourself well - your strengths, interests, limitations, values and priorities. Empower yourself with this knowledge and exhibit the confidence of a self-directed, focused and purposeful business professional and/or owner.

Business Plan - Do your homework/due diligence; define your business strategy; set goals and objectives. Allow for flexibility and learning to evolve; revisit and adjust regularly as necessary.

Identify your "key contacts"- Create your "VIP" list of existing clients/contacts, hot prospects and other relevant sources of leads and information.

Create a Database of these Key Contacts - Maintain, update and enhance regularly!! Select a tool that also has a tickler system to assist with follow up and on-going contact management.

Develop your Annual Marketing Plan - Be specific, targeted, realistic yet creative; plan for monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual activities. Stay true to it - follow up and be accountable!

Sincerity - 20% Keep it real - be authentic and genuine:

Get to "Know" your Contacts and their Needs - What are your commonalities, similarities and differences? Reveal yourself; find shared interests as well as ways to complement and balance one another; initiate ways to assist each other address needs, concerns and challenges. Be a resource.

Listen Actively - Engage in dialogic communications. Show genuine interest in helping rather than trying to "sell" your services. Start a two way conversation and keep it going. Listening more than speaking always leads to attentive comprehension and effective consulting results.

Offer Your Time and Expertise - Extend yourself, your knowledge and your contacts as appropriate. Offer to help in a variety of ways without asking for anything in return. Act in ways that truly exhibit your passion and values. Exercise the "Golden Rule," common courtesy and professional etiquette.

Outreach/Visibility - 20% Every portion of each day should include communications of one kind with key contacts:

Maintain Regular and On-Going Contact - Stay in regular touch with key contacts via e-mail, telephone and in-person meetings. Be deliberate and planned with your efforts including specific timelines, activities and follow up. Send notes, book information, articles, links, make lunch/coffee dates, initiate introductions to others, etc. Follow up in a deliberate and systematic fashion.

Be "In Play" - Maintain your visibility in the marketplace. Attend professional association meetings, dinners and events; stay current on the market and industry trends; be well read and educated. Keep your name out there - write articles; conduct workshops and speaker presentations, be quoted in newspapers and trade journals. Network, network, network!

Execute Well-Defined Marketing Strategies - Craft and execute marketing strategies in a disciplined and methodical way. Identify a plan that is suited for your style and approach - stay true to it! Find ways to give back to your profession and community.

Credibility - 15% Follow through - deliver what you promise in a timely and consistent manner:

Focus on Quality - Walk the talk and deliver on your promises. Reach out to mentors and advisors regularly. Stay grounded and humble. Don't stray from your mission and vision yet stay open to new opportunities and business improvements.

Build a Solid Track Record and Reputation - Stay true to your mission; market yourself and your accomplishments regularly; advocate for yourself. Don't be afraid to promote your value add. Establish yourself as a subject matter expert and reputable advisor. Tell your stories of success, give client testimonials and quotes.

Patience/Resilience - 15% A long-term process that can't be rushed, there are no short cuts:

Long Term Mindset - Don't expect immediate gratification. Have a formula and stick to it. Gain momentum and never stop. Relationship building is a long term process to be viewed as laying a foundation and planting seeds for future growth and success.

Acknowledge and Celebrate Victories - Stay positive and optimistic. Once you reap the rewards and see benefits achieved, it all makes sense and you will be a believer in the process. Keeping your eyes on the ball creates a can-do attitude and the ability to endure the valleys along with the peaks.

This article was published in the March 2010 issue of Boston's Women in Business Journal.

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