We are all busy people. It’s one thing to realize you need to devote time to nurturing relationships and another thing to actually do it.

“If they like you, they will listen to you. If they trust you, they will d business with you.” – Zig Ziglar

Maybe you don’t see a lot of benefits to investing time in networking or getting to know business contacts or customers. But let’s approach this from another angle. Maybe you don’t feel passionate about relationship building, but what about your customers, staff, vendors, ect. How might they feel?

There are many business leaders that simply refuse to work with clients who don’t have time for them. Key partners or staff may feel the same way. When you make time to get to know others, even if just a few minutes, you are sending a clear message that they matter, that they are valuable to you.

Remember, you are going to be working with these people quite a bit and putting a high level of trust with any client/customer or personnel, make sure the relationship is solid before you dive into the professional side of things.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

11 WAYS TO BUILD SOLID, STRONG, LASTING BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

It takes a dedicated amount of time and energy to build good, strong lasting business relationships today. They are such in an integral and necessary part of success, but people don’t seem to want to put in the work.

Here are ways to build lasting business relationships in today’s professional world:

1. Be Authentic – Be who you are and accept others as they are.
2. Identify Shared Goals and Values – We seek out people in life we like, share similar goals and values with.
3. Develop Mutual Respect – We prove ourselves over time and through different activities and experiences.
4. Share Some Vulnerability – We are human and sometimes that means sharing and supporting people through difficulty, challenge, and change.
5. “I’ve Got Your Back” – Let people know that you have their back as a way of showing loyalty to them.
6. Make Meaningful Connections for People to Network with Each Other – The greatest compliment in business is a referral.
7. Get More Personal – If you really want to get to know people, ask them to go for coffee/drink so that you can talk more personal one on one. (Ask for a Zoom call-virtually)
8. Plan Something Fun to do Together – Be willing to go out and do something fun together that may not have anything to do with work.
9. Let Go of Expectations – Always go into a relationship with an open mind, realistic expectations and never assume.
10. Schedule Brainstorming Time – Block out dedicated time to brainstorm, engage and do business together.
11. Offer Something Before Asking for Something – When we educate, help and inspire others with our experience and expertise, we are building the foundation for trust that underlines relationships that endure.

How we see ourselves isn’t always how others see us. Truly understanding our personalities and how we are perceived can spell the difference between success and results.