Why You Must Continuously Develop Relationships
A lot of time is spent educating salespeople on how to establish and foster relationships with customers. But how do you build a relationship with someone who won’t even read your email, let alone have a conversation with you? This was one of the dilemmas discussed during a session at the BTA West event last month, and the answer reminded me of an anecdote my sister recently told me.
She was visiting L.A. – a place she talks about moving back to every now and again, as she still has many buddies there. When she arrived at the house of the friend she’d be spending the weekend with, she saw a piece of paper on the bed of the guest room she was staying in. Naturally, she picked it up to read it, at which point she discovered it was an application – to her friend’s employer.
We’re in a recession. My sister already has a job. And yet here she found herself being offered an opportunity many would kill to have right now – and hers would come with a current employee’s recommendation to boot.
This is the power of relationships. Build strong ones, and the opportunities that might be thrown your way are virtually endless. Good old-fashioned friendship paid off for my sister, and those in the MPS business who attended BTA West were encouraged to put forth efforts to network and develop such fruitful relationships among peers as well.
How? Participating in any kind of community – and during this season, it’s especially easy to get involved with a nonprofit organization or charity – has benefits that extend well beyond the service you give to the group. Establishing relationships – perhaps even friendships – with people who aren’t in your field gives you not only a more well-rounded sense of the world, but may someday put you in the position to be recommended or sponsored in with a new client looking for someone reputable or maybe even with that customer you’ve been chasing who previously refused to return your voicemail (because it really is often a smaller world than you think). After all, a coworker probably isn’t going to pass a job offer they qualify for on to you, and a competitor likely won’t recommend you to a potential customer of his or hers, but a friend you made participating in a sport or hobby might do either or both.
Granted, this is not why we form relationships with other people initially – we do it for the fun of it, which incidentally makes it a lot more comfortable than cold calling and other awkward situations that require “building rapport” – but it’s a wonderful perk! You never know when the relationships you’ve built in your life might pay off beyond the immediate joys of camaraderie and connection they bring. So while you attend your conventions and training, working on your relationships within the industry, don’t forget to foster those outside of it as well – and always continue to forge new ones in both arenas.
Posted by Raegen Pietrucha on 12/13/2011