Building Solid Connections With Your ClientsBy
Michael Cohn
The relationships that you share with your clients is the bread-and-butter of your business. If you aren't taking those connections seriously, it is certainly time for you to do so. You must initially establish a connection and then you will fortify that connection so that it is enduring and solid.
The process of building solid relationships
There is no doubt that it is not always so easy to build and maintain relationships with people on a professional level. When it comes to building relationships on a personal level, it may seem as though it is easier to accomplish and less stressful on the whole. However, sometimes, you may feel as though building solid business connections is another thing entirely. As a business owner, you may find that you are faced with some challenges that you didn't (or couldn't) anticipate. One of those challenges may be reconciling the idea that you want the other person to buy something. If you are involved in a relationship in which there is no ultimate goal, you will just move along nicely with the other person in that relationship. On the other hand, if you are in a relationship in which the other person understands that you have an eventual expectation that he or she will buy something (whether it is a product, a service, or both) at some point in the future, that will probably put more of a strain on the relationship. In that case, it needs to be really solid, to begin with.
The first thing that you need to understand is that in order to have a successful relationship with the other person and have any hope of that relationship lasting well into the future, you need to do certain things in the beginning so that it holds up and weathers any storm that comes along. The concept applies to all businesses, no matter what size. After all, you are dealing with human beings and human beings have feelings and needs, just like you have feelings and needs. That emotional connection must be your first objective. In fact, without it, you will not advance to the next step in the process. There are many different ways that you can approach relationship building and you will really need to see which approach works most effectively for you. However, one thing that is for sure is that you need to build relationships and build them well because your professional success depends on that. It always will.
Push the WIIFM? concept
No matter how amazing your products and/or services are and no matter how awesome you are, if you don't have the ability to consider the other person before everything else, you will not become successful. You must subscribe to WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) concept. In other words, you must learn to think differently than you may have been thinking up to this point. The other person's wants and needs are all that should be important to you and to your business. You should bear in mind at this juncture that if you are able to give the other person what he or she wants and needs, you, in turn, will get what you want and need at the same time (or shortly thereafter). When it comes to your website and other aspects of your online presence, you should make sure to have the other person in mind before you even develop any aspect of your online presence. If you are able to do that, you will be surprised at what positive results you are able to achieve.
Interaction is essential
Going back to the concept of connecting with human beings, it is important to understand that once you have established a connection, the next thing that you will want to do is to nurture that connection and make it as strong as it can possibly be. You will want to make your interactions interesting, compelling, and valuable. However, that doesn't mean that you can also make them entertaining and humorous if that is appropriate. People generally react well to that (unless, of course, they don't have a sense of humor)! Of course, you will be able to judge if a sense of humor is appropriate in any given situation. You can use your discretion and you will most likely be okay.
Show them your interesting personality
The fact of the matter is that many businesses nowadays are made up of relatively young people. That means that you need to speak their language. It is not a bad thing to think that young people think differently than more mature people but it is a fact of life. It is critical to your success that you find a way to establish enough common ground so that you can see eye to eye. Nothing is carved in stone. You try one thing and if that doesn't work, you try something else. Probably, you will touch upon the connection that works.
Try to see things from the other person's perspective
No matter what your age, you still need to be as flexible as possible, as long as you don't surrender your principles. Compromising to the point where you don't have anything left to yourself of your business will not do anyone any good at all. Embrace new concepts (if they make sense) and be open-minded when it comes to trends. On the other hand, if something doesn't make sense, there is nothing wrong with your communicating that (as long as you approach it in the right way).
Connect on a one-on-one basis
The truth is that human beings love to feel that they mean something to someone. If you connect on a personal level, you will establish that feeling and it will be one of the important drivers of the relationship. The more you engage with the other person, the stronger your relationship will become. Engaging online is fine but you should also create opportunities to engage in person, one-on-one. You may be surprised at how much your relationship will benefit from that.
Conclusion
Building solid connections with your existing and prospective clients will really pay off for your business eventually. Of course, just like anything meaningful in life, building a solid relationship takes effort and time but, if you do it right, you will get so much more out of it than you put into it. Remember to always respect the other person and to recognize how lucky you are to be sharing a relationship with that person. One final thought: you must be patient when it comes to building relationships. You will end up with something very valuable and very meaningful but you need to recognize that the journey is an important part of the experience as a whole.
Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies. Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company's Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity. He also reduced company travel and travel costs by introducing and implementing various collaboration technologies.
His expertise includes business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development.
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