Dos and Dont's of Building strong internal and external business relationships

It's important to build and maintain relationships with every department in the company so that they all support the effort to acquire, maintain and grow the customer base. You wouldn't want anyone getting in the way of that effort and you must have every employee on board of the ideology and willing to do what it takes to help accomplish your goals.  #customerservice is not just how we interact, deal with and serve our external customers - The same applies to our internal customers.

The higher level of customer service leads to better relationships - Close-knit - Stronger organisational culture - better service - extraordinary results - great satisfaction = business growth.

In addition to your internal relationships, it is equally important to develop relationships with all of your key customers. Not just the big customers, but the accounts that could become big, the centres of influence, and the ones you simply couldn't bear to lose. As I have mentioned in my earlier articles, everyone wants your customer - it's up to you to keep them in your corner.

Old habits die hard - When employing a new salesperson, many employers tend to make the same costly mistake over again - looking for a salesperson with a large network and customer base and minimum experience of 5-10 years in the exact industry doing the same thing. Remember this - They are not your clients or your customers and they do not have a true relationship with your business. They are your employee clients and customers and their existing relationship is with your employee - not with your business.

Instead focus on finding and employing a salesperson who can build relationships from scratch for you, sell and provide superior customer service while you take care of maintaining the relationship with your customers. Your relationships with these customers are crucial in the event that the salesperson leaves the company. Your relationship with that account may be the only power you have to retain that business!

In regards to sales and customer service staff, measure their performance by the numbers, not from the sentimental or emotional aspects. Use the relationship and the respect you have earned to improve the performance and provide constructive feedback and motivation. The keyword here is earned-respect is earned not a given right. There isn't a person in the company who must work more on developing relationships than sales and upper management.

When it comes to building long term business relationships, there is one misconception: Developing a business relationship does not mean that one should, must or shall become friends. It simply means that you are working an interpersonal association between two individuals; based on REITH - Respect, Empathy, Integrity, Trust, Honesty

While it is inevitable that a friendship will evolve here and there, that is not and should not be the end goal.  Friendship compromises rather than enhance your ability to be effective in sales and in business. I guess we all have a " Lesson Learned" in this department.

If you have learned a lesson in the past - please share with us in the comment section below.

What's your take on Do's and Dont's in business relationships?

Thank you

Do's and Dont's in Building strong internal and external business relationships. 

#oranisationalculture #business #relationship #businessgrowth #management #leadership #sales #customerservice #coaching #mentoring