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While creating quality, unique, and problem-solving products are keys to growing your business, building a positive business relationship with your target market is also an essential factor to consider in growing and succeeding in your business. Business networking is a genuinely effective way to market your business. As I have said before, my first-ever clients in my digital marketing business were people I already knew. They trusted me enough to help them with their small businesses because I have built a positive relationship with them during the time we know each other, and they already know what I do.
Relationship building goes beyond responding to your business emails and running email marketing campaigns. This is a process that includes building a positive experience and creating an opportunity for communication, trust, and mutual growth with your target market, employees, and the community around you.
Relationship Building with Your Clients
Building a strong relationship with your customers requires time, effort, and a genuine desire to connect with your clients beyond a transactional level. One of the effective strategies to attract and maintain clients is to enhance your customer experience. Remember, client retention is the leading business behind creating a positive relationship. Here are a few tips for building a relationship with your clients:
- Listen actively. Your clients want to feel heard and understood. You need to actively listen to their concerns, needs, and feedback to show that you value their opinions and care about their experiences.
- Respond promptly. When your clients reach out with questions or concerns, you should respond promptly and professionally. Try to build a rapport with your clients to make your clients comfortable in reaching out to you.
- Stay in touch. You have to maintain regular communication with your clients through email. or social media. It will keep your business top of mind and will allow you to continue building relationships with them over time.
- Sure, your relationship is a business one – but they are also a person. Ask them about their family, their weekend, their hobbies. Tell them a bit about yours. Be people.
You can create a loyal client base when you focus on building strong relationships with your clients. They will not only continue to support your business, but they will recommend it to others.
Building Relationships with Your Employees
Your employees, contractors, and other people who work with you in your business are also reflections of your brand and marketing strategy. Working with people who share the same values and goals as you and your business is very important to your business reputation. As your business grows, your team will also grow with you. Creating a positive relationship with your team is as important as creating one with your clients. You should improve communication channels, listen to their ideas, empower them to make decisions and make them feel appreciated. When you foster positive employee relationships, you can retain employees, which also saves on operational costs.
Relationship Building with the Community
Your business community is a larger part of your business than you imagine. When I started my business in 2019, I started building relationships within the community where I live, as well as in online communities. I started my business 6 months before COVID-19 hit the US, and navigated most of its growth through the midst of a global pandemic. As much as you would like to focus on retaining clients, the only way to ensure a consistent stream of new customers is to continue talking to people and building relationships with them.
One of the most effective ways to do this is to join and participate in Facebook networking groups – which is also called relationship marketing. The thing is you do not sell your services outright; instead, you genuinely share value in networking groups. You share your expertise on the services that you provide and answer questions related to your business expertise. This needs to be done to help people and get to know them, and trusting in the process that sales will come later.
As a business owner, you can also build relationships with your local community. For example, you can volunteer for local non-profit organizations, organize local networking events and seminars, host events, and more. Sometimes, you do not need to look far to find other people who need your services or products.
Building a positive business relationship with the people around you is key to your business growth, but it is also important to remember that your intention should be genuine. While you are doing this to grow your business, that shouldn’t be the primary focus. As I have said several times before, people do not want to feel being sold to at all times, and sometimes, they just want to connect with other people who understand their needs and are willing to help. And even more often, they may just want a friend to talk to. After all, we all did spend the better part of nearly two years mostly confined to our homes, right? It feels pretty good to get out there and be around people – prospective customers or not!
How you connect with your clients, employees, and your community, will be the foundation of the relationship you want to build. If you have successfully done it, you would not even realize that they already trust and respect you and your services. Building relationships takes time and effort, but the long-term benefits are well worth it.
