Building better business relationships

Business is all about relationships. It doesn't matter if you are a window cleaner from Wyoming or a Banker from Bakersfield, if you don't manage the relationships with your clients and customers you won't be in business for very long.

But how many times do you see and hear of poor customer service. The sales staff who are sullen, or talking about what they did on the weekend with their significant other rather than serving the people who are waiting? Every time you pick up the telephone, every email that you send, every face-to-face meeting says something about you and your business.

And we are all in business. You don't have to be a business owner to be in business. I have mentioned in a previous edition of DDOMM that we are all in the business of ourselves. If your CV reads like the yellow pages because you keep getting asked to leave, something tells me that you're not very good at being in business.
 
So how do you build a better business? And how can you can get people to buy into your business relationships (and every other relationship you have).

You can do it by FEAR....
- Have you considered what will happen to you and your family if you don't buy/have
- If you leave I will

You can do it by MANIPULATION....
- We have a special offer just for this week,
- Buy one get one free,
- 50-70% off - for this week only and we won't be repeating this kind of pricing ever again.

Internet marketers use this tactic a lot. Go to any of the motivational sites and you will see this kind of offer for "valued" subscribers.

Or you can get people to start and then maintain a business relationship with you because you are:
- Genuinely interested in their needs, wants and desires
- You are honest
- You have a genuine desire to help people.

The difference between the first two kinds of people and the latter kind is repeat business and the amount spent. People can and do see through manipulative tactics, they will eventually see through the fear you are instilling in their minds, and if everything you sell is dependent on price, then sooner or later someone else will come along and offer a cheaper widget, or one that lasts longer.

Yes the first two kinds of people will make money, you can make a lot of money from a fear driven society, but if you are in business then surely you don't want people to buy once, you would like them to come back to you, and you want them to bring their friends.

In order to build better business relationships, and to stay in the business of YOU Inc, you have to remember that you are not selling an abstract "thing" - you are really selling YOU.

The question is - Would you be willing to buy whatever it is you are trying to sell - from you?

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