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Invest Energy in Your Business Relationships

by

by
Rosemary O’Neill

Relationships take work

Strong relationships, both personal and business, take a consistent investment of energy over a long period of time. Anyone who is selling you “likes,” or Twitter followers, or other nonsense like that is not helping you build your business.

The Tickler File

I love to entertain. Part of the fun is making sure that each person who visits always gets their favorite things. My dad loves blueberries, but not ever baked into anything. My sister-in-law has a particular affection for those little white Russian tea cookies. But I could never hold all of that information in my brain, so I cheat a little. In my Evernote system, I have a “dossier” on each person who visits. It’s my relationship tickler file.

Invest Energy in Your Business Relationships

The most successful business owners and entrepreneurs have a strong network of relationships that they can call on when the chips are down. Liz refers to these as “the people who won’t let you fail.”

But these people don’t just appear out of nowhere. You must slowly build those ties over time, maintaining contact, learning about each other, having face-to-face conversations, and providing support to each others’ causes.

The quick hit of buying followers or making fake reviews will never cut the mustard in the long run. The random stranger who was paid to like your Facebook page won’t be there for you when you launch your new product.

Tips to Build Your Own Tickler File

  • Add notes to your contact system or CRM (e.g., “dog named Babs”)
  • Set up reminders either in Google calendar or in your CRM
  • Start noticing when people share preferences or details about their lives
  • Foster your sense of curiosity about other people, focus on them when they’re speaking, not on what you’re going to say next
  • Don’t just rely on the automated happy birthday status update; get creative and recognize people on days other

    • than their birthday

  • After you meet with someone, write down notes from the meeting for next time, so you can progress each time

How do you invest in your business relationships?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

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