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Building relationships to grow your business

Today is the kind of day where I wish inspiration came out of my shower. I’m no business owner and I don’t have any sort of marketing degree behind my name.

I can tell you however, that a business is only as good as the client it serves, and no business gets far after losing the clients it had.

I promise you that not all of my thoughts come from the shower.
I do think out of the box too.

The key to success is building relationships that go beyond one-time projects and provides value to these clients on a consistent, ongoing basis. You have to learn the rules of the game and then you have to play better than anyone else.

Building business relationships are not like any other relationship with a partner, No. It is much more than that.

Money can’t buy one of the most important things you need to build your business, Clients. You can’t have a million dollar dream with minimum work ethic.

How do customer relationships drive your business? It is all about finding people who believe in your product or service. How are you going to do this? You develop relationships with people who don’t just understand your particular expertise, product or service but who are excited and buzzing about what you do.

Relationships have a short shelf life. “There is nothing i can’t do, except reach the top shelf. I can’t do that.” Don’t be that guy! For crying in a bucket, get the ladder and reach the top. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they come home from networking events and fail to follow up. Make the connection immediately, It’s easier to keep a connection warm than to warm it up again once the trail goes cold.

I would now like to share my knowledge on how to build client relationships:

When you make the right connections you’re much more likely to be a success. E-mail marketing keeps a work relationship strong on a shoestring budget.
Build a reputation by giving away free insight. Come on who doesn’t love free things?

Make the E-mail interesting and worth the read, most important make connection with the same people that shares the same interests and goals as you.

Reward loyal customers and they will reward you, for example the CEO at Leads 2 Business will host a lovely golf day for all our clients. Make them feel special and appreciated.
Once you show them, that appreciation they will be around for a very long time.

The saying, “Give and you shall receive” goes a very long way when it comes to this.

Own it, this may be the most difficult skill to master because it hits home morally and shows your human side. When something goes wrong you may have to take the bullet even if it wasn’t your fault or the company’s fault.

If it was you or the company that was in the wrong being respectful and honest shows vulnerability and the ability to take criticism that goes with being wrong.

Step in without being asked, it is easy to help when you are asked. Most people will. People who build client relationships pay close attention so that they can tell when others are struggling.

Offer to help, not just to build a good relationship with your client base, but because you care.

With all this said I would like to remind you to be authentic.

Be genuine. Be real.

Here is a quote for the day:

By being remarkable, being genuine, you can be worth connecting with. And you don’t have to have it all figured out perfectly the first time – you can adjust.

~ Seth Godin ~

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Sources:
https://youinc.com/content/leadership/building-relationships-to-grow-your-business-in-five-easy-steps
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthaharrington/2017/06/30/how-to-build-strong-business-relationships/#76dd6859356f
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296469

About Sonet van Wygaard

I started working at Leads 2 Business in 2014. I was part of the Tenders Africa team and moved to Projects in 2019. I love every second of it!

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700 000 Tenders

On the 28 May 2018, Leads 2 Business celebrated the publishing of our 700 000th tender notice.

And like the publishing of the 600 000th, the 500 000th and all the big milestone tenders that have come before; I laugh at how fleeting the moment is. In fact, between that moment and now; L2B has published an additional 2000 plus tenders. Being then asked to write a blog article on this occasion, seems a bit late to the party.

Were we surprised by hitting that number? No. We’ve been looking out for it for awhile. In fact, we were hoping to hit it the Friday before.

The fact is, we’d hit 700 000 at some point. It’s guaranteed, like death and taxes. So whether we publish one tender a day or 100 tenders a day; the milestones will come. Does that diminish the accomplishment? No. The accomplishment doesn’t lie in the number. It’s taken years to get to this point. Numerous staff, current and past, have contributed by doing what needs to be done. Getting the work in, and getting the work out.

The usual words bandied about concerning the publishing of tenders is monotonous, routine, repetitive. I can see you’re just chomping at the bit, to become part of this exciting and glamourous data capturing world. Like all things, it isn’t that straight forward or that simple.
I’m a huge advocate of “It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it”. How you do something speaks volumes, and that “how” can be applied to any aspect of your life.

When attempting to come up with an approach for this article, two words kept cropping up; namely “consistency” and “preparation”. Consistency gets a bad rap. It’s usually lumped in with the “repetitive” and “monotonous” crowd. There’s nothing exciting about being consistent, clearly. But that’s what 700 000 tenders represents; consistency. What we did yesterday, is what we have to do
today. And hoping against hope, that’s something to be proud of.

Now, I’m a creature of habit. I like routine, and cannot abide surprises. My skill set is better suited to thoughtful preparation, rather than “fly by the seat of your pants” recklessness (much to the chagrin of those I work with). So I recognise when my colleagues also show consistency in their work, recognise that it isn’t always an easy process. Being reliable in this day and age, is hard and rare.

Preparation comes from seeing the bigger picture. It isn’t only today, that needs to be handled. Coming in early, and skipped lunches, staying late, doubling up to compensate for Public Holidays and downed websites, supporting colleagues and actively carrying your own weight day in and day out. These decisions are made throughout L2B (in every Department) every day to meet targets, meet and even exceed expectations and strengthen our internal Culture of Excellence. Scoff all you want. But like I said; it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. And quite frankly, if you want to be good at anything in your life; accept consistency and preparation and be better for it.

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”
– Aristotle.

So let’s see if our habits get us to 800 000 by February 2020.

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To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit our Wiki site.
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About Claire Donaldson

I started working at Leads 2 Business in February 2005, and have served as Head of Department of Daily Tenders from 2007 until the present. I oversee both the Daily Tenders South Africa and Africa Departments.

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