Part 2 of a 3-Part Series: How to Build A Relationship, Not Just A Network By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions Photo by fauxels from Pexels How often have you wanted to quickly connect with someone to solve a critical business issue and didn’t know where to turn to get that help? Or, would you like to know how to develop more quality relationships that potentially create your own good timing and luck? If either of these sound like you, then keep reading! I recently interviewed my referral partner and friend, Frank Bonura, also known as The Connector, to discover some insights around this whole topic. This is the second of three blogs on the topic of How to Build Relationships, Not Just a Network. Please note: if you'd like to watch a video version of this interview, click here. Kathy: Welcome, Frank, it's great to have you here today! Frank: It’s my pleasure, and thank you for calling me a thought leader! Kathy: Well, that’s who you are when it comes to developing amazing business relationships! Tell me…what are the two primary benefits in creating and nurturing a relationship base? Frank: The first one is this: The more people you know and the larger and deeper your base relationships happen to be, that increases your ability to be a resource for others. And being a resource is what enables you to nurture your relationships. We know if you don't nurture your relationships, you just have a network of strangers. The second one is this: You actually end up creating your own good timing and luck. For instance, imagine you’re at home and you need something. What do you do? You call your friends. We all do that if we’re looking for a particular service or whatever it might be; we call our friends—our relationships—the people we trust and respect. Same thing happens at work. When a business owner or business leader needs something at work for their business, they reach out to their friends, to their relationships with people that they trust and respect. What's worked for me is having a deep and broad base of relationships. I don't care what your station in life is, as long as you're a quality person, this what I’ve found to be true: the more people I know, I stack the odds in my favor that when a business owner or leader calls one of his or her friends, that friend is going to know me. And that could mean some opportunity for me, either personally or professionally. That’s what’s worked for me. Kathy: speaking of creating your own good timing and luck, something similar happened to me several years ago with one of my best clients. I had been nurturing a relationship with a referral partner for quite some time. We had a meeting one week and that very same week, one of her clients reached out to her and asked: “Hey, do you know anybody that can work on this type of project we want to get started one?” She immediately thought of me and made the introduction. Within three minutes of meeting my future client, he hired me on the spot. I would call that good timing! Frank: Perfect. Great example. There you go! Kathy: Yes, exactly! Well, that's a wrap for today, Thanks for joining us again, Frank. Frank: My pleasure. I've enjoyed it! Kathy: stay tuned for our last segment on the Best Practices of Nurturing a Relationship Base. You won’t want to miss it! *** Speaking of relationship bases, business leaders know how important it is to nurture customer relationships—to improve their customer feedback loops; however, many don’t know where to start at making improvements. If that’s you, then download my free Customer Satisfaction Checklist to help you uncover areas where you can improve your customer relationships—so they'll keep coming back for more!
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