Building Meaningful Relationships

In considering what makes a good friend, I think a friend is someone I can rely upon to always be there for me, tell me the truth, listen and share intimate moments with me, and enjoy doing things together. I've had some friends, with whom I've developed a lifelong bond. Others have come and slowly faded into the past. It's really up to you and that friend to decide where they will be in your life. If you do your part in following some basic guidelines, there's a good possibility you will grow old surrounded by people who care for you and enrich daily living meaningfully.

Some people you meet may move from acquaintances to friends and back to acquaintances. As people's lives get busier, they forget to phone, neglect to respond to an invitation or email, and fall off the friendship radar screen. There's only so much time you can put into one-sided communication. Look around and really ask yourself how many people's radar have you fell off of? And it's not so different with clients and prospects.

Getting prospects to commit to hiring you, and then keeping them as clients, requires the same relationship-building skills as you use to make and maintain friendships. Of course, you don't need to suffer through lots of "one-sided communication" to become the "blip" that stands out on the client's radar screen if you're good at:

==> Rapport building.
==> Honesty.
==> Commitment.
==> Follow-through.
==> Organization.
==> Follow-up.
==> Asking for what you want.
==> Communication.
==> Doing the right thing.
==> Keeping the other person's best interests in mind.
==> Always being there; not always being there to sell.

Let me explain what I mean by the last bullet. If you give your prospect the impression that the only thing that is important to you is to make the sale, you'll lose it in a heartbeat. You need to be stable, solid and ready to provide help -- within limits, naturally -- to your prospect to prove that you have their best interest in mind.

Send articles to your prospect that discuss industry trends. Shoot off a succinct email with a tidbit of information you recently discovered. Forward opportunities that you hear about. Help the prospect find that special employee they have been searching for, etc. That's what I mean by "always being there, but not always being there to sell." It is, of course, a rapport-building technique. These are tried and true ways to create a bond that will carry both the client and friend into your future. Common sense is sometimes put aside to advance our busy lives. Stay focused on what's important.