Building relationships is key to any business. Whether you have an online store or a brick and mortar building, relationships are what keep people coming back to your place of business to buy what you have. Not only do relationships keep people coming back, they also help people tell their friends, family, neighbors, strangers and even pets about “this great place.”
By building relationships, you are able to promote yourself to the people you know and meet. You also have the ability to connect with the people in their circles of influence indirectly.
The key to having a successful and well-established business is to tap into as many circles as possible, all business owners know this. What better way to reach those people than to know the people who know them?
For instance, if you know 30 people and each one of those people knows 30 people you don’t know, your networking base is now 900 people wide. There are a lot of people who can promote your products just because you have a solid relationship with the first 30 people.
The more relationships you build, the more people can promote your products. Here is the catch. You cannot build a lasting relationship with the sole intent of promoting your products. People can tell when they are being used, and if a relationship is shallow they will have no desire to promote your products.
The trick is to make people WANT to promote what you have, either by offering them great customer service, making their conversations easier about a certain product or service, or even going above and beyond what is necessary to make sure they have a pleasant experience.
People crave relationships; it is how we are designed. If you can offer them what they want, they will be sure to help you out by promoting your product or service.
Like we covered earlier, the more people you know and have relationships with, the more people you have in your network. The greater your network the more you and your business will grow. It is a never-ending cycle of relationship-network-promote. What more could any business ask for?