The business of relationships

 When I started my first job at an advertising agency over 20 years ago there wasn't a week that went by where I wasn't on a two hour lunch with a client eating at one of the best restaurants in town and barely talking shop at all.  In the past 5 years I can count on two hands the number of business lunches I have been on that haven’t been a ‘working lunch’.

 These days we’re all too busy to take time out to have a ‘social’ lunch with clients or suppliers and as I look at many of the younger business generation today I wonder if the art of building strong business relationships is getting left behind.

 When I asked a friend of mine who recently took on the managing director role of one of the largest markets of a very successful global brand what he was going to ‘bring’ to the business his reply was simple – “I'm going to build stronger relationships”.  Sure enough, within a week of taking on the role a problem arose with a key partner that blew wildly out of proportion because no-one in the business had a strong enough relationship with them to be able to settle it quickly and effectively without a committee of people getting involved.

 In a career that has spanned 25 years across a myriad of different businesses and countries, the one thing that's enabled me to be continuously successful (besides working hard and being passionate about my job) has been the relationships I forged.  Many of these business relationships are now personal friends and they have helped me achieve far more than I could have just by being good at my job.

 I look at young people in business today embracing technology, remote working locations and digital communication tools, which are all key components to being effective and efficient in today’s global business world (and we should all be using), but I wonder if they are missing a critical skill that is ultimately one of the most important business tools anyone can have.

 No matter what business you’re in, everything is about people.  Whether it’s clients, suppliers or colleagues.  Building relationships with these people is a skill that everyone, no matter what your job is, should be trying to develop.  Here are some of the ways I have managed to build and maintain mine;

 1) Walk the halls

 My first boss was a tyrant, he would scream and yell and go nuts at everyone when things went wrong.  But most of the time he would be screaming “What’s going on? who knows about this?  have you spoken to him? He’s 20 feet away, go and find out!”.  I quickly learned to walk the halls.  Every morning I would walk around the office talking to everyone, finding out what was happening that day or had happened the day before.

 Not only did this strengthen my relationship with everyone I worked with (which became invaluable when I needed help), but it gave me the inside track on everything that was going on the business which very quickly helped me advance my career, and kept the tyrant from yelling at me!

 2) Make it friendly

 Get to know your clients or suppliers on a personal level.  It’s the conversations you have outside of the office that will give you the best information.  I cannot count the amount of times I've been given the inside scoop on a new piece of business, key insights that have helped me to improve a commercial relationship, or been offered a new job by having friendly conversations with clients and suppliers.  Forging strong relationships with these people will dramatically progress your career.  And not just in the good times.  Being able to call up a ‘friend’ when something goes wrong can mean the difference between losing and keeping a piece of business.

 3) Put the effort in

 We all have friends that are hopeless at keeping in touch.  Business relationships are even harder to foster.  People are busy and often work relationships run a distant second to personal ones, but don’t give up.  Just because someone turns down your first, second and even third offer at meeting up outside of the office, doesn't mean you should give up.  Keep trying, because your efforts will be noticed and you will eventually succeed!

 4) Keep it real

 No-one likes a kiss-ass, and you can see through someone falsely trying to get alongside you from a mile away.  When you’re building a relationship with someone get to know their life outside of work; what they do on a weekend, what their personal interests are, and share your own.  To build a strong relationship you have to be ready to open up and have two-way dialogue.  This is where you’ll find the common ground and building blocks of your relationship.  Sharing personal experiences and building trust are what will ultimately turn your business colleague into a friend and those are the allies that will really help your career in the long run.

 If you’re already forging great business relationships, then I hope this encourages you to continue to keep up the effort.  But if you’re one of the many still spending most of your working day staring at a screen, then I hope this motivates you to make a start on getting to know the people you work and do business with more closely, they just might be someone that gives your career a huge jump in the future…