{"id":1808,"date":"2011-02-14T12:21:22","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T19:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2019-12-04T18:30:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T18:30:04","slug":"cultivating-healthy-business-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/success-with-significance\/cultivating-healthy-business-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultivating Healthy Business Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Andrea owns and operates an online retail store.\u00a0 A significant part of her value proposition, that which brings value to her customers and distinguishes her from other online retailers, is a commitment to relational retailing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">The challenge many critics of e-commerce have is the impersonal aspect; cold and mechanical but Andrea through careful planning has positioned her company to be available for the personal touch for those customers who are looking for that buying experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">She makes sure customers can get in touch with her or her staff via a well positioned toll free number, with clear hours of operation and contact form on her website.\u00a0 In addition, all her communication is professional yet personable being sure that with each contact with costumers they know their inquiry is welcome.\u00a0 Taking the time to thank her customers, inquire about simple universal things like the weather and then taking the time to have a conversation about what the customer is looking for and providing informed solutions, even if, in the rare instance the customer may be better served by another retailer!\u00a0 Andrea and her staff have cultivated significant relationship with many clients where they learn and remember what the customer likes, about their family, hobbies and so forth.\u00a0 Andrea has trained her staff\u00a0 to be deliberate to inquire specifically about something personal the customer had shared previously with them.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">The upshot of Andrea\u2019s relational retailing approach?\u00a0 Significant business from repeat customers which is more efficient than developing new business.\u00a0\u00a0 Customer loyalty increases and are less likely to make buying decisions based on price while attributing value to the relationship.\u00a0 It also connects Andrea\u2019s business and Andrea\u2019s staff to their customers in a more meaningful way which inspires better service and increases general job satisfaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">7 Ideas to Cultivate Healthy Business Relationships:<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Be genuinely interested<\/strong> in your customers as human beings instead of just a potential sale.\u00a0 Be genuine because folks can tell when you\u2019re faking it!\u00a0 Remember significance comes when we value people as people and develop healthy relationships.\u00a0 This will establish a healthy foundation upon which to do business.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Follow up with your customers<\/strong>.\u00a0 Touch base in a reasonable amount of time.\u00a0 Use this as an opportunity to solicit your customers thoughts &#8211; positive or negative and respond to them as appropriate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Do what you say you are going to do, when you say you will do it<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Your customers will appreciate it because it is often rare!\u00a0\u00a0 Keep your word even in those times it may hurt.\u00a0 Your customers will appreciate your integrity and this creates healthier business relationships.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Discern the pace!<\/strong> It is an art to determine when to ask for the sale and when to hold off.\u00a0\u00a0 It is common to ask too early, not fully discerning the customers needs and addressing their concerns and appearing pushy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The other ditch,\u00a0 waiting too long to ask for the sale for fear of being pushy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">To avoid either ditch, be sure to listen to your customers carefully.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Listen carefully for points of friction, their objections and address them deliberately.\u00a0 Look for signs of agreement and then confidently ask for the sale.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Listen and understand<\/strong> &#8211; This is crucial.\u00a0 Many of us come armed with a canned pitched without listening to what our prospect may be telling us.\u00a0 Know your customer by listening &#8211; What is their business? What are their goals?\u00a0 How do they do what they do?\u00a0 A great deal of this can be researched before you make the call.\u00a0 This information will allow you to shape your pitch in a way that is relevant for the potential customer.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">When you get in the door listen to what and how they say what they do; hearing what they are really saying.\u00a0 Ask good questions for clarity and then address their issues directly.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Relationship is a two way street<\/strong>.\u00a0 Some business may not be a fit for you.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, you may have a good or service which may satisfy a need but it could have some unacceptable risk, it may require an amount of service and support which may make the business unprofitable.\u00a0\u00a0 It maybe that their business practices and ethics may be objectionable.\u00a0 If it isn\u2019t profitable, doesn\u2019t feel right for you, it might be worth passing on the business.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong>Referrals <\/strong>are a natural fruit of healthy relational business and don\u2019t be afraid to ask your clients for referrals and remember to thank them when they do.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s face it, if something is good, we have had a positive experience we are delighted to share it with our friends!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrea owns and operates an online retail store.\u00a0 A significant part of her value proposition, that which brings value to her customers and distinguishes her from other online retailers, is a commitment to relational retailing. The challenge many critics of e-commerce have is the impersonal aspect; cold and mechanical but Andrea through careful planning has&#8230;","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[128,194,333,443,474],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-with-significance","tag-customer-service","tag-follow-up","tag-listening","tag-relational-retailing","tag-slaes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}