Creating relationships in quiet times

Danita Needleman - Monday, February 16, 2009

Is it noticeably quieter for you at the moment?  Given the amount of negativity around, it's not surprising that the phone may not be ringing as often as it did last year since many people are being more cautious.  What will you do with the spare time this lack of activity has brought?

Continuing to foster and create relationships is paramount right now.  Fostering great relationships through networking as well as with suppliers, customers and anyone with whom you come in contact can all contribute to your business and its growth.  So, the more you can give of yourself, your knowledge and your friendship, the greater the quality of your relationships.

There are a number of low-cost activities which will keep you in front of people.  Local networking groups for example are terrific ways to meet other small and larger business people and where you can start to forge new working relationships or business alliances. 

Six touch points or contacts are apparently the key to forming a relationship.  Regular attendance at these kinds of events provides the opportunity for this as you're repeatedly interacting with the same group of people as well as meeting newer members who join.

In this time of caution and limited funds for many, cold calling and more traditional marketing methods may not prove to be as successful.  Your next big client maybe just as likely to come from an existing or newly-formed relationship.  Now could well be the time to "start a conversation, not close a sale" (Kirsty Spraggon).   

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