How to use strategic relations to build better business relationships. Follow these examples for specific applications and developing internal methods for your own company.
If you want to secure (earn) a lasting business relationships with your customers, community, and really enjoy what you are doing, then give back something. The concept of paying it forward can change your business prospective.
In a world of ever increasing technology, individuals often lose touch with the humans around them. Face-to-face interactions are minimized with instant messaging, cell phones, and other communications let you talk to anyone anywhere at anytime. Technology can improve service in business, but often hinders it.
Continue reading "A Call For More Human Interaction In Business" »
Fed Nails WestLB For Tying Lending to Underwriting. Violator of Bank Holding Act accrues $3 million dollar fine and must change its "relationship banking" practice. [Corp Law Blog]
Not all business relationships are ethical, or even legal. A German bank settled charges that it violated the Bank Holding Company Act's anti-tying restrictions, pays a $3 million dollar fine and must change its "relationship banking" practices. Conditional relationships are dangerous and should be avoided.
Continue reading "Tips To Avoid Problems With Conditional Relationships" »
Your engineers know things about your product that your customer must know to make an educated buying decision. Encourage engineering teams to work with your companies sales and marketing resources.
Continue reading "What Your Engineers Know About Improving Sales" »
The Need to Build Relationships in Today's Market. by Al Fox and Mike Cuccia, August 12, 2003 [MarketingProfs.com]
You'll see over the next few months that "experts" will reduce business relationships into a few steps, or even clich鬠as they have done with customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). It doesn't have to be that way, and there is no quick fix.
Continue reading "The Need To Build Relationships In Today's Market (Abstract)" »
You are probably busy, have limited resources, and really can't afford to spend several hours a day laboring through current news. With so many news channels most issues are over covered, too much information for a single company to consolidate while still providing for customers. Fortunately a number of newsletters are available to help you turn current events into powerful strategies.
Continue reading "Current News Can Teach You About Business Relationships" »
Co-operation and survive!. What happens when you are faced with tremendous competition? Do you fight tooth and nail, or find alliance partners to fight together? [seamusphan.com magazine]
Things you forgot you knew about collaborative cooperation:
Continue reading "What You Forgot You Knew About Collaborative Cooperation" »
Spontaneous Socializing. I just completed another full weekend of working on the house, which means really one thing: I listened to about... [Gary Stein]
One of the biggest challenges I face in developing business relationships is turning what I do daily into an tangible events. See, people remember events. Take a moment to think back to your first big contract, maybe when your business was small. What were you feeling, what were your fears.
Continue reading "Events Are What Make Our Lives Memorable" »
Dubner, Stephen J. Calculating The Irrational In Economics. (New York Times, Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk, 28 June 2003)
Behavioral economics -- which blends psychology, economics and, increasingly, neuroscience to argue that emotion plays a huge role in how people make economic decisions. [News in Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Issue 101]
Continue reading "Individual Behavior Can Influence Your Economy" »
Clift, Vicki. Smart Marketing Column (The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, CA, 18 Jul 2003) reprinted by the American Marketing Association News
Vicki Clift provides some great tips on keeping in touch with clients between interactions, however, too often people think tactics can produce friendships. In a business-to-business relationship friendships only exist to the extent they provide for the wants of a customer. Yes, you can create personal relationships, but for business to be successful commerce must transact.
Continue reading "Insincere Tactics For Building Relationships Often Fail" »
Offshore company captures online military vote. record, a close business relationship with Dick Cheney's Halliburton, and 2,500 partners of which more than half are not U.S. citizens. Since 2001. [Daypop Search - business relationship]
The above article is a startling example of how business relationships can come back to haunt you. Giving all parties a benefit of doubt, extremely large companies can technically be involved in millions of relationships of which a few can stand out. Growing relationships in this type of environment become regulated more by culture than rule.
Continue reading "Strategies For Mixed Foreign Or Problematic Relationships" »
Webster, Kristine Kirby. Trust Is a Two-Way Street (MarketingProfs.com, 22 July 2003)
Kristine Kirby Webster's article on the mutual relationship necessary to build trust with your customer base is a great read. Here is the article in abstract with commentary.
The "Lingering CEO" Syndrome Citigroup's outgoing CEO is a great leader. His continued presence as chairman, however, will only cramp incoming CEO Chuck Prince's style. [Business Week: Daily Briefing]
A change of command, should really be a change in command. When a senior executive like a CEO to remain in place during an extended transition period it most likely causes conflict and strife. Who is really in charge, the old CEO now chairman, or the new CEO?
Continue reading "The 'Lingering CEO' Syndrome (Abstract)" »
S.E.C. Demands 6-Month Ban on New Ernst & Young Clients. Federal regulators reiterated their demand yesterday that the accounting firm Ernst & Young be banned from accepting new audit clients for six months. [New York Times: Business]
Your customer has a software product that improves your business processes, it's a direct relationship and improves your abilities as a company. What could be wrong with such a relationship? Well, a lot of things if you're supposed to be an independent auditor.
Continue reading "Could A Strong Relationship Be Bad For Business" »
Leadership Secrets of Successful Projects. Project success is fairly easy to spot. The project is well underway, its sailing along with very few surprises and just a few hurdles to jump over. [Navigating Business with Technology]
Kimberly Black presents some great points about addressing failing projects. Her advice to identify, reduce and simplify hold true in building strategic relationships in business.
Continue reading "Successful Executive Relationship Leadership Development" »
It's not who you know that matters as much as who knows you. You know the President of the United States by name, but if you needed his approval for a certain piece of legislation of your interest, would he know you enough to sign. Relationship management is a part of strategic relations and an important part of your executive career.
Continue reading "Create Influence Through Relationship Management" »
Defining Business Development in Strategic Relations. Learn how business development incorporates in the methods of strategic business relationships. Develop a better understanding of who sales, marketing, and support should work together to grow your business.
Culture influences executive style as much as training. In many ways UK executives are more socially active than executives in the United States. They exhibit other relationship traits as outlined below:
Continue reading "Are UK Executives More Socially Active In Business?" »
Firms warned not to treat job seekers badly. Firms who don't bother to let candidates know if they have secured a job have been warned they could face a backlash affecting their business. [Ananova / Business]
This really irks me, think about it, What message are you sending prospective employees when you don't respond to job inquiries? Well, I'll tell you. You say that you don't care and that their interest in your organization isn't warranted. But I'm sure that's not what you meant.
Continue reading "Strong Employee Relationships Start When They Are Job Seekers" »
'Fat cats' don't always get the cream. Huge salary packages do not necessarily guarantee a happy and healthy life according to a business report. [BBC News | Business | Economy | World Edition]
Internationally speaking, it "pays" to be in an English speaking country, but bigger pay doesn't mean better lifestyle. We often cater to all leaving our own business relationship with ourself fade. While I don't share too much on this topic outside of consulting sessions, it is very important to have the business work for you, not you work for the business.
Continue reading "Big Money Means Bigger Need For Self Respect" »
Innovating for the Next Big Thing. Innovating for the Next Big Thing -- From Dave Pollard's How to Save the World weblog...
[Frank Patrick's Focused Performance Blog]Solid process and open purposeful communications is the key to any strong relationship in business. I feel strong business relationships are the key to new innovation because people feel open to share ideas. The above diagram and referenced commentary is only the beginning of an important change in business.
Continue reading "Role Of Business Relationships In Innovation" »
With real-time almost instant communications with thousands of people, it is important to be careful about what executives say on-line. A simple mistake, a leak, or off topic remark can travel around the world in seconds.
Continue reading "Tips For Executives Building Relationships On-Line" »
Boston Globe Online / Business. eBay began a business relationship, in which eBay used FairMarket software to run promotions on its site. (Hiawatha Bray) Search the Globe Search [Daypop Search - business relationship]
I used FairMarket software back in 1998, it was very well produced and handled Internet auctions with features that rivaled every competitor. In fact it was far superior to anything I saw on the market, but then, how come eBay came out on top?
Oracle boosts unfriendly offer for rival PeopleSoft. Taipei Times Online
Oracle giant battles PeopleSoft for the customer base and software licenses, but what will be left when the battle is won. How could this have been done better? It is never too late to come to a reasonable decision, but there is always hope. [See the time line on "An Exercise for Any Website Owner Who Wants More Profitable Customers" and the tips I gave Amazon.com]
Continue reading "How to take over your competition strategically" »
Noah Porter. "Remember that what you believe will depend very much on what you are." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]
What does your company believe makes a good business relationships? If you have incorrect beliefs about building stronger bonds between customers, employees, or even vendors -- you will fail to meet on the level.
Continue reading "What you believe about business relationships matters" »
Start inside your current business, with your current customers and employees.
(For related research notes and useful tips)
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