Maintaining strong bonds with your professional relationships is crucial, as it helps increase your customer list and improves your brand’s reputation. It takes more than a quick email and a handshake at one event to do this, however. If you want to know how to strengthen your business connections, here are seven effective ways of doing so.
1: Keep in Contact
Imagine you’ve built a great relationship in one evening – you had a great rapport with the person, exchanged emails, and promised to talk again soon. All that hard work would be lost if you didn’t keep in contact. Always follow up when you receive someone’s contact information, and make sure to stay in touch beyond that.
2: Meet in Person
The internet is an excellent place for making new connections, but it shouldn’t be relied on. The best relationships are made face-to-face, so make an effort to jump on a plane and visit clients in person from time to time. Remember, body language, handshakes, and eye contact are all important for forming bonds.
If you have many clients around the globe, reduce travelling stress by using travel management tools. By doing this, you ensure that your business travel is as efficient and cost-effective as possible.
3: Remember the Details
Don’t treat all your clients the same – if someone tells you an important fact about themselves, remember it! It will show that you genuinely care about the person and find their relationship important. If it helps, keep a notebook with your clients’ names and details in there.
4: Go Above and Beyond
The next time one of your professional relationships asks you for a favor, go above and beyond for them. Not only will they be more willing to do the same for you, but it’ll improve their impression of you, increasing your reputation and strengthening the bond.
5: Host Events
Hosting your own event allows you to invite many of your clients, giving you the chance to strengthen many connections throughout one single evening. Plus, by being the host, you ensure that you are the one that is best remembered. Just remember to show everybody a good time so that people leave with a positive impression of you and your company!
6: Acknowledge Their Triumphs
Acknowledging people’s triumphs is an easy way to keep in contact without being over-bearing. Follow your contacts on social media and make sure to congratulate them whenever they post about something positive – it will show that you care about them while ensuring you stick in their mind.
7: Ask for Small Favours
One of the best ways to strengthen a bond with someone is by asking for a favour, even if you don’t necessarily need one. Ask for something small, like the direction to a great website, and show thanks when they help you out. By doing this, they will associate you with the good feeling of helping someone out and will feel valued by you. Just make sure you don’t overdo it!
