Cindy Maka is back on the blog today sharing about building impactful relationships in business and their effect on growing and developing your business.
” By now, we all understand that relationships in business are important. Every day, I see more evidence that success in business is truly about building relationships and making connections.
Beyond the relationships with your clients and with your audience, you should also be thinking about the relationships with other business owners in your industry. If you’re not actively working to initiate and grow these relationships, you’re missing out on one of the easiest and most fruitful ways to grow your business.
Cultivating relationships and building connections is (in my opinion) the ultimate form of marketing, and the best way to market your business without feeling “sales-y”. If you set out to build relationships with the sole purpose of connecting with people (NOT to ask what they can do for you), those relationships can ultimately end up opening countless doors and opportunities for your business.
Here are five tips to help you start forming more connections and building those important relationships in your business.
Whether you’re showing up online to serve your audience, engaging with peers in Facebook groups, or talking to peers in your industry via online coffee chats: just be YOU. Others can feel when you aren’t being your authentic self. Plus, you can come off awkward. So, just come as you are! Even if you feel awkward, own your you-ness, girl! We all want to know we are just human on the other side of the screen.
Engaging with your audience over Instagram stories is a great way to build connections. I’ve made so many “internet friends” over insta-stories! Post comments to others’ posts and reply back to comments on your own posts whether on Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter and Anchor… there are endless possibilities to talk to and engage with your people!
I invite you to be more personal and vulnerable in your online presence. We are all OVER the perfect, the curated, and the buttoned up. It’s nice to have real conversations outside of business topics. Show some of your real life behind the scenes, the not-so-put-together version of yourself, some of your challenges and how you overcame them, some of the messy parts. This is what we can all relate to. This is what we all crave to see more of! As a follower or reader, it helps to know we aren’t alone when things feel a bit crazy. IMPORTANT: This is NOT about over-sharing, complaining, or gaining attention. This is about sharing REAL life moments other biz owners can relate to, and it’s an opportunity to show how you’ve grown or what you’ve learned from the obstacles in your life. And, it is an opportunity to encourage others.
Find another business owner you can work with who has a complementary, yet different, audience than you. This is win-win for everyone involved. Both biz owners get exposure to new audience, and those respective audiences get new and valuable content. This can be in the form of JV (joint venture) webinars, resources, products, programs, etc. Brainstorm people and ideas that you can work with and REACH OUT to them! They’ll probably welcome the idea, too!
You can fast-track the process of building relationships by getting out from behind the computer screen to meet new people, and engage with colleagues and potential clients at in-person events!! When you meet people IN REAL LIFE, they get to see the real you. They get to give you a hug! Most importantly, they get to see that you are the same person you are online. (Hint: please be the same person online as you are in real life!) 😉
Building relationships should be a priority in your business, and it doesn’t have to be difficult! It can start as simple as insta-story messages or a virtual coffee chat. Actively reach out…don’t wait for others to come to you. Make those connections — then, SHOW UP to support them, continue to encourage them and cheer them on, let them know you see them… and they’ll do the same for you!
The relationships you build in business can have lasting benefits, both for you and for your business growth. I hope you’ll go out and make some new connections, build meaningful relationships and be the one who STARTS the new conversations. In the spirit of connecting, if you want to continue this conversation via virtual coffee chat, CLICK HERE to pop on my schedule, because I would absolutely LOVE to meet you!”
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