Long term benefits of relationship building

I was asked to write this post by cranberry panda... they added onto the end of the sentence, "if I am willing to share trade secrets, of course!"

The reason I put that sentence in is because there are no trade secrets. Building relationships is a natural part of being human and we all know how to do it. What has stopped us is people telling us we are doing it wrong or should do it a different way, blah blah, etc. etc.

You may well have read some of my other networking posts and if you want hints and tips about how to start building professional relationships with people you don't know but want to, then I suggest you start there. If you want to be persuaded to start because you need to understand the benefits of long term relationships, I hope I can put some good reasons down for you.

Relationship building 101: How well do you know your professional network?

Firstly, the people who have known you for the longest or know you the best, how much do you have to explain to them? Do you have a shorthand, common background, shared interests, do they know you so well you don't need to explain yourself? Great, how much easier is it to get on with those people? How much easier is it to ask for their help? How much easier is it to help them without even trying, to know what they are looking for, need and want?

There in a nutshell is your answer. The better the relationship you have with someone, the easier. 

How NOT to maintain a professional relationship

Now think of people you have known for a long time, but haven't seen in a while. Perhaps someone you worked with, perhaps someone you used to play tennis with every week, but they moved away or perhaps an old University friend or an old school friend. How much do you know about them now? Do you remember what their skills are and what they are good at? What they do for a job or for fun? If you thought about helping them with something, what comes to mind? If you haven't seen them in a while, you are probably stuck on that answer, aren't you?

Now flip that thought over and picture them thinking about you. Perhaps your friend is doing interesting things in a field you are interested in. How would they know? How would they know that you could help them, or they you? You wouldn't be able to would you?  Now imagine reaching out to them through social media. Do you think they would be suspicious about you contacting them out of the blue? Quite possibly.

Now take it to a more mercenary level. Imagine you were looking for a job in their industry and then you try and reach out and start with that? How do you think that would go down?

People do this all the time, but don't think twice about it. How would you feel if you were on the wrong end of that?

Always keep in touch...

Now you have the answer about the long term benefits of building and maintaining relationships. It doesn't have to be arduous. Once in a while, send a short message to see how they are doing and what they are up to. If you can, have a call or a coffee and see what they are up to.  With many of the platforms and tools out there, you can do it relatively easily, no matter where they move to. 

Don't be one of those people who just comes out of the blue when they want something. Be one of those people who cares and stays in touch.

Find out more about our guest blogger Ghilaine Chan

Ghilaine is passionate about allowing people to do their best work and delight others

Ghilaine helps people to operate fast growing businesses in a productive and streamlined way, keeping an eye on time and money, whilst increasing motivation and improving customer relationships in a fast paced, changing environment. She brings order to chaos and creates scalable processes around the business, empowering them to delight their customers.

She works with tech based or enabled companies who are looking to disrupt their industries, but know that people are at the centre of their success and helping them manage their teams to: 

• Do their best work and delighting others
• Create some boundaries, but not cages
• Know they are acting for a purpose
• Determine which part they play, that what they receive enables them and what they produce is useful
• Have autonomy over how and when they produce

She has over 15 years' experience in scaling international business functions for technology companies, within their support and consultancy organisations.

Ghilaine is a graduate of London College of Fashion (now part of University of the Arts: London) with a degree in Product Development. She is a Mentor with Microsoft Ventures,UpRising and Outbox Incubator as well as an Approved Business Coach with Growth Accelerator, now part of Business Growth Services. 

Want to know more? Connect with Ghilaine on LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter and visit her website, Ghilaine & Co.