Building Relationships in Business - Why It's So Important

One of the most important things in business is good relationships. Respect is at the heart of building business relationships. It is the glue that holds together the functioning of teams, partnerships and managing relationships. There are several different types of relationships that a business person should establish. They are: (1) relationships with your existing customers, (2) relationships with potential customers and (3) relationships with other people in your field. Relationships with Regular Customers - Developing a relationship with regular customers can help to keep that customer and not to lose that customer to a competitor who offers the same type of products or services. Let the customer know that you really appreciate them as a customer. You should sometimes send them a postcard or e-mail to thank them for choosing you as a business partner. Give them special discount prices and deals; it will be a good investment. Relationships with Potential Customers - Potential customers represent the future of any business. Never be satisfied with your current number of customers, always look to gain more! Relationships with others in your field - This is one of the best relationships to have. It gives you an opportunity to learn new things and even open up new doors for your business. Relationships with others in your field can lead to collaborations in the future, greatly benefiting everybody. Building good business relationships takes time. And when you developed a relationship with a customer or colleague, you should put the same amount of time and effort into maintaining the relationship as you did to obtain it.

What’s leadership? / How to be an effective leader

Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. It is the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this.

A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen.

The Leader's Vision

Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to tackle. Whether the goal is to double the company's annual sales, develop a product that will solve a certain problem, or start a company that can achieve the leader's dream, the leader always has a clear target in mind. It is the focus of the leader's attention and they attack it with a single-minded determination.

The Drive To See It Through

It is not enough to just have a vision. Lots of people see things that should be done, things that should be fixed, great step forward that could be taken. What makes leaders different is that they act. They take the steps to achieve their vision. The strength lets leaders move their vision forward despite all the obstacles, despite all the people saying it can't be done, it's too costly, we tried that before, or a dozen other excuses. The true leader perseveres and moves forward.

Leadership Skills

Beyond the personal traits of a leader, there are specific skills someone must master if they want to be a leader.

• Effective communication - it's more than just being able to speak and write. A leader's communication must move people to work toward the goal the leader has chosen.

• Motivation - a leader has to be able to motivate everyone to contribute. Each of us has different "buttons". A leader knows how to push the right buttons on everyone to make them really want to do their best to achieve the leader's goal.

• Planning - the leader has a plan to achieve the goal. He/she uses a high level plan to keep everyone moving together toward the goal.

Leaders are realistic, but they have dreams. They refuse to let anyone or anything get in the way of achieving those dreams. They are polite, but insistent. The constantly and consistently drive forward toward their goal.