RelateWINship Marketing

Posted by Terry Bean

I’ve been saying for years that “all business is relationship business.” It’s no surprise that relationship marketing has become the most important form of marketing there is. Relationship marketing is ideal for customer retention, lead generation and brand awareness.

But this post isn’t simply about relationship marketing. It’s about a very important aspect inside of it. It’s about creating win-win relationships. Kirk King, President of Halo Programs described it best when he recently stated, “Business relationships have to be win-win. When everybody involved thinks, ‘This is awesome!’ the relationship continues.”

And isn’t the continuity of business relationships what matters most?

We have all heard how much more difficult and more expensive it is to land a new customer than to continue working with an existing one. Think how much better off your business would be if you were able to cross-sell your additional products and services to your past and current clients. How would your business development efforts change? How would your business grow?

The key to win-win business relationships is to understand the expectations on both sides and treat them as the minimum barometer of success. If you are a service provider, do more than just provide the service for which you are being paid. If you are the customer, do more than simply paying the invoice on time.

Take the time to understand eachother’s needs and how you can be of assistance. The assistance provided could come in the form of professional introductions, knowledge sharing or simply being a sounding board for one another. At the very least, make sure you each understand what an ideal referral looks like for each other.

Moving beyond the traditional vendor-client relationship puts you in the category of Relatewinship. When you reach this level, everyone is happy. Everyone is winning. And as Kirk King so aptly pointed out, the relationships continue.

Click here to contact Terry Bean.

Kirk King may be reached at 800-521-0026, kking@haloprograms.com, or by filling out the Request Information Form on this blog.