I just completed a review with my sales team and asked them a very important question going into the new year. Do you have the right network partners to achieve your goals?

Whether it is your Construction, Art Consultant, Electrician, Furniture, Garbage, IT or Carpet partner; the art of networking is the art of building relationships. Whether your goal is to increase your customer base or find new commercial network partners, building relationships is just as important to both these goals.

Building relationships is a process that will take time before it produces the desired results, and it is important to resist the temptation to rush the process for the sake of obtaining a quick return or meeting your sales manager’s goals. This will only spoil your relationships.

Building relationships with the "right" customers or vendors is critical to achieving your goals. There is no "wrong" customer or vendor, but not every customer or vendor is right for you and your goals, and if these customers or vendors are not right for you, you are not right for them either. Investing time and effort in
first determining who are the right ones will help prevent the collapse of relationships down the road.

Building relationships is key to both parties involved, it is a two-way street. One does not conduct business with businesses, one does business with people, and people want to do business with those they like, respect and trust, and trust is earned over time through the process of building that relationship.

by John Lusardi, Vice President/Partner, The LibertyGroup