Why should you focus on building relationships?

As a small business owner, you are no doubt, constantly looking for ways to grow your businesses and attract new customers. While it can be natural to focus on generating as many leads as possible, it’s important to remember that building long-term relationships with your referral partners and customers is ultimately much, more valuable than getting a quick lead when networking.

Let’s spend a couple minutes discussing a few reasons why building long-term relationships is so more important than just getting a lead.

1. Repeat business is the name of the game because it is so much more profitable: Acquiring a new customer can be up to five times, that’s right, 5X more expensive than retaining, cross-selling or upselling an existing one. By building strong relationships with your customers, you can increase the likelihood that they will continue to do business with you in the future. This can lead to more repeat business, which is almost always more profitable than a one-time sales.
2. Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful: When you build strong relationships with referral partners and your customers, they are more likely to recommend your business to others. Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and it can be incredibly effective in attracting new customers. Remember word-of mouth marketing only comes from satisfied customers, people who you have converted into raving fans of you and your business. By focusing on building long-term relationships with your customers, you can turn them into brand advocates who will help you grow your business. Remember that term “Brand Advocates”!
3. Who would go to war with you? Loyalty is priceless: Loyalty can be incredibly valuable, as loyal partners and customers are more likely to continue doing business with you and are less likely to switch to a competitor. Who do you know has your back when need them? Your loyal customers will support your brand and help offset anyone who for example leaves a bad google review…. Additionally, loyal customers are often more forgiving of mistakes and are more likely to provide valuable feedback that can help you improve your business and if/when you ask for a favor your strongest relationships are the ones who show up when you need them.
4. Have you launched a new product? Are you creating a promotional event that you need people to come to?: Existing relationships whether they are referral partners or new customers are easier to do business with if you’ve built that strong relationship. It is definitely easier to do repeat business with someone you’ve built a professional relationship with. Someone who knows what to expect from you, your company, and your products. When you have an established relationship with a customer, they are more likely to trust you and be receptive to your sales pitches.

To wrap up, building long-term relationships with your referral partners and customers is just as, if not more important than getting a new lead when networking. By focusing on building strong relationships, you can increase repeat business, benefit from word-of-mouth marketing, foster partner-customer loyalty, and make it easier to grow your business. So, take the time to get to know the people and businesses in your network, your customers and invest in building lasting relationships with them – it will pay off in the long run.

#networkingtips #professionalnetworking #RGA #Revenuegeneratingactivities #RGANetwork

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

My name is Matt Coots. I am the COO for RGA Network. I am a business influencer, author, speaker, entrepreneur, podcast host and sales, marketing & business strategist.

In the last two decades I have started, ran and consulted with numerous enterprises from small businesses to companies with hundreds of thousands of clients. This included projects where I was responsible for recruiting, training and managing service departments, distribution channels and sales teams of thousands of individuals that did tens of millions of dollars per year in sales volume. As COO of RGA Network, my focus is on creating opportunities and programs for you to grow and expand your business and revenue.

Let’s grow and thrive together!