I spoke to a member recently who recounted what I believe to be a great business story. To grow her client base, she sent an email to ten contacts with whom she had a strong, well-established relationship, letting them know she was looking to grow her client base. She also explained a little bit about the type of work for which she was looking.
From the ten emails sent, she got referrals to four new clients.
Not a bad return … 40 percent.
How are you leveraging your relationships?
I believe that relationships are vital to achieve business goals. These relationships may be new clients, collaboration partners, support resources or social outlets.
SSWBN provides the opportunity to meet new people and strengthen existing relationships.
The key is to nurture those relationships on a consistent basis. Then, when the time comes to ask for help, you feel comfortable and confident with them.
If it is your business or your career aspiration, take the risk and responsibility to ask for what you want.
- Send an email, like the member above, letting folks know you’re looking for new clients.
- Pick up the phone and ask for the bookkeeping or marketing support you know that you need to take you to the next level.
- Meet for coffee to share ideas, frustrations, and to get much needed social support. (Sometimes you need to take a break from business to think clearly and ignite creativity.)
Earlier this week I reached out to a contact on LinkedIn. This person is connected to a company I have targeted to contact. When I asked for the introduction she said, “Sure! Send me the information and I’ll make the introduction.”
Why did she do that? Because we’ve spent time over the past few years developing a relationship built on trust and friendship.
If you are ready to achieve that next level of success in your career or business (or personal life!), get curious and ask yourself, “How can I leverage my relationships?” Then take action. Maybe, like the member I mentioned above, the result will be four new clients.
What are your strategies for leveraging relationships? Send me an email sshipman@sswbn.org and maybe you’ll see your tips listed in an upcoming newsletter!
Stacey Shipman
Executive Director