5 Tips On Building Your Business Through Relationships

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Posted in: Relationships Matter
December 5, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (3)

Guest blogger: Erin Pierce of pixology

My first job out of college was at a small technical firm who offered computer support, software sales and website design. Without knowing it, when I was hired and appointed “head of the web department” (which consisted of me), I was essentially running a business within a business. Right around the six-month mark, when all of the previous projects were dried up, I realized they expected me to generate my own work. Me? I was absolutely clueless. I knew nothing about generating new clients, vaguely remembered an over-zealous business school friend use the term “networking,” and shuddered at the thought of shoving my business card in someone’s face while giving my “sales pitch.” Vomit.

Then one day it hit me. What if the key to business is the same as the key to life? Relationships. I quickly found a few business events and started to build my empire, urr, small network of great people. Since then, I’ve learned a few things I’d like to share.

1. Attend Small Events
   I am an energetic and outgoing person, and yet, I found the mega-networking events to be overwhelming and overrated. If you stick to smaller groups, you will have more face time, be more engaged and more visible.
2. Be Genuinely Interested in Others
   There is nothing worse than the impersonal business card exchange where neither party is interested in the other. Be intentional about who you talk to and learn about them. Let’s be honest, we’re all a little narcissistic and enjoy talking about ourselves. Use that to your advantage.
3. Avoid Free Events
   Free events attract people looking for free products and services. Are your products or services free? Yeah, didn’t think so. Paid events are filled with people who value themselves, their business, other people and other businesses. These are the people to connect with.
4. Think Partnerships, Not Potential Clients
   Clients will naturally flow out of relationships, whether directly or by referral. While you are learning about other people and sharing about yourself, remember you are building relationships, not a client base.
5. Follow Up
   I love me a good latte. Any excuse I can make to buy a latte and have my business pay for it is acceptable by me. After meeting new people, I love to send a quick email the following week and set up a coffee date with those who I felt like I really connected with. The coffee is always on me. Treat yourself and your new connection!

No matter where or how you meet new people, by introduction, through networking events or via fun interest-oriented gatherings (i.e. community service, group hiking trips, book club, etc.) remember building your business is about building strong relationships. Businesses are not built by machines, computers or robots, they are built by people like you and me.

Now, march your authentic self down to the next CRAVEchat, seek out a few fabulous women, learn about them both personally and professionally, then ask them out on a coffee date. There is nothing better than connecting with awesome female entrepreneurs over a delicious tax-deductible latte.

Erin Pierce, Owner of pixology

pixologyrules.com
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Twitter: @pixologyrules

3 Responses to “5 Tips On Building Your Business Through Relationships”

• Danielle Miss Journey Says:
  December 5th, 2011 at 9:11 pm

  These are great tips. I can particularly relate to #1 and #3. Being in NY, I’ve been to many free and overwhelmingly large events. Those are the events that make you want to escape. And you leave with no meaningful connections. Maybe you passed your card out to a bunch of people and/or have a handful of cards you collected, but no real connections were made. I personally am over those kinds of events because I ended up wasting time that could be used elsewhere. This is definitely a great lesson of quality versus quantity.

• Danielle Miss Journey Says:
  December 5th, 2011 at 9:13 pm

  I would add that memberships are a good idea. Being a part of a group that meets on a consistent basis allows you to build relationships with people over time. I’ve found that it’s helped me find people with common interest and made it easier to connect on several different occasions.

• Monica Prestia Says:
  December 8th, 2011 at 7:53 am

  So true, Mollie/Erin…Relationships is the key to building a successful business! Understandably, relationships take time to create and develop. Networking and meeting like -minded and, perhaps not so like-minded
  professionals + people in your peer group is always fun and can be rewarding. I agree with your 5 tips on relationship building…those free events can be a total buzz-kill. Personally, I have been able to meet people through organizations like crave, friends of friends and interesting events that I attend throughout the year. See you at the next Crave Event! Monica

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