PERSONALITY and RELATIONSHIPS —two key concepts for the success of your business!

PERSONALITY and RELATIONSHIPS —two key concepts for the success of your business!

Personality determines how well you do in business.
Building relationships is a major key to staying in business.

Are you trying to make a success of your business?
Do you struggle to get things done?

If you can determine where you are in these two situations, you might just have the winning combination of a life-long business.

Your personality determines, in part, how your business will succeed, because there are some things that are not a part of your human make-up, and therefore it’s difficult to do them well. Are YOU a people person who relates well to others? If not, you need to find someone who can help you build relationships with your customers. The success of your business relies on it.

Take, for example, a person who does not like to be in a crowd. Now, put him or her at a conference in a booth and see what happens.

Scenario: The conference offers seminars throughout the day, and one has just ended. Over 100 people are coming down the isle. Many of them stop to take a look at the booth and what (s)he has to offer. What do you think (s)he will do?
a. Will (s)he greet them with a smile and share with them what (s)he has to offer?
b. Will (s)he sort of fade into the background of the booth and try not to make eye contact?

You get the picture. Our Personality Based Time Management ^© article is a fun generalization at its best. If you’re an A Compulsive, you KNOW IT. If you’re a B messy, you KNOW IT. Trying to fit a B Messy into the world of an A Compulsive will just not work! So find a person to help you in areas you are not adept. For example, I did not like handling the finances. What did I do? I hired an accountant. Web design is fun but very time-consuming. What did I do? I hired a professional web designer.

But what happens when:
a. You aren’t good in one or more aspects of running your company?
b. There isn’t enough money to pay for someone else to do it?
c. You do well in all aspects of the business, but there isn’t enough of you to go around?

I’ve heard all of this from the thousands of women I’ve come in contact with, both online and offline.

Solution: Find others who need to get out of the house.

Building relationships is the answer for the success of your business. When I had a brick and mortar business and had an issue that required help, I looked for someone who had experience in that area. Sometimes I didn’t know who could help, so I asked my long-time customers if they were knowledgeable in that area or knew someone they could refer to me. There are many people who don’t want a full-time job, but would love to help once in a while. It can be fun for them and helpful for you. For us, it was a quick solution. I never take for granted how valuable someone’s time is, so I usually barter with them.

Take, for example, my former website designer, Hilde Mott. She LOVES day planners and being organized. I asked for help on one of my online network lists, and she contacted me with an idea for a design.

After going over what it would take to create the design, she agreed to barter. I was hooked after seeing the first few pages! I had friends look at the old and new sites and vote for one or the other. The feedback was 8 to 10 in approval of the new design. When we posted the new site for all to see. It was a hit! Not only did my sales go up, but I also received many letters thanking me for, and complimenting me on the ease of use and the calming effect of the site. After Hilde received her products, she TOO was thrilled, and a beautiful relationship developed. The site redesign brought in enough money to start paying Hilde monthly until I could take over. (We’ve been best friends ever since and to this day, my favorite website layout was designed by her.)

I have many stories like this from my many years in business. Another is about mailing lists. I had two large customer lists but didn’t know how to maintain them to their fullest potential. I met Sue, a computer programmer, in an online network group, shortly before I first purchased The Busy Woman in 1999. At that time, I needed overall help with my new site. Sue was excellent and helped me experiment with all sorts of ideas, scripts and new web things. As the company grew, I asked if she knew how to deal with mailing lists. After all, she was a programmer. Her specialty just so happened to be databases! Sue agreed to barter and again, her help brought in enough to pay her monthly until everything was in order.

From then on I requested Sue’s help whenever I had any online or offline mailings, contests or drawings. I could do this myself, but it would take me SO much longer than Sue, so it was worth more to me to outsource. My time is better spent on doing the things I do best.

Again, the best way to build relationships and take the time to care for your customers is to team up with other people. Often, you’ll already have people around you who you probably never thought of. If you don’t know a person very well, but think they can help meet your needs, ask them. Then get permission to ask around, whether on your network lists or in your neighborhood, and get references. If you have comfortable relationships with your clients, start talking to them too. If you mention your particular need enough times to enough people, someone will speak up. You could also join our Facebook Fan Page for support and put out a call for help.

Another way to build relationships is to keep notes about your customers. Jot down the pertinent information of those you speak with more often. When you speak again, look at your notes. You’ll be better equipped and remember to ask how Lucy fared with her surgery. I used to write down if they needed to be re-contacted, how their child was recuperating, and anything else that was pertinent. I also sent cards for birthdays, sympathy, and other momentous occasions.

A successful business is all about relationships and how well you build and maintain these relationships! The relationships you build in your business today will follow you in your business for years to come. If I were to go into a new line of products or a different type of business tomorrow, many of my customers would be happy to come with me. How can you attain this for YOUR business?

Copyright ©2003,2015 Susie Glennan
All Rights Reserved.