Jerry Acuff and Wally Wood have published an updated version of their book The Relationship Edge. It's well written and worth reading if you believe that relationships are important to business success. Most people believe that, but few of us learn much about building relationships from our employers. As a result we are left to figure out by ourselves how to build and maintain key relationships.
There are 6 stages of increasingly important relationship 'status':People who don't know me by name
People who know me by name
People who like me
People who are friendly with me
People who respect me *
People who value a relationship with me *
* These last 2 stages are where you want to be with key business contacts.
The book describes how to move up that value ladder. The best way to do so is to start asking questions and listening hard to the answers. There are many questions to ask, but below are some listed by Acuff as particularly important.
Interestingly, we coach our business greeting card customers to 'answer' some of these questions in their seasonal notes, so that the readers, their clients, can get to know the advisor better. The answers to the first set of questions below in particular make for great note reading.
What do you do when you are not working?
What do you enjoy reading when you have spare time
Tell me something about your family.
What sports do you enjoy watching?
What sports, if any, do you enjoy participating in?
Tell me something about yourself that would surprise me.
How did you decide to settle in your area?
Other questions that are important to ask include:
What things do you want to do more of, but don't have time for?
What is the most frustrating thing about being in your business these days?
If all work paid the same, and you could do it again, what would you do?
What challenges or issues in your work might I be able to help you with?
This book is a great starting place if you want to understand the relationship building processes you can follow. You can see more about the Acuff philosophy here: The Relationship Edge
