Building a relationship and then maintaining it well is a job. That is why large companies also employ large teams of relationship managers who are working on this full-time. Keep the relationships up to date with the latest developments of the product, see if everything goes according to your wishes. Maybe there are new opportunities. And what did we discuss two years ago about this new possibility that would arise?
Building a relationship
These relationship managers ensure that, as the name suggests, a good relationship is built with the customer. You have not built a private or business relationship after 1 phone call or have a coffee. It takes time, you have to trust the other person and you have to show that you understand each other.
For this it is useful to keep a good record of things. Whether it's the birthday of the partner of the relationship, how she likes to drink the coffee, or what appointments have been discussed, writing down and writing down is just very smart. No one can keep all the details right.
Especially if you have to work together, it is essential that we take a good look at how the relationship is going. Are there improvement points from the organization? Is there anything you should pass on to your colleague who is doing the work? Or are there new opportunities that you can talk about soon?
These are all things that you can remember, of course, but if you have dozens of conversations a week, then of course that is impossible. And then it quickly becomes a cluttered knit of data that you can never find anything in again.
Friendships and family relationships
With a few people, such as friends and family, it often manages to remember the important things. Anyway, that aunt's birthday or your parents' wedding day, were they married in 1982 or 1983? You write that down on the calendar so you don't forget. So you can send a message or a card in time. Or maybe a surprise for that special wedding day. You know that's appreciated.
Relationships don't arise from themselves. You can't choose just your parents and family, but you can choose how you deal with it. Be nice to each other, you don't need a notebook for that. Remember what the other person thinks is important, or can't bear. Because as a family, or at least family, you see each other a lot, you will know that. You will also know about close friends, although you will be amazed by what you unfortunately do not know.
Business relationships
These work slightly differently from your private relationships. And you will have to maintain this in a different way. And build up, because of course that's where it starts.
More professional. More seriously. But also more distant. And more long-term. Often you don't see many of these relationships weekly, because you have a lot of relationships to maintain and new relationships to make.
How can you do that efficiently? How do you know what you discussed last time? You guessed it, you have a simple CRM system for that. There you can easily keep track of what you have discussed, even if those are just the highlights of a conversation. So that next time you can easily find what you discussed last time, or two years ago.
Then you make a good impression!
This is of course a very simple picture of building a relationship, the use of the right tools is there purely for support, to make it a little easier for you.