Growing Your Business

Archive for the ‘Relationship Marketing’ Category

I find it fascinating that so many people are just now discovering the importance of RELATIONSHIPS.

You see, I am now understanding that relationships are the essence of the universe. We exist in relationship to others. Basic science tells us that everything is connected to something else. Quantum physics tells us everything is connected to everything else.

You have heard of the Butterfly theories and manuscript. Illustrating by example that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Galapagos there is a related and responsive action in the northern hemisphere, may it be so simple as a bee in a breeze.  It does take a leap of faith or consciousness to connect such disparate events.  Nonetheless at a molecular and sub-molecular level even more astonishing things happen among us and within us every day.

If atoms require protons and electrons and neutrons to function and interact,  as basic science teaches us,  so too is it reasonable for us to expect at the level of our physical world that humans and inanimate objects are in continuing and essential  relationships.

Recognizing relationships on the farm are essential to having a productive season or crop. What are the relationships among the soil and water and minerals and seeds?Those things which produce growth are awkward to describe beyond the mere basics.

In like manner, I listen to Internet Marketers telling each other that “the money is in the list”. And I smile. Inherent in that phrase are the unstated relationships between the people who open their mail in those lists and the marketer who sent the message.  Without those relationships there is no “money in the list”.

Nurturing the people we work with and coach is a vital part of our being effective marketers. This is the process of relating to each other. The interactions which we have with each other that build trust are critical to our future relationships.

It is incredibly easy to erode that trust– Simply by not participating in those relationships.  By choosing to isolate or insulate ourselves from excessive or unwanted interactions we reduce the opportunites we have to build those relationships on which trust is based.

Did you ever buy a car from an invisible sales representative? Nope. Visibility and transparency are important as you work with people who are jaded by hype and a super phony world view.

Integrity and honesty go hand in hand. It is part of that relationship thing. Like it is hard to have a peanut butter  and jelly sandwich without the jelly.  So I am celebrating the relationships with positive team members and kindred spirits.  In so doing, we create an atmosphere of trust and encourage others to work with us in like manner.

When we learn from the essential fabric of the universe – nature- it is much easier to “go with the flow” or to “nurture growth”. That is the kind of leadership that Margaret Wheatley discusses in her books. It is leadership in a state of relationship. Like the water flowing over the rocks or the seeds growing out of the soil.

And yes, you need to do specific things in response to others.  There are steps to take along the path of learning to create relationships that are harmonious.  In addition, there are tools we all use online which make it incredibly easy to communicate, whether it is good news or not.  Be selective and stay focused on your tasks. Choose to build harmonious and productive relationships with your team whether it is your upline or your downline or your prospects.

In days of olde, the GOLDEN RULE was

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Today we speak of mentoring and modeling the behaviors which we wish to see in others.

Is it a waste of our time? I think not.

But Time is Money.

No.

Time is Life.

And I shall “spend” that time in the most positive and productive way I can each day.

“Cast thy bread upon the waters,

and thou shalt find it again after many days.”

Ecclesiastes 11:1