For many small businesses, the real downfall in their success is that they attempt to go it alone. In reality, you need several important relationships in order to make a business work. The way you communicate and interact with other people says volumes about how you work within a business and the type of person you are – are you confident or shy? A good motivator or someone who works from the shadows? The relationships you build with people shape the foundations for your entire success.
Targeted Relationships
Those who are in targeted relationships are people who you may not know but who work in the same industry as you. Networking and connecting is important, as you may well benefit from their expertise or contacts. These sorts of relationships may feel almost fictional, as you won’t know them in person, but they are just as valuable.
Tentative Relationships
Tentative relationships are exactly as they sound – they are the relationships you form with people who you may have met briefly or spoken to at a conference, but who are not close friends or acquaintances. If you need to ask someone a favour or want to work with someone on a project, it is possible that you’ll call on a tentative relationship. These are different from targeted relationships in that you will have met and spoken to these people – they are familiar with you or your company.
Transactional Relationships
Transactional relationships are generally used by managers who want to complete a business objective. In other words, you exchange objectives with another party who will also benefit from the transaction. Often, it will be with someone within the industry you work in who you’ve worked with before or built a rapport with, so that you trust the person in question.
Trusted Relationships
These are generally the most valuable relationships you can form with your peers. They tend to revolve around long-term plans or projects which benefit your business greatly, and vice versa. Business deals need to happen with people you can trust, which is where the trusted relationships come into play. These types of partnerships take the longest to form but are the most beneficial in the long run.
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