3 Business Relationship Building “Must Do” Activities to Increase Your Brand’s Recognition

Okay… so….When does advocating for yourself and your idea of value, cross the line into negativity and criticism?  REALLY… I’m asking.. For me… I believe in being authentic and a self-advocate but, is it naive to think doing so won’t step on toes?  Sometimes, I’m learning, the dialogue between two people may be interpreted totally differently and misconstrued into something negative (no matter how innocent you may mean it to be).  So… if I’ve been the cause of any hurt feelings because of this phenomenon… I sincerely apologize.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, the business relationship is a very important aspect to my business strategy and I believe, it should be to yours as well.  Listen to this podcast and hear how my guest and I define BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP for a better understanding of my perspective and why I think it’s so important to brand growth. You’ll see it’s an effective tool you could be using to increase YOUR brand’s recognition.

What I want to do with this blog post is share my two cents on 3  BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP BUILDING “MUST DO’s” to increase your Brand’s Recognition.

#1 – The Business Relationship Requires You to Be honest.  I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but it’s because everything starts with YOU!  You have to be honest with yourself about who you are, what you want, your expectations and your value.  Of course you need to be honest with those you are doing business, but it’s only truly possible to be honest with others if you’re honest with yourself first.  The way to do this is to know your strengths, your weaknesses, your pain points, your non-negotiables, and your (for lack of better terminology) love language.  You have to be honest about what motivates you and what intimidates you.  You have to be honest about your fears and from where those fears come.  This is important because inevitably you’ll need to put it in check or keep it at bay because it will repeatedly rear it’s ugly head.  Part of honesty means knowing the root of it and how to fight against it.

#2 – The Business Relationship Requires You to Be Prepared.  In knowing what you want, you are in a better position to create, what I like to call, CIRCUMSTANCES FOR OPTIMAL SUCCESS.  Preparation means doing your homework on the events you attend.  If you’re interested in meeting new people for the sake of developing new business relationships, you should not only know the type of people with whom you’d like to meet, but also where you can find them, the types of events they attend, and what they need. Preparation means working on what you bring to the table so you’re confident in your value and can add it to the conversations going on around you.  A lost opportunity to share my value and do this was recently brought to my attention, and when it was I realized I had devalued myself by not sharing and contributing my expertise to the conversation. Had I prepared for the event in advance, I would have recognized my opportunity instead of feeling like I couldn’t participate and that the content didn’t relate to me.  When building authentic business relationships, it’s important to check yourself before you inadvertently offend someone because of you weren’t prepared to contribute to the content instead of leaving voicing your opinions.

#3 – The Business Relationship Requires You to Be Realistic.  Listen, I don’t want you to get the idea that building authentic business relationships is going to be all flowers and gumdrops.  The truth is, people disappoint and feelings get hurt (as unintentional as it may be).  Just like any relationship you’re forming, it’s important to manage expectations.  You should manage your expectations, what you expect of others, and what you expect to get from the relationship, in general.  The reality is, when two people/companies come together, each is bringing their own baggage/hangups.  Expecting someone to “just get you” is unrealistic.  Expecting your opinion to be the only one that matters, also unrealistic and can be….scratch that… will be a source of contention in the relationship.  Sacrifice and compromise ARE realistic, and should be used when building an authentic business relationship.

In the end, these 3 business relationship building “Must Do” activities increase your brand’s recognition because the relationships you forge with other business owners yields an amazing return by being the source of other, equally beneficial resources. They yield fruit by providing assistance in areas you lack knowledge, and in the actual development of friendships with people who are familiar with this journey called entrepreneurship.

Now I want to hear from you.  How are you using your business relationships to increase your brand recognition?