10 Golden rules to building lasting relationships

By Mari Franco, President, The Tatham Group Philippines with a foreword from Marianne Arnaudon

Ok, I admit. The title is a little misleading. This is not a new dating service or an advice column from ‘Dear Abby’. This is about customer relationships.

Last winter, we wrote about how important it is to keep in contact with your clients, particularly around the holidays. It’s a perfect time to reconnect, let them know you appreciate their business and wish them well for the upcoming year. But as we all know, building relationships is really an ongoing, never-ending process.

Mari Franco, President of the Tatham Group Philippines, is a master in the art of networking. The following is a list of tips he offers on how to create and foster lasting relationships that will benefit both you and the company.

Rule 1: Organize all the information you have about potential clients. Today’s world has provided us with numerous ways to acquire information on prospective clients, and a perfect way to keep track of this information is to create a database.

Rule 2: Tap into any available information. Another good way to keep track of clients is to scan the daily newspapers to look for articles that are potential leads on future clients and prospective customers. I clip them and put them on file for future reference.

Rule 3: It’s all about public relations. I believe in generating leads in various ways. These include writing editorials, attending speaking engagements and writing press releases. I also recommend looking for leads in newsletters, case studies, white papers, special reports and other articles of interest.

Rule 4: Show up to events. Seminars, workshops, conferences and trade shows are great ways to meet up with or run into old friends and business associates. I especially like attending trade shows because you get to see what interests your clients, which also makes for easy conversation topics.

Rule 5: Attend executive briefings. This is a great way to meet decision makers, especially for a product like ours. It gives us the opportunity to share our ideas with others, and vice versa. It provides the opportunity to network and build meaningful relationships.

Rule 6: Give referrals. These include referrals to vendors, opinion-shapers, consultants and industry partners. But my strategy differs a little from most people — I make sure that I am a trusted advisor. In other words, I give referrals to and about people I know personally and with whom I maintain a continuous relationship.

Rule 7: Be credible. I want people to believe that I can help them, and that they would want to work with me. I always put myself in my customer’s shoes and try to approach my job with the customer’s needs in mind. Remember the following: “How you sell me is how you will serve me.”?

Rule 8: Maintain a large circle of friends. For me, this includes business associates, former associates, former employees, family, friends, friends of friends and former classmates (you never know where they might end up in the business world). All my life I have devoted myself to building relationships. Rich or poor, I maintain a respect for each and every individual I meet. These could be janitors, managers or executives — they all deserve to be treated respectfully.

Rule 9: Create mutual care. The key to building meaningful relationships is to foster a mutual love and respect for each other. Helping each other out when needed is important in building successful relationships.

Rule 10: Adopt the 3 F’s. One of my principles in life both as a friend and as the leader of an organization is adopting what I call the 3 F’s. FAIR, FIRM and FRIENDLY. As I grew older I realized that something was missing in the 3 F’s, so I added 2 more key words of my own – an E and an S, which stands for EMPATHY and SINCERITY. Try following them, I guarantee it works.

Apply these rules throughout your life, particularly when interacting with the people you meet. If they believe you are sincere, you will have gained their respect and trust; this is a sign of true friendship. After all, what good is it to have all the money in the world if you do not have friends who respect and trust you? And from a business perspective, what good is it to have all the money in the world, if you do not have customers who respect and trust you?