Investing in Your Business Through Your Relationships

• July 21, 2021
• Tammy Fuqua

We can all agree, relationships are important.  This is true, not only in our personal lives, but critical to the growth of a business.  Relationship building from a business standpoint can help you bring in new opportunities, retain current clients, and grow your reputation.  As client relationships evolve, an inherent level of trust is built resulting in greater comfort and confidence in doing business together.  Over time, clients will be more receptive to continue using the services of a business with whom they feel they have a deeper relationship.

Like a flower, relationships need to be cared for regularly in order to blossom. With repeat business being a core element in the success of most companies, if a business fails to cultivate and nurture its relationships with existing clients, the results will be detrimental to its success.  When a relationship begins to feel neglected, the tendency is to look elsewhere and reevaluate products or services being purchased.  Additionally, healthy relationships provide room for leeway – mistakes can be overlooked, rules become more flexible, costs are more easily justified, and greater value-add is readily provided.  In contrast, unsuccessful relationships not only result in a loss of revenue, they are harmful to a reputation and cost a lot of time and money to replace.

There are many ways to build successful relationships with clients.  One is to maintain a high level of communication through periodic check-ins either monthly or quarterly.  This could be anything from a simple, “how are you doing?” to translating the latest release of products or services from your portfolio.

While we all strive for positive interactions, it is also important to address the negative feedback. It happens from time-to-time as part of every relationship. When difficult situations arise, the key is to listen to the client’s concerns and provide a solution, not an excuse. Clients do not care about excuses. They want to hear how you will resolve their problem and how it will be addressed in a timely manner. This strategy alone will help greatly to strengthen the relationship and maintain your reputation.

Another way to build a successful business relationship is to present valuable solutions that address clients’ needs and help them in achieving their desired outcomes.  While an initial engagement may bring clients in and provide the opportunity for a relationship, what is done after the sale is what really counts.

At Control Concepts, we are committed to building strong relationships that yield lasting value. We believe that the true benefit of a relationship starts after a project is complete, and we demonstrate this by delivering value in our support agreements.

For manufacturers, support agreements provide means for our developers to support programmers who are implementing the modules/drivers/plugins that have been purchased to help simplify integration of their products.  This provides, not only an added level of knowledge and expertise to supplement manufacturers’ internal technical support, it also reduces the time spent on programming-related troubleshooting calls.  Along with the programming support, manufacturers are granted the opportunity to have minor updates to address modifications to their modules/drivers/plugins at no additional cost.

For Technology Managers, support agreements provide an avenue for addressing time sensitive technical needs, the ability to continue the iterative process of software adjustments to suit evolving user requirements and product capabilities, and an opportunity to consult with a trusted resource on new ideas including evaluation of products or solutions.

Two of Control Concepts’ core values are Care and Commitment to Excellence.  They are both readily demonstrated by the expertise in the work we provide and the confidence we instill with our clients by standing by our work and providing ongoing support!  By gaining trust in our deliverables and our team, client relationships become deeper knowing that they can count on us to have their back and look out for their best interest.  Serving clients builds trust like nothing else and trust is the one ingredient that is a differentiator in contributing to strong, long-lasting relationships.

Where there is a company with good business relationships, undoubtedly you will find a company with a strong set of common beliefs, successful leadership, a healthy culture, and employees with an exceptional work ethic.

A company with employees engaged in their work produces a higher client retention rate.  You know the saying, “happy wife, happy life?”  Well, happy employees feel valued, and this translates to how they interact with clients. In return, clients will identify with these shared ideals and know they will receive them in return when investing in a relationship.

Building successful business relationships is not easy and will not happen overnight. It takes time, a lot of effort, and commitment to the process. Being open-minded and aware of what is important to clients will not only provide new opportunities, but also help to maintain existing relationships, allowing the business to flourish rather than grow stale.

To learn more about how about how you can benefit from the services and support Control Concepts provides and see if a relationship with Control Concepts can suit your needs, please reach out to projects@controlconcepts.net or call (201) 797-7900.

Tammy Fuqua is the Account Manager at Control Concepts. To read her full bio, check out the Our Team page. To connect with Tammy email her at tammyf@controlconcepts.net or reach out to her on LinkedIn.

Tammy, along with other members of the Control Concepts team, will be attending CEDIA Expo September 1 – 3 and InfoComm October 27-29.  Please let us know if you will be there. We are excited to meet up with old friends and make new connections!