Business-Building Action by Terry L. Brock
There is a danger in success. After someone has a victory, there’s often a tendency to sit back and relax. This goes along with the old “resting on your laurels” phenomenon. This is one of the most insipid dangers to successful businesspeople.
The same principles apply to Relationship Marketing. It is easy to sit back, relax and think that everything is fine with no extra attention needed. Remember that life is a constant ebb and flow. Maintaining relationships requires regular, consistent nurturing. This is the role of a good Relationship Farmer, which is anyone truly successful in business and life.
Even if things were going well in the past, you cannot sit back and relax forever. It’s part of being a human being. We all desire to be in a place where we can sit back relax and take it easy all the time. For some, this would mean going fishing all day. For others it might be relaxing at the beach all day. For others it might be watching TV all day. Yes, after we worked very hard for a particular project we want – and deserve – a healthy break. However, the problem comes in making that healthy break last too long. Even worse, it is the dangerous thinking that can occur.
Because one has been successful in one area, it can be a tendency to think that no more effort is needed for future success.
Success has danger embedded in it. If you sit back, lace your fingers behind your head and prop your feet up on your desk thinking that you no longer need to work because you won “the big one” — that is the first sign of problems.
Here are three steps you can take it will help you to savor those victories without harming your future success:
1. Enjoy The Victory — Responsibly This is much like the phrase we hear to drink responsibly. What that means is that you need to enjoy relaxation, drinking, or other recreational activities responsibly like a mature adult. Think moderation.
2. Be Aware Of The Dangers By being aware of the dangers, you’re able to put plans in place so that you prevent problems. Don’t rest on your laurels. Don’t think that since a relationship was going well it will always be that way. Continue to nurture and feed important relationships to keep them alive. Develop systems to make this happen.
3. Set New Goals Once you’ve had an appropriate amount of time for rest and relaxation set new challenging goals. I like the way Denis Waitley said it in his audio series, The Psychology of Winning. In that series he says that your goal should be “within sight, but out of reach.” You want to have stretch goals to help you become a better person.
This is how we are able to grow and stay fully alive. Increasingly we are seeing medical research show us that people do best, are healthier, and live longer, when they have a reason to live and a purpose. Victor Frankl told us about that in his excellent work, Man’s Search For Meaning. Dr. Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist in pre-Nazi Austria. He was captured by the Nazis and endured terrible torture at both Auschwitz and Dachau.
As a psychiatrist, he was able to see people who gave up quickly and died. He was also able to see those who kept going. The difference was they had a goal in mind. Sometimes that goal would be to see a loved one again. Sometimes that goal would be to accomplish a personal goal. Other times it was to extract revenge on the guards at some point in the future. Whatever the motivation, those who had a goal, a reason to keep going, were the ones who lived.
Keep nurturing important relationships. I like the way the late great Bill Brooks said it about “A touch a month.” He recommended identifying key, important people and creating memorable connections with them on a regular basis. It might be just a quick postcard or sending them an article.
Today we can do that much easier with a quick Retweet on Twitter, a post on Facebook or a meaningful video. Make a category in your relationship management software and feed that with ideas and useful information. This is not spam or advertising. It is what those on that list consider valuable. Keep it pithy and short (we like that today!).
Keep up your job as a Relationship Farmer. Keep nurturing those important, growing relationships. Relationship Marketing is on-going. Don’t rest on your past success but keep sowing seeds and continually improving future relationships.
Terry Brock is an international speaker and marketing coach who works with organizations to help them leverage technology and build business relationships. He’s the co-author of the McGraw-Hill best-seller on social media entitled, Klout Matters: How to Engage Customers, Build Your Digital Influence— and Raise Your Klout Score For Success! He can be reached at www.TerryBrock.com or via Twitter – @TerryBrock.
Terry Brock, MBA, CSP, CPAE
www.TerryBrock.com
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