Many people talk about building business relationships, but they often focus more on a transactional nature. This is short-sighted and doesn’t bring about the best results.
There is an important ingredient you can use in building lasting relationships.
We have to plan for what is coming long before it arrives. This time-honored Aesop fable about the wild boar and the Fox illustrates the point:
The wild boar and the fox
A wild boar was sharpening his tusks busily against the stump of a tree when a fox happened by. Now the fox was always looking for a chance to make fun of his neighbors. So he made a great show of looking anxiously about as if in fear of some hidden enemy. But the boar kept right on with his work.
“Why are you doing that?” asked the fox at last with a grin. “There isn’t any danger that I can see.”
“True enough,” replied the boar, “but when danger does come there will not be time for such work as this. My weapons will have to be ready for use then or I shall suffer for it.”
Preparedness for war is the best guarantee of peace. (From Aesop’s Fables, sixth century B.C.)
Plan for the future
Like the wild boar prepared for potential danger, the wise relationship marketer also plans for the future. Smart relationship marketers are sowing seeds for a future harvest. In relationships, this means that you are implementing a part of the farming cycle every week.
It is important to make initial contacts. It is important to renew important friendships that you haven’t refreshed for a while. You also want to be able to know when it is time to harvest.
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