Negosentro | A successful business is all about building long and trustworthy partnerships and relationships with other companies. Whether it be for sharing information, exchanging skills and resources or offering and receiving advice, it is important to have a network of businesses supporting one another. Sometimes your product or service offerings can be complementary and of value to each other and as you grow you are able to support the growth of your network companies but procuring from them. Procuring from other reliable and ethical companies can help your public image too, especially as customers, consumers, and clients are becoming more conscious of responsible business practices and are making purchasing decisions based on the sustainable behavioural profiles of businesses. Here are some tips to finding the right business relationships to help you build your own inner circle network, or, if you prefer, your tribe.
Know your worth
Let’s start with an example: say for instance that you run an Australian SEO company you will find a lot of people in your network who will ask you to do work for them for free as ‘special favour’. People still see SEO, web design, social media, graphic design and other similar IT related jobs as something that isn’t tangible and can, therefore, be done for free. Know that the work your company does is valuable and while it is passable to provide your mother’s charity for some free IT work, she won’t qualify as an inner circle business relationship. People who offer to pay or exchange a similarly valued service in exchange for your time are those who you want to consider building a long-term partner with
Take time
You’re going to be in business for a long time, so don’t rush into inner circle networks too quickly and proceed cautiously. It is important to find business owners and CEOs who think similarly to how you do, are trustworthy and with whom you share common values. Sadly, there are a lot of sharks out there, so be careful who you share your information with. You might get burnt or be taken advantage and be put off building a tight network again, but good networks will help you to success and you must learn who to build these with.
Stalk them online
It’s completely acceptable to check out another person or business online if you’re wanting to get a better idea of who they are and how they and their businesses operate. Do they support sustainable business practices and pursue inclusivity? Sustainability can be good environmental practices, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Inclusivity involves a range of measures, some of which include employment of women, people from different racial backgrounds and people with disabilities. It can also be This information can be found through the company website and annual reports. If it’s not a big business, have a look at social media to see who they employ, and you can also get an idea of the kind of relationship they hold with their employees.
