I was listening to the radio this morning and happened to hit on a discussion about unsolicited phone calls – you know the ones: “Mrs Forbes I hear someone in your household has had an accident”. To which the reply is “No they haven’t and we’re registered with the TPS”. Which sometimes gets rid of them and sometimes doesn’t.

That got me to thinking about the value of cold-calling as a means of building business relationships. It’s something I hate on both ends of the phone line.

But is it a necessary evil?

Or is there a better way?

It can be so difficult for a new business to attract clients. The web is a busy place with constant jostling for good rankings and no real way of knowing who are the good guys and who the scammers. As for email – well, how many newsletters, email marketing campaigns or even personalised approaches get opened let alone read? Most snail mail gets consigned to the bin unopened so we’re running out of options here.

Here are some tips I try to follow to build strong business relationships:

• Make the most of the contacts you already have. It’s easier and cheaper to get more business from an existing client than it is to grow a new one.
• Take an interest in your contacts on a human level rather than just as a business prospect. Remember to ask about their holiday/family/favourite sports team (without prying!).
• Try to get an introduction through a satisfied customer to a named individual in a similar organisation. LinkedIn is an easy, non-intrusive way to ask for an introduction.
• Face to face meetings are more likely to be successful than phone calls – so try attending networking events in your business area to meet new contacts.
• Be interested in other people and try to find something you can usefully do for them – whether that’s giving a sound piece of advice or offering to make an introduction to someone they want to meet. Reciprocity is a powerful force in building strong business networks.
• Be friendly – a smile goes a long way!

For more tips, tools and techniques to help you build successful business relationships check out our Business Networking Public Course.