The ‘New Relationship Economy’ states that when it comes to doing business, relationships are the most valuable assets of a company. While products and services form part of the success, relationships are everything in business. However, it takes a lot of work to build and maintain positive relationships effectively. A company must focus on having principles that will make relationships in business work exceptionally well in the end.
When Navigating the New Relationship Economy, companies can apply the following principles to ensure that their relationships with internal and external stakeholders flourish.
Be Authentic
People tend to move away from businesses when businesses start going against their principles, values, and being detached from stakeholders’ concerns. Building meaningful relationships is all about staying true to your organisation’s values, missions, and not deviating from them. The mission and values should be appealing to your stakeholders and factor stakeholders’ concerns as much as it factors profits.
Transparency
All worthwhile relationships are two way. Businesses should be transparent enough to communicate with their stakeholders, including customers, whenever there is a problem. Be responsive when stakeholders need certain clarifications. If your company makes a mistake, own up, make amends and promise to improve in the future. Companies that own up to their mistakes and make amends are most likely to earn stakeholders’ trust as opposed to companies that do not. Additionally, foster a culture of transparency and accountability internally.
Be Personal
In the New Relationship Economy, customers and employees yearn for personalised experiences more than generic experiences. If you can provide tailor-made and reliable services specific for individual customers and employees, then you will navigate the New Relationship Economy with ease. If an employee is a high performer and for one reason or another requires to work from home occasionally, bend the policy a bit to allow them to work from home. If a customer prefers communication in a particular way, make sure to adhere to that. The three principles above are a good starting point when adopting the New Relationship Economy. However, relationships require more work, and you should be ready to put in work to ensure successful business relationships
