The Art of Building Strategic Relationships

Hi there. It’s Shannon. I am the founder of the Confident Expert Program. Today I want to talk to you a little bit about the art of building strategic relationships in your business. And I will follow this video with one that is about the relationship marketing plan. And it’s such an overlooked plan that so many coaches and consultants actually don’t have a plan for, and it can be a powerful tool in your business. But first we need to talk about strategic relationships. So what is a strategic relationship and what does it look like once they’re formed and once they’re solidified? That’s what we’re going to explore today. So I am going to share my screen with you. All right. I have a second camera set up here so that you can see my notebook as I’m explaining some of these concepts. Okay.

So first of all, what I want you to know is that strategic relationships and building them is an art form. It takes intention, it takes focus, it takes love. It takes care. I want you to think about building this relationship as you would a relationship with a new love interest or a relationship with a new friend. It takes time, it takes nurturing, right? So the other thing I want you to know is strategic relationships can really set you up for success in your business if they are done properly. So I have some best practices over here that we’re going to go over in just a minute, but what I want you to see here is that a strategic relationship benefits you and the person you’re forming the relationship with. It is mutually beneficial. It is not one way. It is not, what can I give you all the time?cOr what can you give me all the time? But it is a doubly mutual relationship that gives and receives. 

Then a strategic relationship in my book also benefits all the communities that are involved. So if this is me and my community, when I enter a strategic relationship, I’m wondering how can I amplify this person and help this person shine and be a value to their community. So that trickles out. And I’m also looking for that for the people that I’m forming strategic relationships for my community. So who can I bring in for a training or an interview or something of that nature that my community is going to find value from. I am going to find value and it’s going to trickle out. So this is really important because I think a lot of people don’t actually understand how strategic relationships should feel, how they should benefit both people. And it takes time, right? It takes time to really think about these and to invest energy into them. But when you do, it’s amazing. 

So let’s look at some best practices of building a strategic relationship. So, number one, you want to enter the relationship with a spirit of generosity. So in my business, the way that I’ve been able to build this business organically and with lots of love and fun, not without its struggle here and there, but you know, that love and fun. And that connected piece is that I believe in serving first and serving always. I believe the spirit of generosity always pays off. I believe in the law of karma. Right? So the more I give the more I’m going to get in return. So you want to answer with a spirit of generosity. Okay. And we’ll come back to that in a minute. 

Another best practice is you want to brainstorm ways that are mutually beneficial to all of these people, not just to you. This is a major problem. People are in it for themselves, strategic relationships do not work like that. Okay. So how can you benefit all the people in this network? And how can it be a lot of fun, right? You guys know joyful marketing is my jam. I’m not doing things if it’s not joyful. So brainstorm ways with your strategic partners of how everyone in the communities will benefit from the relationship. Okay. The third thing is you do want to be the one to check in, follow up and keep the relationship going. This is where a lot of people fall short, and this is what I’ll be coming back and talking about, um, in a related video, which is your relationship marketing plan.

So just like everything, what’s your strategy. And what’s your plan for keeping this relationship going when you’re busy, when your partner’s busy, when people are busy, how do you stay top of mind? How do you stay top of mind with your strategic partnerships and strategic relationships? So when the time comes, the referrals come, all right, we’re going to talk more about that in another video. Finally, I do want you to remember that your revenue is a direct reflection of the depth of your relationships. Okay? This goes for people that have a Facebook group or they’re on LinkedIn, or you have an email list. Like if I come into your business and I look at where the revenue leaks are, where the energy leaks are, where we can tap into more joy, to get more money, where we can tap into your community. A lot of the time, I’m going to find that people have email lists that have gone silent or dormant. They have Facebook communities where they’re the only ones talking, all right.

They are not working on building these strategic relationships. And that is a direct reflection of your business, the health of your business, right? Every Monday, I call it millionaire Monday – I’m recording this on a Monday – I think about my relationships. I think about who I need to reach out to. And I reach out to them. I have a plan for fostering those relationships. I have a plan for building those relationships. I have a plan for moving those relationships forward. This takes a lot of thought. And I think a lot of people don’t know how to enter the relationships. They don’t know how to talk about this with somebody else. They don’t know what each person can bring to each other’s community. And when that is initially done, the thing that falls on the wayside is this strategy or this relationship marketing plan that I’m going to talk about later.

Okay. So if you would love to work with me and learn how to build strategic relationships that move your business forward I’m asking you to click that button on this page, let’s set up a call. You can talk with someone on my team. We can look at the health of your business. We can look at the future of the business. We can look at how we can help you strategically position yourself with a few key partners who are going to benefit from your brilliance. And you are also going to benefit from having them in your presence. And everyone’s going to benefit all the way around. Alrighty. So talking to you today, this is Shannon Hernandez, and I will hopefully see your appointments in an inbox with one of my team members. And we can talk to you and get you going by thinking about joyful marketing and how to expand your business from a place of joy and connection. Adios.