Who can I trust with my money to make me more money? That’s the question our friend Walker McKay of Sandler Training asks. It’s a good question.
Companies are made up of people, and, at the end of the transaction, we are working with a person. P2P, Walker calls it. Person to person. Business is about entrusting your money in a product or a person that will – ideally – make you more money. So you have to be in relationship with that person (who represents that product or the company), right?
But what type of relationship do you have to have with that person in order for it to be successful? What do you have to know? Who do you have to know? Who do they have to know?
I think there are two kinds of business relationships:
1) Deep relationships. These take time and have lasting effects. You know them, their momma, the status of their marriage, how they came to be here. You probably share a significant meal regularly, or go on a professional jaunt together every once in a while. You would trust this person with just about anything. Sometimes their business sense isn’t spot-on though, and you know that and accept it. You’re investing in the person, not their property.
2) Wide relationships. You know about the business segment of this person’s life. Just enough to know that they’re good at what they do. And other people have confirmed his or her goodness, which means less groundwork for you. You know this relationship will result in business-related success without too much personal investment.
Who you do business with depends on your goals and your personality. Are you in it to make money, or to establish relationships?
