A friend of mine told me the other day that a client of his has been difficult to work with this year on his renewal of his employee benefit program. Emails and phone calls had not produced the necessary information that he needed to market the account. Last week, he received an email from the client stating that while his services were excellent and that there were no issues with him, the client had decided to “give” their business to a friend this year.

He and I reflected on how we feel when we lose an account like this. It feels a lot like kissing my grandmother through the screen door, as we used to say. While on the one hand we did nothing “wrong,” the fact remains that in the end what he had was a business relationship, not a friendship. Therefore, this disconnection caused him to lose an account.

Why?

Relationship is the first Core Value of our agency. In it we state,

“The state of connectedness between associates, partners and clients enabling us to grow professionally and personally resulting in a pleasant environment and satisfied clients.”

I wonder how friendship fits in here. Obviously people do business with people they like. Friends do business with friends. So what does it mean to be a friend? Are we friends with all of our clients? I suspect we think we are. But my associate’s example points out the fact that relationships are not static occurrences, once set never to be revisited again. We constantly work at strengthening our relationships with our clients to make sure that friendly relationships turn into friendships that grow and last a lifetime.

Friends do business with friends. I look forward to making and deepening our friendships during the coming year with new and old friends alike.

How do you turn business relationships into friendships?

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