Building Relationships

By Michael Thompson

It's not what you say; it's not even what you do. It's what people feel about you and your business that ultimately defines your relationship with them and how they help you achieve your goals.

So how can you make people feel positive about engaging with you? The answer lies in your knowledge and expertise and the way that you present that knowledge - a way that your audience can appreciate and value.

The trick is to make knowledge transfer familiar, easy and informative. Better still give the individual complete control over what they access and when they access it.

So how do you do that? Well, below we list seven ideas that can help you build that relationship.

1. Capture and publish events

If you regularly give presentations at business events, you will know how difficult it is to engage with your audience beyond the event itself. Impression is everything and you need to sustain your impact.

So capture your live performances and publish to the web as interactive PowerPoint presentations or as video bites. Your audience can then relive the presentation at their convenience and easily follow up with you if they choose.

2. Run web conferences

You can of course potentially reach a much wider audience by publishing your presentations to the web.

The next idea is to incorporate your presentations into online video seminars or webinars for up to 100 people. These live events make it easy to reach out to your audience in a convenient, effective way that also benefits the environment and cuts travel costs.

And the benefit to your audience? They gain knowledge, get to know you. and have a rewarding experience.

And the end result? Evidence shows that when they know you, they begin to trust and respect you and are more likely, subsequently, to engage and do business with you.

3. Publish video newsletters

Once you have acquired customers and prospects, it is a continuing struggle to retain their attention; particularly when they are being bombarded continually with information from all sides.

Why not film a short video newsletter with 4 or 5 stories? It doesn't have to be expensive.
A video newsletter is a much more compelling format than a text newsletter and has been shown to be very effective method of engagement,.

4. Build web interactions

Sometimes a presentation is not enough. If you have complex information, you may want to use web interactions to get your message across in a clear and attractive way. So what is a web interaction?

Essentially, you may have information in a particular format. It may be a glossary, a quiz, frequently-asked-questions, a timeline, or a complex chart or diagram that needs explaining.

A web interaction displays the information but does so in a way that allows the user to interact with the content, choosing and exploring those areas of interest - and uses.

5. Film Talking Heads

Relationships are built on respect, confidence, commitment and trust. This is as true for organisations as it is for individuals. Your audience has to get to know you, like you and trust you before they will do business with you.

A two-minute video talking head simply and succinctly explains your offer or your brand. As important, it gives the viewer a sense of who you are. A talking head helps build the empathy, the feel good factor, that underpins a successful business relationship.

A talking head doesn't just happen. You need to be trained to perform in front of a camera and be skilled in the writing and execution of a script. The end result is a professional, warm and confident performance that gets your message across.

Sometimes, however, a conversation or interview may be a better informal format for explaining or telling a story - key to building rapport with an audience.

Again, confidence in interview comes through performance training and script rehearsal.Relaxed, positive and no surprise questions.

6. Create a knowledge network

Once you start engaging your audience with attractive and informative content, you will need to think about how they can respond.

Creating a knowledge network enables your audience to view your content and to respond and contribute their own information and expertise. In this way, you can build up a network that supports and encourages collaboration, best practice and the sharing of opportunities.

7. Deliver and accredit elearning

There is a fine line between knowledge transfer and training. Once you start to build a virtual library of captured presentations, online seminars, web interactions and talking heads, it becomes a straightforward and relatively simple process to wrap these resources up as elearning modules attached to an online learning management system.

You can then use your knowledge network to accredit continuing professional development and to provide training to your customers and staff in products, services or legislation.

At any time you will have a record of who has studied your elearning modules and their level of attainment.