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My 8-post series, Rules of Business Relationships, covered the essential qualities of strong and long lasting business relationships. To summarize -

Rule 1 – The golden rule of sales relationships – Never further your interests at the expense of the other party’s.

Rule 2 – Transparency. Hidden agendas make for unhealthy business relationships.

Rule 3 – Confidentiality. Information sharing is good, provided it is being shared for a good business reason. Gossip is always bad.

Rule 4 – Closure. In business, when you leave things hanging, you wind up hanging yourself.

Rule 5 – A touch of the personal. There’s a fine line between impersonal and too personal. Learning where it is is imperative.

Rule 6 – Penny wise, pound wise. Minor disputes can derail relationships, so stay focused on the big picture.

Rule 7 – The customer is always right is always wrong. Business relationships flourish when partners find complementary objectives.

Rule 8 - Simplicity. Simple ideas generate energy and results. Complex ideas generate confusion between business partners.

I hope these observations helped. They’ve certainly helped me. What advice do you have for building strong business relationships?