Strategic relationships – who do you need to know?

It is very easy in our day-to-day work lives to just get on with our job and interact with those where there is an immediate need. However, it is really key to think about which strategic relationships you need to build to support your career progression and positively impact client delivery and business development 

As I say when I’m talking about networking, you can’t build a network the minute you need one.

So beyond your immediate team who do you know in your firm? Importantly, who knows you?

Externally, how well are you known in your sector? How well are you known by those in related industries?

It doesn’t have to take a lot of time but it is worth spending an hour or so thinking about who else you need to know that will require a bit more effort i.e. you won’t naturally encounter them in your day-to-day. Once you have thought about this and made a plan to get to know them, it then becomes easier and hopefully it can just be a case of re-connecting with those people over time and reviewing the plan you have made periodically.

My top tips for thinking about who you need to know – who to build strategic relationships with

1. More senior people in your area of the business. These are people that are frequently overlooked who are absolutely key to you progressing your career. Individuals often consider their boss and their boss’s boss, but who else at most senior levels might you need to know? Who else might be inputting into the decisions related to you, such as the projects you work on and the promotions you get. Who else might you want to get work from to work on addiitonal clients?

2. More senior people in other parts of the firm – this is really important to think about for clients who might need support from multiple departments and/or to develop cross-selling opportuntiies.

3. Individuals in competitor organisations – there are several reasons why this can be helpful. To keep an eye on what else is going on in the market and to offer or receive referrals if one of your businesses can’t do a certain client project.

4. People that run networking groups related to your industry – not only are these people great for connecting you with potential clients or introducers but they may also provide you with great speaking opportunities to showcase how you help clients.

It is important to work on these strategic relationships before you need them, so that they become genuine and are built without a short-term objective in mind.

If you would like to talk about the strategic relationships you need to build to improve client delivery and generate opportunities contact me.