Introducing Relationship Business

"Our self interest and our mutual interests are today inextricably woven together."
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair

An informed customer now holds the balance of power in business. The discipline of relationship business enables companies to become relationship-focused - to align with the customer's perspective - in order to consistently understand and profitably meet the empowered customer's needs and wants. Relationship business provides three core capabilities:

• A systematic outside-in perspective.
• The ability to effectively identify, measure, and manage relationship value.
• The ability to link the non-financial actions of individuals to their company's strategic goals and financial results.

A Mindset, Skillset and Toolset to Improve Performance

Relationship-focused companies embody a systematic outside-in perspective that lets them build and evolve trusting, purposeful, and mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders - not just customers, but also alliance partners, suppliers, and employees. Core to this outside-in perspective is the recognition that, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair says, self-interest and mutual interests are inextricably woven together. Consequently, a relationship-focused company is fundamentally different than a business-centric company.

The discipline of relationship business transforms behavior - and improves performance - on both the strategic level of organizational management and the day-to-day level of individual execution. For senior leaders and daily decision-makers, an outside-in perspective develops the ability to think intuitively and hones a sense of timing. That's the rhythm of relationship business - discerning patterns where others see chaos, sensing the moment to act while others seek more data, understanding when the cost of inaction outweighs the risk of taking action.

Skilled practitioners of relationship business objectively determine which relationships provide the greatest opportunities for helping them achieve their goals. They systematically use relationship-based sources of value to structure richer, more comprehensive deals. And that gives them the capability to build trusting, purposeful, and mutually beneficial relationships of all types and at all levels, especially with the customers, partners, and other stakeholders that matter most - those that measurably contribute to the organization's strategic and financial goals.

Relationship-focused companies are distinctly different from business-centric companies, as shown in the following chart. How relationship-focused is your company? Take our Relationship Business Assessment to find out.