Business relationships are the lifeblood of business success. Without them, you have nothing. You have no clients, no customers, no joint ventures, no revenues or profits, and ultimately, no business. It’s no secret that the more solid relationships someone has, typically the more business success they experience.
That being the case, it’s important to build relationships with others. From those relationships will spring your future success.

What are some of the best ways to connect with others? There are countless ways to connect with others. And with the veritable explosion of online social networking and similar sites, it’s getting faster, easier, and more cost effective to do so. But, I’m not referring to connecting with others as collecting names in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. That isn’t connecting, that’s collecting — two very different concepts.

Connecting with others is about taking time to have conversations virtual roundtables on the telephone or face-to-face with people with whom you genuinely want to develop a relationship. Everyone knows when they’re conversing with someone who just wants to “pick their brain” without paying for coaching or consultation as well as we know what it’s like when we’re the “prey” for someone trying to make a quick sale. Either way, the behavior is unwelcomed. Connecting with others in a meaningful and authentic way takes time and energy.

And, it’s from those relationships that you’ll be able to build friendships, surface joint venture opportunities, and create new client or customer opportunities. If you’re looking for business success, if you’re looking to invest, grow and sustain relationships for a lifetime rather than for the moment, know that it’s going to take time on your part. In the end, it will be worth it. Would you rather have 10 solid relationships that you can depend on, or 200 acquaintances who only connect with you when they want something from you. Most people would opt for the former.