All Business is Personal

Relationships are the key to any successful business.  Relationships being the key is a lesson that some big companies need to relearn.  When you replace relationships with process and bureaucracy, you strip the humanity out of business. It leaves only the machine.  For many middle-level managers who were raised this way, they might not see this as a problem.

These low and middle-level managers are spending their time synchronizing the synergies and tackling the low-hanging fruit.  They are thinking outside of the box so they can drill down and touch base offline with subordinates. They develop goals that will,  going forward, pump themselves up at the close of play.

Or, you can have a normal conversation with people and learn about who they are, what they are like, and what they need.

When you develop personal relationships with people, the business will come.  We get to know our customers, not only because we feel that is the best way to do business.   When we get to see a person and learn about their business, we can provide the services and supplies are needed. We can go beyond what is asked.  We can bring our experience in hardware, plumbing, electric, paint, and equipment to the table. We can be proactive and make sure that the right supplies are on hand at the right time.

You might have seen the recent posts online; One Source Supply is now truly a family business with Steven coming on board as Vice President.  With Steven coming on board, One Source Supply changes with the times.  Steven will bring his own experience and background to the business, and he will be out there building his relationships with people and companies.

Many companies gauge growth year over year by the bottom line.  The problem with that sort of thinking is that the bottom line doesn’t tell the whole story.   There is a lot that goes into that figure.  So much of that has to do with our work ethic and philosophy.  We want to see people succeed.  We want to see the companies we work with grow.  We want to see the people we have become friends with doing better in business and their personal lives.  We find that when you are interested in the person, you develop a bond that is more than that of customers and suppliers.  When you are genuinely interested in the people you speak to on a daily or weekly basis, then the business part of the relationship just flows.

We do a lot of networking, and we meet a lot of people.  We consistently find that the people we work with the best and the people we have long standing relationships with are those that have the attitude that business is personal.  When you have the belief that it’s nothing personal, its just business, you take an essential part of the relationship out of the mix:  the individual.  It doesn’t matter if you are a one-person independent contractor or a Fortune 500 company, all business is personal.

We sincerely and honestly believe this, and that is why we are successful at what we do.  Our business is building relationships, and we take that business very seriously because it is personal.