Managing Lasting Relationships

“Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.” Anthony J. D’Angelo, The College Blue Book

Relationships are critical to maintain with family, friends, significant others, and your staff and colleagues. This is true for everyone including busy entrepreneurs. I dedicate this blog to David Anthony Ferrara “Dino”, who died on Saturday July 18, 2009 at the age of 44. Only 500 people (of the thousands who’s lives he touched) attended his funeral; these were family friends and business contacts with whom he’d been affiliated over the years. He was a truly successful person and entrepreneur. He helped build and sell a $30 Million company all the while:

1. Making plenty of time to spend with his kids: coaching their lacrosse teams, teaching them about charity and to care for others by volunteering at their church. He fed the poor and led bingo for the elderly at retirement homes. There were countless stories of how he’d hop on an airplane at the drop of a hat to help his brothers, cousins, aunts; anyone in his family who was in need.
2. Participating regularly at events that united his friends: he played golf annually with over 30 buddies he met in grammar, elementary and high school in Baltimore, in college at Bucknell, and during the years through other friends and family. He’d do things like drive out to the desert to play golf with a friend he hadn’t seen in a while and make it back in time that evening for his daughter’s lacrosse game.
3. Managing key relationships throughout his life with staff and colleagues: he went to college with Pete Henig who at the time was editor of Red Herring. Pete introduced Dino to Michael Schwab. Dino nurtured that relationship and was able to raise money for his company. His partner in the business was his grammar school friend David Boden and most of the employees were also either long time friends or became close friends.
4. Supporting his wife April. Their relationship was fun to watch. When you saw the two of them you could tell they were meant to be together. April, an entrepreneur herself, was looking to sell a catering business she’d built and had been running for years. She approached me to check it out and see if I would be interested in buying it. She had an event scheduled with a very influential client (Maria Shriver) to see how to run the business. My husband was out of town that day, and at the time my son was not even a year old. I didn’t have anyone to leave him with so Dino brought their two young kids up to my house to baby sit our kids, so April and I could work at the event. He’d do anything for her.

When you think of all the key elements of the whole life matrix, none is more important than your relationships. To be successful and to have it all, you need to make maintaining relationships your primary goal. Dino did. People were willing to introduce him to their cherished contacts because they knew he’d take care of them too. Though Dino died at very young age, he lived an incredibly full very successful life, and through his treasured relationships built a legacy.

Relationship Management - Keeping Track of All the Players

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Darrell Royal, Former Head Football Coach, University of Texas

Every business should have a relationship management system. This system records everything you need to remember about your clients and prospects, vendors, service providers, anyone you need to contact in order to run your business.

In the old days, the Rolodex was the tried and true device that contained contact information. A business card was usually all the information you had. Maybe you would jot down a note on a card such as “Enjoys baseball.” But other than the business card getting glued into its spot, the Rolodex didn’t offer much in the way of tracking, and enhancing your relationship with your contacts.

I would be lost without ACT, which is my preference for client database software. In ACT, you can enter not only the client’s name address and phone, but you can keep notes on every conversation. “Bill thinks he will want our product in November.” “Sara will be on vacation next week, returning on Monday the 4th.” I update my prospect notes each time I have a sales call, because that way I transfer important information to the database while it is fresh in my mind.

You can also group each contact with others who share a common distinction. Create a group such as “Prospects for Special Product” or “Accounting Clients”. Contacts can be members of any number of groups. You can send e-mails to individuals, groups, or the entire database at once. The possibilities are endless.

Your relationship database is indispensible as a sales tool. It is impossible to remember every conversation, every order and every preference of all your clients and prospects. Your clients will be impressed when you can tell the date and time of when you last spoke, and you can keep the sales process moving forward with confidence. When you have all the information you need right at your fingertips, you are ready to win the game of sales.

Are you ready to win?