This past week has been crazy with discussions with three different CPA practices. All three discussions were different in nature and from different types of practices. I see benefits in talking with all three firms to see if there are opportunities to help my clients if I cannot answer their questions. These are the types of relationships that you want to build as a business owner. This becomes extremely crucial when you are by yourself with no employees. Granted in my situation I do have my wife who is also a CPA to use as a sounding board.
A couple things that help with building great relationships is personality and trust. I think of myself as having a very easy going personality. As well, although I have a full-time position with Automaxx, my in-laws’ family business, I still find time to meet with my clients during the daytime, in the evenings or on weekends. I took a last minute conference call with a client the other night because I care about them. The fact that I can deliver information to help ease their mind and allow them to sleep better at night is very important to me.
Trust is an extremely important trait too. You don’t want to be sharing confidential information with people that are not privy to the situation. I recently ran into a situation where information that I conveyed in confidence to someone got back to me from another source. How do you think I felt when I heard this? I was quite upset because now I knew I couldn’t talk to this person anymore.
Have you made good relationships in business? Let us know!