Relationship Principles

A co-worker/friend of mine and I were at a large telecommunications company a few years back and had the challenge of re-working the channel program. Rest assured this was a huge task littered with internal political battles, a company accounting scandel, and an antequated program as a starting point. What to do?

We spent a lot of time discussing relationships. My wife asked me at one point what I was working on and I proudly said, "Relationships!". She asked, "What the hell do you know about relationships?" OK...fair point. My colleague and I did, however, come up with four basic prinicples that guide effective relationships...whether business or personal. These are:

Mutual Commitment
Mutual Growth
Mutual Profitability
Brand

I'll expand on each of these later, but the adherence to these prinicples will guide you on how you build your channel program and develop long lasting relationships with your partners. Interestingly, after I left the telecommunications company I went into a niche insurance market with the goal of building better relationships with independent insurance agents (our channel). Applying these same prinicples worked. It is my belief that they transcend industries.

I will let Oprah, Dr. Phil, and the rest of the daytime pundits argue about finding the perfect relationship (not possible, btw). Instead I encourage everyone to focus on these four basic principles as a way to build "better" relationships.