I see a lot of advice about how to start relationships, that networking, firm handshake, clear eye stuff.
Earlier this month I got a delightful call from a 20 year customer asking permission to introduce me to a new prospect. We hadn’t spoken in years, but still like each other a lot, and he told me he has been reading the blog posts every week.
That got me thinking about how relationships maintain and what makes them dissolve, the “outro.”
Years ago, I was walking on the sidewalk and a customer pulled up and asked if I had time to go to lunch with him. We hadn’t spoken in several years after our project was completed, but we were thrilled to see each other. I jumped in his car.
We lunched, talked, and I remember he said it wasn’t time that eroded relationships, as we were able to start right where we had left off. Great afternoon, haven’t seen him since, and I was grateful for his observation.
I think that transactions are the stuff of relationships, relying on and being relied on. When there are no appropriate transactions, the relationship waits.
What makes the outro is too many promises not kept, creating a relationship better not maintained.
I’m not disappointed when a relationship goes away, because I can usually see it coming from a distance. And not all relationships should be maintained, we all grow and change what is important to us.
Kinda makes me want to cherish the ones that work while they work.
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