We all know how important relationships are in business.
While the idea of building and maintaining professional connections makes sense, it’s easy to drop the ball when it comes to supporting those relationships that serve us.
We’re now inundated with so many forms of communication that common etiquette around staying in touch gets neglected. These days, many people just throw in the towel and either stop reaching out - or stop responding - all together.
But like any relationship, the quality of your business connections will only be as strong as what you put into them. No matter what you do for work, relationships have a major impact on your success.
Good communication isn’t about being perfect or staying up all hours to respond to every email. I know some of you need to do that - but this is not about exhausting yourself! It's about simplifying how you create and nurture relationships so they actually work for you.
Email Communication
I know email is a huge topic and I spend plenty of time helping clients manage their own version of "email hell", both literally and figuratively.
I once had a client with 35K unread emails in her inbox. It took her a long time to sort through them all but responding, categorizing and unsubscribing - then keeping up with new messages - gave her a sense of calm she’d never felt before.
While I have much to say about email management, when it comes to business relationships, your outreach and response times need to be reasonable.
I say reasonable because you might have 300 (or 3000) emails in your inbox right now and I know that can be overwhelming. Like anything, prioritizing the most important messages first matters - and I’m guessing you're pretty good at that.
The challenge comes when you ONLY pay attention to what's pressing and a month goes by before you realize you never responded to “semi” important emails. By then, the person on the other end is probably angry or has given up and moved on. In some cases, that can seriously hurt your reputation and your bottom line.
So while I hesitate to make blanket rules about email, if you can connect or respond to priority messages within 24-48 hours - and others within a week max - that’s great. When you know you can't respond soon, just send a quick reply letting that person know you'll get back to them. Then put a note on your calendar to circle back and follow up.
When you realize (as I do, at times) that you missed something entirely, write back and take responsibility. The key is to kick the habit of always being in reaction or apology mode and treat your colleagues as you’d like to be treated.
Newsletters & Updates
Did you know that what you're reading right now is a relationship builder?
It's a way for me to share myself and my expertise, stay connected and serve a community of women with similar desires and challenges. It's also one of my favorite tools for creating and maintaining new business relationships easily.
If you work in a professional environment, a newsletter might not be appropriate - although I did coach an executive who sent regular “updates” to her staff and vendors which helped solidify her relationships and status in her company. If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to stay in touch with your market, a newsletter and/or other forms of email marketing are wonderful tools.
There’s much I can share about newsletters in terms of content, structure, frequency and the best ESP’s (email service providers, mine is MailerLite) - but they’re also a simple way to invite people to connect.
For example, if you attend a networking event, you can send a nice message (email, text or DM) to those you meet with a note about what you discussed and an invitation to be “part of your community”.
For me, that means offering my two Success Guides as gifts - then sharing resources on my site and/or connecting on social. They get to choose, without pressure, if they want to join my list/community and I can do the same for theirs as well.
Writing a quick template that you can customize makes sending those messages simple - and, of course, try to send them within 1-2 days of meeting.
It’s important to mention that email marketing is permission based and requires an opt-in so NEVER add people automatically to your ESP from their business card without their consent.
CRM’s & Systems
Maintaining relationships with prospects, vendors and (current/future) collaborators is crucial and you need a system to make it easy.
You might be a master at this because staying in touch IS your business - and you have a clear process, CRM (customer relationship management) and follow-up system in place. You might also be overwhelmed by your contacts but realize that staying “out of touch” has cost you in terms of business, opportunity and growth.
If you're in the second category, communication needs to be on your calendar, like any other task. Depending on your industry and the context of the connection, you might stay in touch weekly, monthly or quarterly. You also want the way you contact people to make sense for you…so you actually do it.
Focusing on warmth, respect and consistency will keep your business connections strong and keep you and your work top of mind…just be sure to keep it simple too.
Business Tools & Career Resources
I’ve been collecting and sharing professional resources with clients, colleagues and groups for years and now I have them all up on my website. Along with gifts from me, you'll find:
Tools and systems I personally use to run my business and my marketing
Links to sites with business support (virtual assistants and freelance marketing)
Job search websites tailored to women, executives, creatives and remote workers
Articles with additional sites/career help and the best employers for women
I hope these resources help as you streamline and level up professionally in 2025. Don’t hesitate to be in touch with questions about them…if I can share more, I will.