Blue Elevator Blog

The Relational Business

There has been a fundamental shift in the market place.  Not everyone will admit it.  Not everyone can define it.  But, I guarantee you that everyone is feeling it.

This article discusses this shift and the challenges and opportunities of establishing a relational business.

The transactional business

For the better part of the last two or three decades, business had been defined in these terms: sales closed, contracts awarded, widgets sold, homes built, systems installed, etc.  Business was defined in terms of transactions.  In the vortex of business growth coming out of the 80’s and 90’s, it seemed that demand for goods/services exceeded supply.  Businesses grew to accommodate that demand.  Things were very transactional.  I was there.  I lived it.

To win a sale, businesses clamored to be noticed in a 4 inch thick volume of the Yellow Pages: AAA Roofing, AAA Cement, AAA Swimming Pools.  If you felt bullish, you might even pay for a 1 page ad.  With the advent of the internet, the Yellow Pages shrank.  The copy I received a month ago was very thin and, in conversation with most people I know, it went right from the door step to the recycling bin.

The Yellow Pages has gone to the internet with thousands of companies selling SEO to get you on the first page of Google.  I know I will step on a lot of toes here, but today’s SEO model is like the Yellow Pages of old.  The SEO companies want you to pay thousands of dollars each month to rank you for a very competitive keyword (or multiple keywords).  And, you have to do it every month because some competitor might out spend you and knock you out of position.  Not to mention, the cost of pay per click ads has dramatically increased.

Only “The Big Guys” can afford to keep up this steady diet of pay per click, SEO, print advertisement, and the like.  Their business models require a steady diet of transactions necessary to feed their behemoth business machine.  In candor, these business owners also know that this pay to play approach is getting more expensive all the time.  But, they are trapped between a constantly rising cost per lead and the incessant demands of their company’s need to harvest transactions to feed their machines.  They are stuck.

The Relational Business

Today, you have to be a relational business – not a transactional business.  I will submit to you that business has always been relational.  However, in the preceding two or three decades, excess demand allowed businesses to fall short in the relationship area and still enjoy a modicum of success.  Not anymore.

“The Big Guys” know things have changed.  They know they have to make a shift.  The trouble is, it is a BIG shift.  They won’t miss spending the big bucks on traditional, direct response, call to action, marketing.  But, if they don’t change their business approach, they will miss the sales that are rewarded to companies who are ready, willing, and able to engage the consumer and cultivate a relationship.

They don’t like spending the big bucks on direct response marketing, but they can’t stop.  This is what they know.

Instead of luring or tricking a consumer into acting on this “never to be repeated great and fantastic deal of the decade,” businesses need to understand that people buy when they have a need.  And, they will buy from someone that has taken the time to establish a relationship with them.  This isn’t so much a play on reducing advertising – as it is more on determining the message of the advertisement, what type of deliverable to advertise, and the best mediums.  In other words, you have to be consistent in your model and approach (e.g., transactional vs. relational).

At Blue Elevator™, we believe …

The savvy and caring “solopreneur” can, like David against Goliath, take on the behemoths of industry if they are willing to engage consumers with the relational business model.

Consider this

In our article, A Case of Mistaken Identity, we provided an example that is worth repeating (paraphrased herein):

“If you want a steady harvest of apples, you have to find good land.  You have to clear the land.  You have to cultivate the land.  You have to furrow it.  You have to plant thousands of apple seeds.  You have to water the seeds.  You have to nurture the young shoots.  You have to weed and fertilize.  You have to stake the young trees.  You have to eventually prune these young trees.  If you do all of this, after many years, you should enjoy many, many years of a prolonged, rich harvest of bright red (or green or whatever variety you like), sweet, and delicious apples. 

Try as you may, these young trees will not give up their apples before they are ready.  They only give them up if they have been properly tended.  There are no shortcuts here.

If you take the time to create or convert to a relational business, then you too can enjoy a prolonged harvest of business.  Like well tended apple trees, your customers will buy.  They will buy when they are ready.

Conclusion

If you are “The Little Guy” and you are thinking about starting a business, right now may be a great time.  If you already own a small business, the time to convert to a relational approach is now.  If you are “The Big Guy,” don’t delay.  Things will only get tougher.  So whether you are a startup, “The Little Guy” or “The Big Guy,” Blue Elevator™ can help you establish a relational business.  We are here to help.  We can walk you through it and help you start or convert to a relational business model.  If you are ready, we invite you to contact us.  We would love to hear from you.