All You Need is Love: Personal Touches and Professional Relationships

Valentine’s day. The time for romantics and their counterparts, cynics. The time for overpriced chocolates and the impossibility of the restaurant reservation. And the time for the doorstep cheesecake ambush.

Let me rewind. My roommates and I were out to dinner Sunday night and came home to find a cheesecake sampler sitting outside our front door. Naturally we took it in without even questioning whether it had been anthraxed. After some amateur detective work, we discovered that the boy that my one of my roommates had started seeing had left us an early Valentine’s gift. The beauty of the newness of the relationship was that he was still working to win her friends over, and as such she was forced to share her cheesecake with us. We had reaped the benefits of her exchange without putting in the necessary labor. (Romance…so economical.)

It was simple and unassuming, a very classy touch. We ooohed and awwed in our foyer for an appropriate amount of time before beginning to stake out our pieces. Even a tapas dinner that lasted for two and a half hours didn’t stop us from considering when we’d be hungry again to dive in to our present.

Our appetites are not what is of note here; it is rather the value of a personal touch. The beginning of a relationship presents a world of possibilities. Each moment is make-or-break as both parties begin to form initial impressions of one another. I’m not simply referring to the blossoming of college affections but also to that of corporate relations. As you begin navigating the initial stages of your client relationships, it’s important to keep in mind how crucial every move you make is to the future of the relationship. Kind of makes going on a first date seem less daunting, doesn’t it?

So how do we go about establishing a good image for ourselves? How do we make the most of those first impressions to create a successful professional relationship?

What most people fail to realize is that your presence is around long before you receive a phone call or shake a hand. Your reputation precedes you, in essence, and it’s important to establish a good one. This involves paying attention to online branding, whether it be through website content or employee LinkedIn pages, to name a few. Ask for client referrals to put on your website, and ask for recommendations for your professional networking pages. Anything that gets the word out about the success of your past work is definitely lucrative for establishing a positive image, as this is how you secure your clients to begin with.

When it comes time for the initial meet-and-greet, make sure to have done your homework beforehand. Try to learn as much as you can about the person you will be speaking with and the company that they work for. This will not only give you a base from which to begin, but it will also demonstrate to the person that you care enough to take the time to learn about them. We are our favorite subjects, despite how much we may argue to the contrary. It will do you well to ask more questions than tout your accomplishments. People are more interested in your level of interest. Your experience, although important, is often supplementary to your ability to listen to and be engaged in your client’s needs.

Above all, be classy. Be personal. Be gracious. Written thank-you notes have an understated caché, and sending them as a sign of gratitude for having an initial meeting is always an elegant touch. There isn’t that much difference between that which is expected in the beginning of a romantic relationship and that which you foster with your clients. If you keep that in mind, you should have no problem navigating the often treacherous beginning stages.

Those of us without Valentines to place surprise sweets on our front steps can take solace in the one thing that may be better than the holiday itself: half-priced chocolates the day after.

To our readers: what do you find is a nice touch when establishing a relationship with a new client?