Management/How To Series

If every sale you make had to be made to a new customer or client, you’d soon buckle under the weight of it all. Whether you’re offering a service or selling a product, repeat business is the best business—it allows you to build on contacts you have already made. The really productive and satisfying relationships, in business as in life, are the ones that last, and usually they take a little work to remain so. Here are some of the ways you can build long-lasting client relationships.

As a manager, you'll often have to persuade people to believe in your views and to accept your ideas. If you're good at selling your ideas to employees and colleagues, then you'll go further, faster, in your career. Unfortunately, good ideas must first be sold to staff and, if you can't get your proposals across the way you envisaged, then they may well go the way of many other good ideas—into oblivion. So, here are some simple rules that will help you sell your ideas more effectively in the future…