Relationship Marketing - What It Is and Is Not.

In the past couple of weeks, I have read at least 3 articles on Relationship Marketing/Sales/Business Development in which the transparency aspect is never mentioned. These were articles posted on reputable sites, written by people who each claim to be an authority in sales & marketing in some way or another. Now, I certainly do not consider myself an authority on Relationship Marketing, but I have done some research over the years and I know a few things.

One of these articles left me feeling particularly irritated. Basically, the article talked about all the warm fuzzies of building a relationship and then turning that “friend” into a sale. OK, so there were a few good points on relationship building, but this was NOT an article about Relationship Marketing. This was clearly an article about manipulative sales techniques. It talked about people wanting to do business with someone that they know and trust, and the sales person getting from there to the “transaction”. Then? *crickets* - nothing about a long term business relationship, nothing about customer service, and nothing about transparency. Not only is this article delivering a misconception about Relationship Marketing, but it is also sending out bad advice about sales to the readers. Sales practices should never be taught or applied in the mindset of moving down a one way street.

As much as I would like to rant on, I have decided to briefly say just a few things about what Relationship Marketing is. If you are interested in reading a more detailed explanation of Relationship Marketing, then I hope you will also read my blog post Cuppa Transparency. This article gives an example about how Toyota's original Relationship Marketing model is changing the specialty coffee industry, and features 3 specialty coffee companies who embraced the idea to create Relationship Coffee.

Relationship Marketing is about businesses working together for the benefit of all stakeholders. It’s about transparency and inclusive negotiations. And it is about building long term, sustainable and healthy business relationships, whether business to business, or business to consumer. Of course, there are many creative ways a business may choose to implement these practices, but in the end it is about a long, strong two way street.