How to Strengthen Partnerships by Pushing the Reset Button

October 19, 2017

Relationships change.
We know this. It’s obvious.
But we don’t act on it nearly enough.
They spark. They fizzle. They thrive. They fade away. They hang on by a thread.
You can probably think of a different relationship in your life for every one of those descriptions.
But here’s the important question:
Are you doing anything to improve the ones that need help?
That’s what this blog is all about.

Introducing the Relationship Reset

What if there was a “reset button” to revert your ailing relationships back to a better place?
Well, there is.
It’s called a relationship reset.
It’s a technique that can work with any relationship in your life, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going to focus primarily on your business relationships and/or partnerships.
Over time, relationships lose meaning, lose touch, lose relevance.
But when you’re in a business driven by your ability to generate leads, including referrals, there’s tremendous value in maintaining those relationships.
That’s where the relationship reset comes in.

Be Willing to Be Vulnerable

Successfully pulling off a relationship reset starts by requesting a meeting to rekindle the relationship.
This might mean sticking your neck out a bit and acknowledging some failings on your part for not holding the relationship together as tightly as you would prefer.
But imagine how you’d feel being on the receiving end of this call.
“Wow, Tom really cares about me.”
It makes someone feel good when you reach out and make a concerted effort to include them in your life and rebuild your relationship.
That’s why a relationship reset can take floundering relationships and make them stronger than they ever were before.

What Do We Talk About?

When you meet, discuss the following questions:

Why did we first start to work together?
What have we accomplished together?
What’s working?
What’s less effective today?
What are we committed to mutually and individually?
How can we support each other?
How can we be better partners?

These topics require honest reflection and insight. For a relationship reset to work, you have to be an open book.
You also need to be genuinely committed to making the relationship productive again.
So before you embark on this process, ask yourself if you’re truly willing to put in the legwork required and if the relationship is worth that effort.
If you’re just going through the motions, you’ll only make things worse. Don’t do it!
If you decide it’s worth it, go for it.

Seize This Huge Upside Potential

You can be as ambitious as you desire (or as needed) with this technique.
Even conducting just one “relationship reset” every three months would re-engage four people annually who potentially will send you referrals, help you increase efficiency or provide some sort of benefit to your business. One every month would be even better!
Even currently productive relationships can sometimes benefit from additional analysis and inspection. Use the relationship reset to ensure you’re maximizing every opportunity and creating mutually beneficial outcomes.

Where Do I Start?

Think about people who were once in your life but have drifted out of it to some degree. Then think about how you can create a win-win scenario by rekindling that relationship.
A vendor.
A mortgage broker.
A repeat client.
Virtually anybody…
Then pick up the phone and make that call.