Business relationships

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What makes a good business relationship? I'm thinking specifically about the client to vendor relationships.

Here is a list of things I believe are important in working with clients.

  1. Be responsive.
  2. Have regular communication, not just on projects, but also on what the company is working on.
  3. Don't waste their time, but spend time with them.
  4. Bring new ideas that weren't necessarily asked for. Delight them.
  5. Understand the company you do work for... What makes them tick? What makes them comfortable?
  6. When they bring something up. Follow up on it quickly. Don't forget about it. Or worse yet, say you'll do something about it and not do it.
  7. Always hit your proposed deadlines or communicate that you're not going to hit them and why. But don't make missing deadlines a regular occurrence.
  8. Don't make it all about the Benjamins. If you have a good relationship you should be worth what you're asking for the work. Get approval for the estimate and then do good work.
  9. Know what you're role is. What is it your client believes you do for them? Understand where you're being asked to play.
  10. Be willing to step away if you're not the right fit. Or at least have the conversations. The worst thing is being in business relationships that aren't working and your client is paying money for you and no one is getting anywhere.
These are just a few thoughts, based on my last 10 years working with a lot of different vendors. It's not exhaustive, but I think there's some nuggets in there.

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