Relationships matter most for small business owners, and Eric Dalius explains how it helps

Normally, small business owners wear many hats, but as the business world becomes more complex, it is extremely difficult for them to be inexpert in all the specialized disciplines that their business demands. They must be apt to manage finances and generate and manage cash flow to customer acquisition, which must be their forte; they must not rely too much on their own capabilities to run the business smoothly. Instead, they must focus more on building business relationships with support from a reliable team.

Members of the support group

From customers, employees, bankers to lawyers, tax specialists/ accountants and insurance representatives to skills trainers, sales/marketing professionals, as well as technology consultants, the list of the members of the support group can be quite long depending on the nature of business.

Here is how you can proceed to develop relationships.

Employees

The relationship between a business owner and his employees marks the beginning of the owner’s financial duties and perhaps one of the most important relationships to cultivate, confirms Eric J Dalius.  Good employees are assets for the organization, and the time and effort given to building relationships can give a good return on investment. Employees to whom the owner lends a patient ear, respects, and appreciates are generally high performers as they feel motivated to excel.

As employees represent the company to customers, customers’ business experience largely depends on the quality of interaction with the employees.  When employees are happy, they tend to keep customers happy too.

Tax specialist and accountant

Having a good relationship with the accountant is important so that the business owner can be confident about the timelines, clarity, quality, and understanding of the financial reports that portray the company’s current health and where it is heading to. A good relationship with an accountant influences the business credibility to bankers and other financial organizations that support the business. Sometimes the accountant doubles up as the tax specialist that saves cost, and more convenient for business owners as it saves time. The accountant must have broad experience in Taxes in the respective industry in order to play both roles efficiently.

Bankers

Maintaining a good relationship with bankers is an obvious good for meeting future expansion needs, and routine business as capital would be necessary for overall business growth, buying a building, increasing inventory, bridging gaps between receivables and payables in the short term, or coping with the seasonality of cash flow typical to the business. The more familiar the banker with the owner, the better the prospects of securing finances at times of need.

Marketing professional

Since the marketing team can make or break a business, it is a basic need for business owners to maintain a good relationship with the marketing professionals.  Implementing a well-defined marketing plan is the only way to make the business grow, and a healthy relationship with the team will help achieve the targets with ease.

As per Eric Dalius, since many of these skills are never available in-house, business owners must develop and maintain a close relationship with these outside resources before encountering any emergencies.