Business relationship management

The Practical Adoption of Agile Methodologies, APM Volunteer Research report, published by the Association for Project Management (APM) in May 2015, defines business relationship management as: ‘A formal approach to understanding, defining and supporting a broad range of inter-business activities and relationships over time.’

It is important to cultivate and maintain a positive relationship with vendors, suppliers, distributors, subcontractors, and all other stakeholders on a project.

Networking is a central part of building solid and lasting business relationships. The ability to ask good questions and listen well is an essential networking skill. Strong bonds often form out of mutual interests and common ground happened upon through conversation.

A vital part of this is ensuring all contractual agreements, including payment terms etc., conform to the parties’ expectations. However, both internally and externally, business relationship management relies on interest being shown towards people, in a business and personal sense. If the layers of formality can be reduced, with personal information forming part of business interaction, then the relationship is more likely to result in mutually beneficial results.

Developing a healthy and friendly project ‘culture’, in which everyone feels like their work and point-of-view is valued, can be key to the success of a project. Such culture can also be an attraction in terms of new employees and clients.

Good business relationship management can lead to loyalty, which is important in terms of finding suppliers and subcontractors that can be trusted, with regard to bids and project delivery. Professionalism should be demonstrated at all times, as well as open and honest communication, efficiency and consideration when dealing with their needs and requirements.

See also: Stakeholder management.

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