How To contact Into a Professional Intimate Business Relationship

It used to be that you met someone at a meeting or a mixer, had a real conversation with them, perhaps saw them again at a luncheon, exchanged an email or phone conversation, and eventually, developed those initial interactions into a long-term business relationship.
If you really worked at it, nurtured a friendship beyond the workplace, that connection turned into what I call a Professional Intimate Relationship (PIR) – a relationship that flourishes beyond office walls. A PIR is a mutually beneficial connection that is fueled by your sense of urgency and a shared purpose. A Professional Intimate Relationship is one in which both parties feel understood and appreciated, thereby reducing negative stress and boosting mutual respect. The PIRs in your life fully engage in your passion and work with you because they are as invested in you as you are in them.
Today, many business relationships actually start online: a tweet here, a Facebook “like” there, maybe even leading to exchanged blogs or video posts. With all this modern technology changing how we do business, it’s easy to lose the skills of developing “real-world” relationships — interpersonal connections can’t evolve into PIRs unless you give them the nourishment they need to grow and flourish.
Here are 5 tips to help turn a business contact into a Professional Intimate Relationship:
Agenda-less Listening: Listen without thinking about what you will get out of the conversation. Instead of thinking about how you can make a sale/close a deal, really listen, with your whole self, to what the other person is saying. What are their concerns in work, in life, and how can you help?
Beyond the Boardroom: Make connections beyond the work place. Talk to your business contact about life beyond the office. Do you both love to swim? Do you have kids the same age? Did you both grow up in small towns? Spending time bonding over similarities helps solidify long-term bonds.
Team-Up: Instead of asking for their business, put together a mutually agreed upon plan that will accomplish goals for a shared purpose. If you both are passionate about the vision, you will both work equally hard to make it a reality.
Move Forward: If you do work with the business contact on a project, be sure to think about how you can work together again. Are there other areas of your life in which you can partner? Is he or she involved in charity work that could use our talents? Do you have a sports group that could use a new member? Part of developing a Professional Intimate Relationship is extending the boundaries of your partnership beyond a single job, or a single facet of life.
Constant Contact: When you click with someone, either online or in person, it’s important to stay in constant contact and think about all the ways you can work, and play, together if you want the relationship to last a lifetime.