Debtset – Bailiff-Sheriff Aust MEMBER Login
SMEs mistake transactional focus as ‘good business’ – instead of building long-term relationships
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
WHAT is the biggest mistake small-to-medium sized businesses make?
It’s all about the “big mistake” of putting the focus on the transaction, not about building relationships. More importantly, such businesses ignore the importance of creating a great culture.
Cesar Hasselman, the founder of AMH Consultancy said this has become a major issue for so many businesses, now, that tend to be focused “purely on the transaction”.
“Being a business owner is a journey,” Mr Hasselman told Talking Business. “You have a specific need. 
“If you can take away the transaction, with [focus on] the relationship and understand what’s more than that, around that, and you can understand people, I believe you start to create long-lasting relationships and you start to create a good network,” he said.
“But if you’re just looking for the trade, you’re always worried about your time. And everything is about me, me, me – then it will be hard for having good long-lasting relationships.
“Transaction is supposed to be a consequence. If you keep yourself focused on ‘what I can get’ from that person, it’s something that will make people annoyed and, probably, your relationship will not last that long – or it will be superficial.”
Find common areas of interest
Mr Hasselman said much of the challenge comes down to finding things the business owner and the client have in common – and where they can share information from the industry.
“You need to figure it out,” he said.
“I used to say ‘When you’re going to do a transaction with someone and you walk for the first time into their office, you’re not supposed to look at things superficially. You’re supposed to read who they are and what they have’.”
Mr Hasselman said this went to the question of establishing the culture in the business. How important is culture in a business?
“I believe it’s more important than sales,” he said.
“Culture is what can drag you up and down. Culture is what people do when you’re not present. Culture is what people do as extras without your asking for it. Culture is when things are changing and you have drama outside. Inside is what will support you to get through it.
“As solid culture is what will get your business into a much better place – and a destructive culture will get you out of your place.”
Get it right from the start
This is critical, he said, when people are setting up their businesses.
“If you set up a business, you have the opportunity to start with all your values which will become part of your culture,” Mr Hasselman said.
“If you have strong values and needs … these will become part of your culture if you do it properly.
“But if that changes, and you need to look for money to survive, then the culture will change.
“So culture is a day-to-day task. You build that up and you have to be aware of it.”
Mr Hasselman said this was also critical when recruiting talent – “they have to fit the culture”.
If the people brought in could destroy the culture, he said, “it’s much more expensive to fix and it’s better not to have them.”
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
ends
