1. People First! How Emerging Entrepreneurs Knock Out their Competition
“If you are in Business, You are in the People Business”
~Joyce White Nelson
Whether you recognize it or not, all successful small businesses–regardless of what they do or
sell–have one thing in common: their owners know how to build and maintain authentic
professional relationships. The truth is that entrepreneurs too often get caught up in the details of
the kinds of products or services they are selling to notice how critical it is to build relationships
not just with your customers, but also with your vendors, employees and–gasp–even your
competitors. "Without strong personal and professional relationships, it is impossible to have
success as a business owner," says James Furnner who is the founder and CEO of Prime Design,
a branding and consulting firm in Appleton, WI. who’s mission is “Causing People to Respond”
™
( Change this quote any way you want)
"You need to have long-term customers and good vendor relationships that will carry you
through challenging times or tight deadlines, as well as relationships with other business owners
to share struggles, resources and best practices that can really give you an edge. The reality is
that business relationships are just like any other relationship. They require some effort to
maintain and they must be mutually beneficial. As in any relationship, you must be willing to
give, share and support, not just take or receive."
Your business as an entrepreneur is to put people first. Two steadfast actions that Mr. Furnner
has in place that support that mission are; First, he created a contact database where he not only
stored information on his clients, but also with vendors and business peers. He uses the database
to document the details of the conversations–both personal and professional–that he has with
each of his contacts. "This helps with continuity and helps me to remember key facts and
information about each contact," he says. "It felt mechanical at first but it proved to be an
efficient method to ensure that no one fell through the cracks." Secondly, his daily routine
includes processes to nurture and maintain his professional and personal relationships. These we
two practices and actions that he attributes his highly successful 25 year referral based business
for his firm.

2. We at JoyceVentures, enjoy finding and shining the spotlight on businesses that believe that
people are their greatest asset. The first indictor is to have value for people, which includes
within the company and also the community and world in the mission statement, and then
bringing that statement to life through the policies and procedures of the business and marketing
plans.
Marcus Lemonis, of the current television show “ The Profit” fame, judges businesses with the
(P)eople-(P)rocess-(P)roduct principle. He recognizes that the most important “P” is people, and
that the right people are effective while the wrong people are destructive. The second “P” looks
at how organizations create, deliver, and sell the process. Finally, the third “P” determines
whether the product is an excellent one and a relevant one. He stresses that for a business to be
successful, it has to have at least 2 of the 3 Ps working in its favor. Out of the three, he mentions
that People are the most important.
Our community of People-First Professionals at JoyceVentures, whole heartedly agree with
Furnner and Lemonis.
If you aspire to have the success of businesses like that of Funner and Lemonis, that are
reaping benefits of a people-first focus, you will want to create systems to build authentic
personal and professional relationships that have measurable results.
“5 Reasons Why Relationship Building is Your Key to Success”
According to the Department of Labor, the number one human need is to feel appreciated. This
‘feeling’ trumps, money and title in job satisfaction and loyalty. Think about it, you are the
market. What do you want? Our friend Bob Burg, Author of Endless Referrals: Network Your
Everyday Contacts into Sales” states, “All things being equal, people will do business with, and
refer people to, those people that they know, like, and trust.”
You and I are consumers, we are tired of the over-promise and under-deliver model, tired of
being blind sighted with hidden costs, tired of technology getting in the way of personal
connections and extremely tired of the hoops we have to jump through just to receive a product
or service for which we are desiring or in many cases have already purchased. We are begging
for quality, personal service and accountable and authentic human connections to be
demonstrated in business.
Relationship building in business harnesses the demand in the market for personal connection
and capitalized on technology to create systems for the business to grow authentically and
organically, maintain relevancy and transparency for the people they serve. My clients and
colleagues are always telling me the dedicated focus on initiating, nurturing and sustaining
personal and professional relationships offers huge returns.
Reason#1 Relationship building establishes trumps perceived value and it is a fact that
people will do business with those they know like and trust. This saves time and money. The
perceived value of being a friend of the company and a part of a community that is inclusive and
results in direct and referred sales.

3. Reason#2 Relationship building is the most effective marketing process. How much does it
cost to have a conversation? When all systems, including social media are used to create
relationships and foster a relationship centric environment which results in trust, the returns are
loyalty, and referred business.
Reason#3 Relationship building creates customer and staff retention. Studies show acquiring a
new customer/client costs 5-7 times as much as keeping an existing one, and customer loss
yearly average is 25%. Have you ever measured the amount of time and resources you spend on
customer acquisition and employee retention?
Reason#4 Relationship building means gathering data from our market. Bill Gates said, “We
learn the most from our most unhappy customers.” How can you get better at you do unless you
get feedback on how you are doing? What if you look at challenging feedback the same way you
look at positive feedback? It is all data for improvement, would you agree? Customer and staff
surveys are a great way to get this feedback.
Reason#5 Relationship building will multiply your network exponentially. The average
person has about 250 people in their personal and business network. As a business owner, you
may have even more. The point here is that for every person you meet and establish a quality
relationship with, you have the opportunity to include their 250 person network. If you have 250
people in your network, and they have 250 in theirs, that is 62,500 potential clients and referral
sources.
What if your business had a solid mission statement with actionable policies and relationship
building systems in place that focus on your most important asset: people? Do you believe you
may have the joy and prosperity in your business that other leaders are enjoying?
If this resonates with your beliefs but, have more questions than answers on how to implement,
measure and grow your business with a people-first focus, you are an outstanding match for our
team of “PeopleFirst” professionals.
We invite you to participate in a Complimentary Discovery Success Session to clarify
your objectives, intended outcomes and result in an immediate strategy suggestion.
www.joyceventures.com
You input is valued. Please go to our website and, “Talk to us about how you build
business relationships and tell us some examples of how that has worked well for you.”
You may be featured in an upcoming blog or article!
Always thankful,
Joyce White Nelson
P.S. You input is valued. Please go to our website and, “Talk to us about how you build business
relationships and tell us some examples of how that has worked well for you.”

4. Joyce White Nelson, Business Relationship Strategist and founder of JoyceVentures has 30
years of experience in educational leadership, public speaking, conducting workshops and writing about
initiating, nurturing and sustaining, positive and mutually beneficial personal and professional relationships
that change the world and result in joy and prosperity. She is a successful business owner, a global
connector and contributing author to the book, “Becoming the Perfect Networker: Succeeding One Connection
@ a Time”
She invites you to receive her Free E-book “Authentic Networking: A Simple Three Step Process that Creates
Business Relationships with Returns” www.joyceventures.com
©2015 JoyceVentures