Jody Glidden, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Introhive
In your business, you know right off the bat that you need people to do specific jobs and that those people need tools to help them do those jobs well. It’s a tale as old as time: a butcher needs a knife; a typist needs a typewriter or computer; a car mechanic needs a wrench. Companies have long measured these forms of capital and considered it a success when reaching certain milestones such as doubling their headcount or onboarding the newest technologies. People and things are tangible forms of capital that can easily be seen and measured, but there is one form of capital that many companies forget about: relationship capital.
To understand relationship capital, you first need to understand what it is. Relationship capital is intangible capital. It can be an asset or a liability depending on how stakeholders view its performance.
It includes all kinds of relationships with customers, partners, suppliers, community, government, media, institutions, groups and anyone who has an interest in the success of your organisation. All these interactions involve the sharing of knowledge, the solving of problems and the creation of connections –and of brand and reputation. If it works, you’re creating value. If it doesn’t work, you’re destroying it. Here are some examples that will hurt your relationship capital:
- If you have poor customer service
- If your marketing message is unclear and not attracting the right audience
- If your suppliers are irresponsible
- If you treat your suppliers as low-price providers rather than long-term partners
- If you violate the trust of your stakeholders
To understand your organisation’s relationship capital, you must be able to identify, score and manage the relationships held by your team. In a perfect environment, all the relationships in your organisation would be stored within the CRM, kept up-to-date and carefully maintained.
To learn more about how you can manage your company’s relationship capital, visit introhive.com.
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