When people talk about running a business, they tend to talk about it in pretty abstract terms. Sure, they talk about concrete things like marketing budgets, financial planning, productivity, etc. but they often fail to think about the day to day realities of actually running a business. Because there’s one thing about running a business that you simply cannot go without that far too many blog posts and articles seem to forget entirely: people. People are what make any business go round, and without them, you’re going to have little more than a good idea and no way to execute it. With that in mind, here are some crucial human connections that you should never neglect in your business.

Connecting with suppliers

If you want to be able to run a successful business, then you need the best materials. This isn’t just about your product, though that is incredibly important, you need to think about the suppliers for everything in your business from paper to equipment. The truth is that there is no connection that is too small to bother with. You need to give as much attention to the connection that you make with your zinc electroplating supplier that you do to the company that supplies the materials for your product. Losing any one connection could end up causing serious problems for your business and even result in the whole thing collapsing altogether.   

Connecting with employees

It’s far too common for business owners to treat their employees as little more than a resource to be used up as they see fit. However, that’s the worst possible way to run a business. If you treat your employees that way, it’s only a matter of time before they start to resent you for it. You need to make sure that you’re treating your employees as individuals with needs and desires because that’s what they are. Be willing to be flexible with them, reward them for a job well done, make sure that you’re able to show them that you genuinely care.

Connecting with customers

Your customers might come to your business for the product or service that you provide but the connection with you make with them can be the difference between a single sale and hundreds down the line. If you can take good care of your customers and make them feel valued, they’re much more likely to come back again, and they’re also much more likely to tell all of their friends and family about your business. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools, and there are fewer ways to generate it that are more effective than taking real care of your customers.

It would be nice to be able to say that running a business is something totally quantifiable that you can break down into a list of facts and figures. However, the truth is that it’s often messy, confusing, and difficult. And it’s those things because those are the kinds of qualities that people have. If you’re not prepared to work around the realities of dealing with people on a daily basis, you may not be ready to run a business in the first place.