How to Make Lasting Business Connections

Greg Crumpton lives by a simple mantra: Relationships drive business. Each week on Straight Outta Crumpton, Crumpton dives into the lost art of networking and speaks with the biggest influencers in business services to learn how they build, nurture and value their professional relationships.

In the world of business, being a people person has its perks. Forming connections with other people can help unlock opportunities and can make finding success more attainable. Greg Crumpton, Host, Straight Outta Crumpton and guest Mara Fowler, Global Accounts Manager for CommScope both know this from experience. “One thing that I learned early on was, you know, every person has an innate desire to connect,” Fowler said. She reflected on a conversation she had early on in her career when speaking with a c-suite exec. “I remember one of them actually saying that to me, like, I’d really appreciate you just talking to me like a person versus somebody who’s ten levels up from you,” Fowler said.

That lesson on forming sincere connections stuck with her throughout her career. “I would say that my success has been directly attributed to making sure that when I meet people, whether it’s when I walk into a data center, whether it’s the janitor or the security person or an IT person that’s on site, I don’t stop and treat them any differently than when I see the data center manager come in,” Fowler explained. That was a situational example of how forming connections aided her career.

Fowler shared three ways she’s been able to form such strong professional connections. “If you’re connecting with customers in some way or are messaging to the customers, don’t oversell right? And always be honest and transparent. And, you know, those three things I think have helped me tremendously,” Fowler said.

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