Judette Coward-Puglisi, Contributor

I know my clients. I mean, I really know them. Yvonne, the general manager of a performance arts centre, adores Godovia chocolates, so I make sure that each year I schedule a client meeting with her two days before her birthday and surprise her with a huge box. It's a standard joke between us.

Sheena, another client, the chief executive officer of a luxury goods store, is trying to lose weight, so I often email her articles that I think will help her with her goal.

Employee hunting

At the organic market where I shop, I know that the manager, Singh, has just started a computer course and is going through a messy divorce. He knows about the trials and triumphs I undergo in my business.

"How's employee hunting?" he asks each Friday afternoon I see him at the deli. "I think I may have found someone," I respond, taking the time to chat about the whole experience.

In the beginning of our relationship, Singh once allowed me to leave his store with TT$350.00 worth of groceries without paying because I had forgotten my wallet at home.

Likewise, my client Sheena calls me to chat, not just about business and weight loss, but about all sorts of other things. After all, I have taken a personal interest in her.

While it is true that relationship building has always been like second nature to me, what I've come to realise is how adept an entrepreneur has to become at turning business relationships into personal relationships and vice versa, while maintaining the value and integrity of each.

The truth of the matter is relationship building is at the very heart of effective networking; it also represents the foundation block for future business growth.

It does not take much to compute that should Singh ever need the services of a marketing, communications professional for his organic market and farm that I would probably be at the top of his list. And quite frankly, because he allowed me to walk out of his supermarket with free groceries on the basis of trust, I never do my shopping anywhere else.

Think about it for a moment, because these same principles of relationship building probably apply to your own businesses and lives as well. If you have money to invest, will you call a stranger from the telephone directory, or will you make an appointment with the financial planner you know and trust?

If you want someone to renovate your home, do you pull a name from the classifieds or do you call your builder friend who attends church with you every Sunday?

Good relationships and effective networks take time to build. The trick for the entrepreneur is to learn how to maximise the benefits of relationship building while minimising the investments of time, energy and money.

The current social media tools help - Facebook, blogging, and wikkis build a community that requires little of all three. But whether online or off, to be successful at building relationships, you have to have an open attitude. You have to boldly assume that most people want to know you, help you and support you. And because networking is a two-way street, when other business prospects make the same assumptions about you, you must be willing to help and support them.

The key factor about starting with an open attitude is that most of the relationships you build in these initial stages can be used to form your core network. Your core network is the people who you will rely on, interact with and share a mutual support.

Core network

I picked up the term core network from one of my clients, Sintra Bronte, the owner/president of several companies and a master networker.

"You must create a plan to pursue the people who will balance your core network," she advised.

This meant arranging to meet the people who could do just that, learning their personality styles, identifying their professional strengths.

"When you discover their strengths, you can promote them and become another avenue for their success," Sintra once told me.

Constant communications with your core network will allow you to know their needs. Take time to meet your contacts for lunch or coffee on a regular basis, attend events together, send notes now and then just to keep in touch.

This is the power of relationship building for business success. Once your system is in place, the most important thing is to make it work for you and your business.

The writer is a Trinidad-based communication and media professional. She can be reached at judette@mangomediacaribbean.com.