The Relationship Capital (RC) Contract
Building Trust with your customer/client is foundational to your success as a professional, entrepreneur, or business leader.
The quality of relationship interactions between seller and buyer has evolved dramatically the last 100 years:
From Push to Persuade to Respect/Trust
We have reached the tipping point in most industries; especially complex requirements/solutions that require principled behavior of:
- Honesty
- Accountability
- Responsibility
- Respect
- Support
- Boundaries
- Trustworthiness
If you are a seller, the critical message is that you must respect the buyer and their challenges and earn the right to receive their attention, time, and sensitive information. It is not about you as seller. You must earn Relationship Capital (RC) with every opportunity to interact with decision-makers in order to have the opportunity to move the relationship forward to the next interaction. Pushing out self-serving messages does not add value or trust to the relationship. Interactions that smack of manipulation or persuasion-techniques will not get you invited back to the opportunity.
A purpose-driven and principled seller who is here to help and serve the decision-maker will deepen the relationship, build trust, and earn Relationship Capital (RC). The seller’s respect of the customer/client by deepening their knowledge of product/service, market-conditions, and their personal and professional goals. These are the differentiators to trusted relationships in the 21st century. 
I highly recommend reading “Smarter Selling, 2nd Edition” by Keith Dugdale and David Lambert. They really have a great insight and advice on how to grow sales by building trusted relationships.
The “Standard of Trust” vision is that these trusted B2B relationships will be measured by open standards of Relationship Capital (RC).
Relationship Capital (RC) is an accounting of the interactions between “entities”, including people, businesses and products. Interactions include Commitments (actions) and Perceptions (thoughts and feelings). Entities earn RC by keeping Commitments and obtaining positive Perceptions. They receive a Relationship Capital Point (RCP) for each fulfilled Commitment, and an RCP, or a fraction thereof, for each positive Perception obtained. RCPs are deposited in an RC Account under the strict control of its owner entity.
The objectives of RC are to provide a common vocabulary for relationship interactions and to account for the interactions as they occur. Accordingly, RC uses a “standard-in-the-cloud” platform to enable entities to engage in interactions and capture RCPs in near real time. The platform is provided by RNIA, an independent body.
To be successful in business development and sales today, you must earn Relationship Capital (RC) with every interaction in order to build the trust and credibility to participate in winning the opportunity!
-Rob Peters
