Building & Nurturing Strategic Relationships That Can Lead to New Revenue
By Molly Godfrey, LinkedIn Strategist
Everyone tells you: you need to be “building relationships” to succeed in business!
But very few actually show you how.
Especially if you’re posting content online, trying to grow a community, or get the word out about your newest offerings - it’s really hard to get traction without people supporting your work and helping to get the word out.
Quality, professional relationships aren't just a nice to have…they're truly the foundation of sustainable business growth.
As someone who's generated close to a million dollars leveraging my personal and professional network both on and off platforms like LinkedIn, I've learned that relationship building isn't about just collecting a bunch of connections. It's about creating genuine value exchanges that benefit everyone involved.
In this blog, I'll be sharing some of the exact strategies I’ve used to build, nurture, and leverage strategic business relationships that have led to significant revenue growth, directly and indirectly.
1. Show Up Physically (And Virtually) Where It Matters
Live events, retreats, conferences — showing up in person works wonders.
Even if you’re in a more remote location or your schedule doesn’t allow, virtual events work too.
Plan ahead even if it’s just quarterly to keep expanding and nurturing existing relationships at events.
The more people come across your face and literally see you, the more you stay top of mind, the more you can deepen a connection with someone you’ve met before, and the more opportunity that can come your way.
I personally try to attend at least one “business development” i.e. networking or industry event every week. Being involved in many communities makes that easy but that way I know I’m showing up for my business and getting the word out about what I do.
Don't leave event attendance to chance. At the start of every week check your calendar for the rest of the month. Are you signed up for 2-3 events? Do you have something on the books for next month? If not either ask people in your circle what events they’re attending in the coming weeks or browse the event board of any groups you’re involved in, or even search sites like Eventbrite or LinkedIn.
2. Bridge Community Platforms with LinkedIn Strategy
As I mentioned, I’m personally involved in a lot of communities and groups. A lot of business owners I know are. Typically these groups are hosted on external platforms like: Circle, Mighty Network, Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, etc.
I’m not great at getting into those platforms super regularly but I do log onto LinkedIn almost every day or at least 2-3x per week.
So I always recommend to reduce the friction to staying top of mind and deepening connections with people you’re in similar groups to by going into your networking platforms of communities or memberships you subscribe to and make sure you’re “LinkedIn connections” with everyone inside.
That way you could start a conversation in the messages section, comment on each other’s content, or just follow along more closely to what they’re doing.
Audit Your Communities: List all the online communities where you're active. Identify 5-10 connections in each space you’d like to get to know better. People who consistently share insights, ask thoughtful questions, or have complementary expertise.
Once you've connected with these community members on LinkedIn:
Thoughtfully engage with their content beyond simple likes
Tag them in relevant posts or opportunities you discover
Share their content with your network when appropriate
Send periodic DMs to check in on their projects or challenges
Bring insights from your various communities to LinkedIn. If someone asks a great question in a Slack group, consider turning your answer into a LinkedIn post that provides value to a broader audience while tagging the original asker.
Use insights from one platform to inform your engagement on another. If someone mentions a challenge in a WhatsApp group, you might share a relevant resource via LinkedIn DM or create content addressing that specific pain point.
Don’t limit yourself to just one way to interact with the people you’re meeting.
3. Collaborate for Mutual Growth and Authority Building
One of the best ways to get to know someone better is to work on a project, offering, or collaboration together.
Some of the best industry relationships I’ve formed have come from teaching together, creating content together, or organizing some sort of event.
It’s a great way to provide value to others while strengthening professional relationships that could lead to future opportunities or referrals.
Here’s some ideas to consider:
Joint LinkedIn Posts: Partner with experts in your network to create co-authored posts. This might involve:
Conducting mini-interviews within your posts
Creating "Two perspectives on..." style content
Hosting LinkedIn Live conversations
Collaborating on carousel posts or infographics
Blog Post Features: Invite network connections to contribute expert opinions to your blog posts. This provides them with valuable backlinks and exposure while enhancing your content's credibility and depth.
Podcast Cross-Pollination: If you host a podcast, regularly feature people from your network as guests. If you don't host a podcast, actively seek opportunities to appear on shows hosted by your connections.
Joint Program Development: Consider creating collaborative offerings with complementary professionals:
Co-hosted workshops or webinars
Joint online courses
Collaborative mastermind programs
Partnership coaching packages
When you collaborate with respected professionals, you benefit from association authority. Their credibility enhances your credibility, and vice versa.
4. Master the Art of Thoughtful Direct Mail
Last fall I attended a conference and met a lovely couple who runs a business together. We met in person and then stayed in touch the months that followed, getting to know each other a bit more on LinkedIn. At the very end of the year they asked for my address and sent a very thoughtful package, with their company swag, a handwritten note, a book, and a product from one of their clients (a candle and some honey).
In our increasingly digital world, physical mail has become remarkably effective precisely because it's unexpected and these business owners really showed me how a thoughtful package or handwritten note cuts through digital noise in a way that emails and DMs simply cannot.
It inspired me to be more thoughtful and just go beyond the email or direct message on LinkedIn.
Some ideas for how you could approach sending ‘snail mail’.
Milestone Celebration Packages: Send congratulatory packages when connections achieve significant milestones:
Book launches
Business anniversaries
Major client wins
Award recognition
Speaking engagement successes
Educational Resource Packages: Curate physical resources related to shared interests or challenges:
Relevant books with personalized notes
Industry reports or studies
Useful tools or gadgets related to their business
Handwritten strategy notes or insights
Of course direct mail and packages like this take time, effort, and resources so I’d reserve these for relationships I’d really like to deepen and see mutual benefit in.
And believe that the key to effective direct mail is timing and personalization. Generic packages sent without context feel like sales attempts. Thoughtful packages sent at meaningful moments feel like genuine relationship investment.
5. Create Systems for Consistent Relationship Nurturing
Now that you’ve identified who your potential strategic relationships are, where they spend time or hang out, now it’s a matter of creating a system so you can ensure you’re consistently staying in touch. Regular relationship maintenance without overwhelming your schedule is the difference between successful relationship builders and everyone else.
Without systems, relationship building becomes sporadic and ineffective. With some sort of tracking system, it becomes a powerful business growth engine.
Choose Your Platform: Whether you use Notion, Airtable, CRM software, or even a sophisticated spreadsheet, pick a way to track names and dates you'll actually use consistently.
Your system could track:
Contact information and connection source
Relationship history and last touch point
Important dates (birthdays, anniversaries, launches)
Collaboration opportunities and past interactions
Next steps and follow-up reminders
Consider a Monthly Relationship Audit: Schedule a monthly 60-minute session to:
Review and engage with your strategic relationships’ recent content
Update your tracking system
Identify upcoming milestones or opportunities
Plan outreach for the following week
Send any pending follow-ups or check-ins
Initially, maintaining these systems requires discipline. However, as your network grows and relationships deepen, the compound returns become exponential. Opportunities, referrals, and collaborations begin flowing naturally because you've consistently invested in genuine relationships.
Building meaningful business relationships isn't just another marketing tactic, it's the foundation of sustainable business growth. The strategies I outlined and personally follow in this blog have helped me generate close to a million dollars in revenue, but more importantly, they've created a network of genuine professional relationships that enrich both my business and personal life.
Remember that authentic relationship building is a marathon, not a sprint. Start with one or two strategies that resonate most with your style and circumstances. Build consistency in those areas before expanding to additional approaches.
Your network truly is your net worth, but only when cultivated with genuine care, consistent value creation, and strategic thinking. The relationships you build today become the foundation of opportunities, collaborations, and growth for years to come.
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I made a lot of mention of getting involved in communities, professional networks, and industry groups. If relationship building is so key, joining an engaged community is by and far the easiest way to meet new people at scale.
The Prosper Network is currently one of my favorite communities and the one I’m recommending to my peers the most. To learn more about the group and experience the benefit of being supported by other ambitious business owners actively looking to support their peers, follow this link here.
Molly Godfrey is a LinkedIn Strategist for founders of service-based businesses looking to break through their visibility blocks and use the platform to scale their business.
Connect with Molly:
mollygodfrey.com
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