Melissa Gonzalez and Kelly Hoey discuss how to build strategic partnerships.

Kelly Hoey is the author of BUILD YOUR DREAM NETWORK: Forging Powerful Relationships In Hyper-Connected World, as well as lauded by Fast Company as “1 of the 25 Smartest Women on Twitter”.

This week, Melissa and Kelly talk about building strategic partnerships and how to network in a smart way that builds relationships and business. Kelly is a world traveler, and when it comes to what is exciting her right now, it’s all about the one on one human connection.  Whether it’s a flight attendant or a salesperson, extraordinary human skills is what helps brands stands out in a digital world where we’re craving human connection. Customer service is key to a brand to show the customer they’re valued. This is in the similar way that extraordinary human skills is key to building relationships in business.

When discussing networking, Kelly says sometimes it gets a bad rap. People think it is a swipe, something instantaneous, when in reality, building a relationship takes a lot of time. One of the sayings Kelly is known for is “Stop committing random acts of networking”, when Melissa asks for an elaboration, Kelly says that we can’t get our time back, so it is absolutely essential to be intentional, purposeful and authentic.  Rethink your intentions, you should never think “Why am I here?”. Where and who are the people that can help you reach your goals and how do you get there.

When it comes to business owners trying to cultivate a network, advice that Kelly gives is “make it a priority”. Business owners have to be prepared to invest the time in building a network and buildings those relationships. It is as an important investment as real estate or product. It is all apart of your business brand and who you are as well as knowing those relationships are going to earn more than tenfold. If you have the relationships you can do anything.