The Advantage Most Businesses Forget Until Times Get Tough
What Forty Years of Marriage Taught Me About Business Value.
Click HERE to watch:
Note: Here’s an anniversary present for you! Scan either QR Code (Apple Music or Spotify) for a songlist of the eighties’ greatest disco hits!!
The Advantage Most Businesses Forget Until Times Get Tough
Why Most Businesses Focus on Transactions
When the economy turns uncertain, lots of businesses make the same mistake.
They begin focusing on transactions, concentrating their energy on closing deals, securing contracts, and chasing the next opportunity.
At first glance, that approach seems logical because transactions produce revenue, look good on sales reports, and give leaders the reassuring impression that progress is being made.
Yet transactions rarely build enduring businesses, while relationships create the kind of value that lasts.
Read more: HBR: Long-term value creation
During prosperous times, that difference may not feel especially important because companies purchase services, projects move forward, and business continues as usual. But when budgets become more cautious, clients start looking more carefully at the value their vendors provide.
Instead of asking only about cost, they begin asking which partners bring thoughtful ideas, understand the pressures they face, and consistently contribute to their progress.
Businesses built on transactions compete on price, while businesses and brands built on relationships compete on insight, contribution, and long-term value. And that difference often determines which companies navigate difficult markets successfully and which ones gradually fade from relevance.
Read more: Building a strong brand
But First, a Story
My wife and I met in a disco.
I saw her dancing (with a guy who turned out to be a Spanish soap-opera star) and was knocked out by how beautiful she was. I remember wondering whether I had the nerve to introduce myself.
Eventually, I realized that the discomfort of saying hello would be far easier to live with than the regret of wondering what might have been.
And then, while Michael Jackson sang “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” I turned a corner and found myself standing face to face with her. Before I had time to think, I blurted out, “Would you like to dance?”
Thankfully, she said yes, and that simple moment began the most important relationship of my life.
Over the years we developed a tradition that reflects how relationships grow stronger with time. Every tenth anniversary, we celebrate with a disco party, complete with 80’s music, enthusiastic dancing, a big mirror ball, and a cheerful willingness to laugh at ourselves.
These parties are about the recognition that relationships grow when people acknowledge the experiences that brought them to the present moment.
And the longer I have been married, the more I realize that the same principle applies in business as well.
Read more: The belief behind the brand
What a Forty-Year Marriage Reveals About Value
Companies that focus only on transactions treat the sale as the finish line. Once they close the deal, they immediately shift their attention toward the next prospect, project, or opportunity. But companies that focus on relationships behave differently.
They remain curious about their clients, learn about the pressures they face, understand how success is measured within their organizations, and continue contributing ideas that help them move forward.
Read More: McKinsey & Company: Personalizing your client relationships
Why Relationships Compound Over Time
Over time, that level of understanding creates something far more valuable than any completed transaction. It creates credibility, confidence, and the commitment that changes the nature of every future conversation.
Why Transactions Don’t
Instead of focusing on deliverables or individual tasks, conversations begin with the value being created, the risks being avoided, and the opportunities being uncovered.
The Shift from Vendor to Valued Partner
When leaders recognize that difference, they stop trying to become the most affordable option in the room and start working to become the most valuable partner in the conversation.
Read more: Bain & Company on Loyal Clients
Turning Relationships into Business Value
Organizations that build real relationships with their customers, employees, and partners create value that compounds over time. They develop stronger brands, more loyal clients, and more resilient businesses able to navigate uncertainty with confidence.
Read more: Emotional intelligence drives leadership
Bring This Thinking to Your Organization
These ideas form the core of the keynote programs I deliver for companies and associations around the world, where I help leaders understand how messaging, branding, and human connection create measurable value.
If you are planning a conference or leadership event and want your audience to leave with practical insights they can immediately apply to their businesses, I would love to talk with you.
Bruce Turkel is a keynote speaker and branding expert who has delivered hundreds of keynote presentations around the world. He is the author of seven books on branding, leadership, and value creation.
Bruce,
I love the story about how you met Gloria. That is awesome and sweet!
I also want you to know that your message really resonated with me. Here’s why:
I serve as the development chair for the Orange County Democratic Party. I have created a high dollar donor group called the Democracy Society. This group funds our year-round, organizing work and has led to our amazing electoral results. There is a direct through line from their investment to what we accomplished at the ballot box.
My strategy has been to develop relationships with people, meet them for coffee, have a conversation to learn what’s important to them and to see how our work might resonate with them. In two years we have more than 120 donors. I have already exceeded my goal for 2026 and we are only in March. I am now embarking on the renewal process and need to secure an 85% renew rate. I think we will get there and I think the reason is because I never really ask for money. I ask what’s important to them, share the story about our work and talk about how we can work together to connect those dots.
Reading what you wrote today confirms that my approach while not sophisticated, I am not a professional fundraiser but a hard-working passionate volunteer, is the way to move forward . I’ve been pressured to do other things which are not relationship based, as you say, transactional. I I have pushed back that that is not the way to go.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights and expertise.
Warm regards,
Susan
Susan Windmiller
Thank you for all the good work you do, Susan, and congratulations on all your successes!!
Great life lessons. Thanks for sharing!
Your posts always make me think.
Thank you David!!
Congratulations, Bruce, on your 40th wedding anniversery!
Thank you very much!!
I love this article — thank you for sharing! These are such powerful reminders for both business and personal relationships, and I really appreciated how clearly you articulated each principle. It reminded me of something someone once told me: if you’re a successful manager, you’ll likely be an equally great parent, because the same core principles apply. Sometimes it’s the simple human conditions that make concepts so clear!
CONGRATULATIONS 🎉on 40 years together!
Thank you for your kind wishes, Kris. And thanks for adding such an eloquent reminder to my message. It was a treat to present to your group in Cleveland and I appreciate you also reminding me of that fun morning. All my best.