We are in the business of connecting great people to enable growth, solve problems and provide solutions. We invest time and energy building a network of people that know us and trust us.
Community – the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common.
When we talk about our community, we refer to the individuals who work for us, the specialists we place into businesses, the consultants who deliver projects for us and the people working within our clients’ organisations whose challenges we work to address. To a certain extent, all of these people share the same values, ethos, and outlook as us; this is our community – one that we nurture, develop and grow daily.
Business to business networks started out as fairly intimate relationships; people worked closely with their personal network relying on recommendation and word of mouth. As media and communication channels developed and tools became more available, this changed, and contacts were harvested from directories, first paper, then web. LinkedIn is arguably the default forum for initiating and creating business contacts, and we invest heavily in using this medium to kick start new relationships. However, LinkedIn can only go so far. You can initiate contact with someone but achieving full engagement is not inevitable unless you have enough relevance and trust to take down natural barriers. We add value by taking relationships to the next level.
Perhaps the biggest blocker to opening new relationships is a lack of trust. Humans are pre-programmed to be cautious of the unknown. It’s unrealistic to expect that people will be open and willing to listen to your idea in the absence of a desperate need, particularly when they get frequently contacted with other equally compelling propositions.
As such, we see it as crucial to initiate these relationships constantly, building our network with people who may have no immediate need for us or our services for months, even years. We like to hear people’s ideas and beliefs and retain contact throughout their professional journey, comfortable in the knowledge that when they need our services professionally, they’ll already have familiarity and trust in us and our values.
We like to understand who these people are, what makes them tick, what motivates them, what challenges them, what excites them. Then, create a profile of that person on our bespoke database ‘The Knowledge’ based on a range of psychographic characteristics. We use this as a go-to directory to manage and sustain our community, continuing to engage and nurture until, at such point, we are in a position to offer the right guidance or solution. It’s described internally as ‘A million conversations, mapped’.
Our community understand that we are not a faceless organisation suggesting matches at random based on superficial criteria. We are a company that takes the time to get to know our people.
That has a powerful effect. It sends a message that people are important to us.
Our commitment to creating and maintaining personal, valued relationships is unwavering. The fact that we have been able to do this on a global scale shows that our approach and methodology work.
Being part of the Saragossa community provides a career-spanning, familiar voice, the opportunity to exchange ideas, give and receive relevant insight, guidance, and ultimately support the accomplishment of professional goals.