Preface: After 20 years of building his business Precision Group, Mr Shaun Bonett (one of Australia’s Top 200 Richest People) says that the most important aspect of business in the Australian Commercial Property Sector is that it is done with a focus on substance and relationships, instead of appearances. Here he shares his insights he has acquired in building his business in Australia.

Relationships in business are fundamentally important. At the end of the day, no matter how big or small a company is, there are always people in it that are running its engine room. The establishment of good working relationships with those people is usually critical to the likely success of any transactions that you may be undertaking with them.

Sound relationships in business are critically important to me. Starting with your team of executives, it is fundamentally important that they have your trust and confidence in their capability to perform their function and to work in a cohesive group. Similarly, establishing strong relationships with customers is extremely important to a business’ success, particularly when things go wrong, usually only strong relationships will endure. Indeed, almost all relationships in business will benefit from the establishment of a good foundation and understanding that is based upon straight and honest communication.

In a commercial property business your clients are your tenants, and as in any service relationship, if you provide a client bad service they will not come back. The building of a relationship with a tenant usually begins with the negotiation of a lease for a fixed term, typically between 3 to 5 years. The best way the relationship can be maintained is simply by being commercially fair from the outset, and then by keeping the property in good order and promptly responding to reasonable requests from your tenant. If these simple practices are followed, my experiences are that tenants are more receptive to renew their leases with a landlord and may even look to open other businesses in other properties of that landlord.

In short, no business/landlord can really afford not to build and keep good relationships with their clients/tenants. A landlord will most benefit from this approach in more challenging economic times when a tenant will have a much greater range of options of where to conduct their business from. If a relationship has been maintained and is respectful a tenant is unlikely to put themselves through the disruption of relocating to another building, and will usually renew their lease with their existing landlord.

I understand Guanxi to be a personal connection between two people in which there is an understanding or where one is able to respectfully request another to assist them, or be prevailed upon. Guanxi may also be used to describe a network of contacts. It is custom for Chinese people to cultivate an intricate web of Guanxi relationships, and it is actually the same in Australia. Staying in contact with members of your network is not necessary to bind reciprocal obligations. Reciprocal acts are the key factor to maintaining one’s Guanxi web. In my view as long as Guanxi is practiced within the boundaries of the society that people are part of, it should lead to the construct of strong social networks, thus improving their ability to be productive and leading to greater efficiency.

As with any good relationship a strong Guanxi relationship should incorporate respect of the individual and provide the other the freedom to say that they are unable to undertake a requested act, particularly if it leads to them being compromised.

Extensive social connections need to be maintained carefully, managed elaborately, looked after and treated patiently. Therefore, it would be best if you could include your Guanxi and connections into your career development and get used to building up and manage your connections, which is of great importance to your company and your business' success.

（Shaun Bonett, CEO and Managing Director of Precision Group）