- Building a new business relationship based on trust and value costs five times as much as extending or renewing an existing relationship with a satisfied customer. - Four pillars of success combine symbiotically to support a thriving business relationship: 1. Passion 2. Security 3. Resonance 4. Creativity - These four pillars support the pathway across a metaphorical bridge, to reach the relationship's destination, its purpose. - The pillars are embedded in a foundation stone of trust. Each and all the pillars may crumble and fall but can be rebuilt as long as their foundation, trust, remains intact. - Much deeper than trust, exists truth. It permeates the structure of the bridge, its beginning and its destination. Not-truth, falsity and illusion, destroy the bridge. - Business relationships don't end by themselves. They end when their purpose is achieved or deemed unachievable. - 'Throwing in the towel' though, especially for a large investment decision, is sometimes seen as 'political suicide'. The ensuing relationship becomes moribund. The flaws in (and all learning from) the original decision making process are swept under the 'corporate carpet'. - The best time to end the current structure of a relationship is when it is running perfectly and its purpose is fulfilled - so that you can renew it at a stronger level.