What is business? Is it about transactions or is it really about the relationships? This article considers if business is the sum of transactions (or if that is revenue) or if business is really about relationships.

Excerpt from the article:
"Relationships have always been the basis for business success. However, the Web and an obsessive focus on bottom-line results has made transactions seem more important to business than people - customers and employees. A sample list of transactions:
—Making a purchase.
—Clicking on an ad or a link.
—Liking a post.
—Submitting a form with information to become a lead.
—Getting information.

These types of transactions are necessary for businesses to get information and understand if messaging is working, people want a product, or they are on the right track financially in the market. They provide great checkpoints towards success. However, I think at times we forget that transactions alone, these checkpoints, don't make a business. Sure, business is based on exchanging money and it is necessary. But there is more to a transaction than a money exchange. There is more to a transaction than getting a lead or contact to call later. There is more to a transaction than using a product once. A transaction should be a milestone in a relationship that needs to be built so there isn't a one-time only transaction. The goal should be for the relationship, and additional transactions, to continue.

Transactions are about activities. And you can measure activities to show that you are doing something, but an activity alone doesn't always mean progress towards a goal or a relationship.

It makes one wonder if it is time to include new metrics or shift them to reflect how we build a relationship (e.g., repeat calls, purchases, customer initiated discussions)."