An old business adage states, “People buy from people.” Other versions of the adage include: “People buy from people they like” and “People buy from people they trust.”
Whatever version, the adage makes the point that human relationships are vital to business success, just as much in B2B as in B2C.
This is the central theme of a new book by Dr. Ryan O’Sullivan. In Building B2B Relationships: How to identify, map and develop key relationships to win more business (Kogan Page, 2025), Dr. O’Sullivan presents a compelling argument for the importance of high-quality person-to-person relationships in B2B, and he provides a detailed process for building such relationships intentionally and strategically.
Ryan O’Sullivan is a senior business executive, board member, business advisor, and university guest lecturer. He is currently a Global Account Manager at Introhive, a relationship intelligence and mapping company. Previously, he was a Regional Head (EMEA) at Infosys, a global IT services firm. Dr. O’Sullivan earned his PhD from the University of Portsmouth in 2022.
What’s In the Book
Building B2B Relationships is structured in three parts.
Part 1 (Chapters 1-3)
In this part, Dr. O’Sullivan explains what trusted relationships are and why they matter in business. He also discusses the three attributes that are necessary to create trust – ability, integrity, and benevolence – and he describes how trust forms between organizations. Lastly, he introduces relationship mapping and explains why it’s important.
Dr. O’Sullivan clearly states his view on the importance of relationships when he writes:
“It is my view, based on many years of experience, that strong relationships lie at the heart of successful B2B interactions. In a world where there is access to so much data and information, it is becoming harder and harder for many suppliers to offer a truly unique, differentiated product. Relationships are by definition bespoke and personal (even though of course they are often built in a business context), and thus continue to present the supplier with the opportunity to offer something different from their competition.”
Dr. O’Sullivan also makes it clear that his book is focused on the importance of leveraging existing relationships. He writes:
“So, while there are many people out there today who can advise you on cold outreach strategies, this book takes a very different tack. It is focused on strategies to leverage your existing relationship network and will help to open your peripheral vision beyond what you might consider to be ‘your network.'”
Part 2 (Chapters 4-6)
Part 2 of Building B2B Relationships describes Dr. O’Sullivan’s three-step process for mapping relationships for business purposes, and he provides a simple but persuasive argument for each step.
Step 1 is the initial identification and mapping of key stakeholders (“. . . if you don’t know who the key people are, how can you influence them?”)
