Managing the stages 
One implication of the notion of these five stages of development is that relationships are difficult to build quickly and from the ground up. Development takes time, particularly if the targeted partners do not currently do business together.Relationship velocity offers a stronger predictor of performance relationship level, due to people's propensity to use trend extrapolation as a decision heuristic.Through their repeated interactions, firms may develop sufficient critical incidents to move their relationship from a series of transactions to a real partnership, and in retrospect, managers might even remember their experiences as corresponding to stages, though they recognize those stages only after considerable development has occurred.Every existing channel member is a potential asset in this respect, because extant business links, even minor ones, help the awareness and exploration phases proceed much faster and can upgrade the relationship more swiftly and surely.In retrospect, the regression could be just a blip, and it does not mean the relationship is doomed to deteriorate.But a caveat also is in order.