Staying in touch with customers is not optional anymore. In this guide, you will learn practical and proven ways to keep your contacts warm, create meaningful conversations, and uncover new opportunities without sounding salesy. These ideas are especially helpful for small and medium sized businesses that want stronger customer relationships and better long term results.
Why Staying Connected with Customers Matters
A customer recently shared his thoughts on what makes for great versus terrible customer experiences. He mentioned that he hasn’t heard from his insurance agent in 18 years. After getting over the shock, we thought about the implications for all organizations.
Great opportunities exist for sales and service teams who are motivated and willing to stay in touch with customers. One of the worst things you can do is make your customers feel forgotten. Letting leads grow cold is another peril. Here’s how to keep those contacts warm, especially when using a simple CRM like Claritysoft.
Create Conversations That Are About Them
When you reach out to contacts, create a conversation that’s all about them, not you.
Says George G., Service Director at a multi national manufacturer, “Every time I contact a customer, I ask myself, ‘How can I make this person’s life a little bit better today?’”
We’ve pulled together nine different inspirations for adding value to your contacts.
To Educate
Share News Articles
Recent developments in an industry are the perfect excuse to reach out. Send a quick email starting with, “I was reading this article and thought of you” and include a link to the article.
You can add your own perspective, such as “I see this trend becoming a bigger issue in coming months”, and end with an offer of assistance like, “Don’t hesitate to contact us; we’re always happy to help.”
- Works well for: Prospects, Customers, Colleagues
Send Tools and Templates
Customers and prospects love receiving free tools and templates that help them do their job better and faster. You do not need to create these resources yourself. You can share useful tools created by other organizations.
By highlighting new tools and methodologies, you demonstrate industry expertise and thought leadership, which builds trust over time. This approach works even better when tracked in Claritysoft, where shared resources and follow ups are never forgotten.
- Works well for: Prospects, Customers, Colleagues
Respond via Social Media
Social media makes it easy to stay in touch with customers and prospects. If appropriate, ask to connect through your preferred social network.
For B2B businesses, LinkedIn and Twitter work very well. For B2C businesses, Facebook and Twitter are excellent channels. Every question or comment is an opportunity to be helpful.
- Works well for: Customers, Colleagues
Tip: Set aside a minimum of 15 minutes every day to reach out to prospects and customers. Using a CRM like Claritysoft makes this habit easier to maintain.
Making These Techniques Work for You
- If your business is smaller, you can use an Excel spreadsheet to track contact activities
- If your business is growing, investing in a simple CRM helps centralize customer information and activity history
- CRM software allows you to delegate tasks, manage pipelines, and stay organized as you scale
Claritysoft is designed specifically for small and medium sized businesses that want structure without complexity.
To Identify New Opportunities
Perform Annual Reviews
Annual reviews help ensure your business continues to meet customer needs. Create a template with open ended questions and focus on whether clients are achieving their goals.
Schedule reviews about two months before renewals if your business uses annual contracts. While cross sell and up sell opportunities may appear, always prioritize client needs.
- Works well for: Customers
Survey Customers
Customer surveys are another powerful way to identify opportunities. Surveys can include phone conversations, online questionnaires, or focus groups.
Be transparent about how feedback will be used and take action on what you learn. This builds credibility and trust, especially when feedback is tracked and followed up using Claritysoft.
- Works well for: Customers
To Make Contacts Smile
Send Birthday Emails
Birthday emails have some of the highest open rates of any email type. According to Experian, birthday emails with surprise offers have 481 percent higher transaction rates.
- Works well for: Customers
Deliver Holiday Messages
Holidays are a natural reason to reconnect with contacts. Keep messages respectful and seasonal rather than promotional. Personalized notes, especially handwritten ones, are very effective.
- Works well for: Customers, Colleagues
To Persuade
Offer Referral Programs
Referral programs provide a compelling reason to reconnect with customers. Include incentives for both the referrer and the referee. Extra services and add ons often work better than discounts.
Adding a clear deadline encourages faster action and is easy to manage inside Claritysoft.
- Works well for: Customers
Promote New Offerings
New products, features, or pricing changes are excellent reasons to communicate with customers and prospects. Focus on how the update benefits them and limit timelines to create urgency.
- Works well for: Prospects, Customers
Final takeaway: Staying connected does not require complex systems. With the right habits and a CRM like Claritysoft, small and medium sized businesses can build stronger relationships, uncover new opportunities, and never let contacts go cold.
