Tips for Nurturing Customer Relationships

Anyone who is customer facing should be building close, authentic, long lasting relationships with their customers. It pays off in more ways than you can imagine: repeat customers, references, community champions, content ideas, competitive intel and so much more. Here are 5 ways you and your team can start building those relationships: 1. Amplify a customer’s LinkedIn posts - When your customer posts something interesting, don’t just like it yourself but share the link on your internal chat and ask your team to like it as well. It’s amazing how powerful this is. It’s human nature to look at who is liking your content on any social platform and most people get a consistent number of likes. If you drive 50% more for a customer they will notice that. 2. Help find candidates for their team and jobs for them if they’re looking - In your position engaging with a specific persona all day every day you have amazing visibility and connections into relevant candidates for open jobs and companies hiring. If you let your customers know that you can be a resource for them on both sides of the table you will see how quickly you can start playing matchmaker. 3. Share best practices that have nothing to do with your company/product - Everyone is looking to improve in their job. Everyone wants to know what their peers are doing at other companies. When you hear good ideas from other customers or read about a best practice, send it to them. Just show them you’re thinking about them and are invested in them being successful. 4. Make them look good in front of their manager and/or team - It needs to be authentic and relevant but find a reason to give your customer a shoutout when you’re in a meeting with them. It doesn’t even need to be a big thing but something about how they’re the fastest to roll out your product, how their feature request ended up becoming a game changer for a bunch of customers, how they’re the most productive team you’ve seen at one particular thing. 5. Fight for a feature/bug fix/service that they’re asking for - In short, be the squeaky wheel for your customer. When they ask for something, set the expectation that it takes a while to get that thing done but then go fight for it internally. Each company has their own process for this kind of stuff but if you push in the right ways you can usually get their request prioritized. When it’s done make sure the customer knows you fought for them to get that thing done. The best thing is that these are “free”. Of course they will take time and energy but the return on this work is astronomical. I honestly didn’t appreciate the power of these relationships when I started my career but I now have close relationships with so many customers that I’ve worked with over the years. They’re a sounding board for business ideas, they’re working with companies I’m advising and we’ve become each other cheerleaders. What did I miss? What else are you doing to build relationships with your customers?

Too many salespeople focus on "perfectly crafted scripts". The real game in sales? Trust. Think about it: Behind every email, every pitch, and every campaign is a human being with unique desires, struggles, and goals. So here are 5 steps to build trust (+ win more deals): 1. Ask better questions. People judge you by the quality of your questions. Ask relevant, thoughtful questions that uncover real pain points. 2. Ditch generic outreach. If you’re still sending "Hope you're doing well!" emails, STOP. Mention something specific about their business, industry, or challenge. 3. Actually listen. Salespeople love to talk. The best ones know when to pause, listen, and truly understand. 4. Follow up with value, not desperation. Instead of "Just checking in," send an insight, a resource, or a relevant case study to help them decide. 5. Make trust your priority. A deal should never end a relationship. So, stay in their corner. Little acts of care build lasting relationships. Scripts and strategies have their place. But real impact comes from the relationships you build. This week, challenge yourself to slow down and connect. Prioritize people over transactions, and watch what happens. The impact will surprise you. ❤ PS. Which one of the above(1-5) are you trying first?

The day I finally understood how trust really works, everything changed for me as a CSM. In my first Customer Success role, our leader had us read a book before our team offsite: The Trusted Advisor. Short. Simple. Game-changing. Inside was something that flipped a switch for me, the Trust Equation: Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy / Self-Orientation For the first time, trust wasn’t a feeling, it was something I could build intentionally. So I made a move, and this changed how I worked with customers: I wrote each element of the equation into their account. And every engagement became a chance, an opportunity to build on trust with purpose. Here’s what that looked like in real life ✅ Credibility Know your stuff. Speak with clarity. Bring insights, not just product updates. → When a customer asks how to achieve a specific outcome in your product and you clearly walk them through 2-3 workflows that get them there. → When they ask, “What are other customers like us doing?” and you give just the right amount of relevant context and detail. ✅ Reliability Do what you say you’ll do. No surprises. No dropped balls. → You follow through after every meeting. → You send the recap. → You make the intro. → You deliver on that one thing they asked for, even if it seemed minor. ✅ Intimacy Be human. Build connection. Care about what matters to them. → You remember their kid’s name. → You know they’re prepping for a board meeting next week and ask how it’s going. → You lead with empathy, not agendas. 🚫 Self-Orientation Don’t make it about you. Ever. → You don’t flex your product knowledge to sound smart, you share what helps them win. → You don’t push your goals, you stay focused on theirs. Every CSM wants trusted relationships. Not every CSM builds them on purpose. This equation gave me a new level of intention. What’s one small way you can build more trust? ________________________ 📩 If you liked this post, you'll love The Journey. Head over to my profile and join the thousands of CS professionals who are along for the ride as I share stories and learnings going from CSM to CCO.

Stop treating every customer like a case study. According to our Evidence Gap report, 56% of marketers struggle to get direct access to customers. Why? My guess is that it’s because we’re always asking for a case study. And if customers don’t want to do one… things get awkward. Fast. But the problem runs deeper. We quickly wear out our best advocates because we use and overuse them once we find one. We're asking for too much all the time. Case studies, references, testimonials, you name it. And then we wonder why they stop responding. So, we're flipping the script and focusing on providing value instead of just taking it. Here’s what’s working for our marketing team right now: 1. Quarterly CAB meetings + a CAB Slack channel Using CAB meetings to help our customers solve real problems, not just UserEvidence-specific ones. The Slack channel keeps conversations going between meetings without putting us front and center. 2. Positioning customers as SMEs Featuring them in our content (like podcasts, video interviews, and events) builds their brands while showing off their expertise. It’s a simple way to give customers the mic and let them do the talking for us. 3. Marketing roadshow dinners Beyond connecting with our ICP, the real value is hearing directly from customers (what they love and especially what they don’t love) in a relaxed, no-pressure environment. 4. Prioritizing surveys over case studies Instead of asking for “the big thing” every time, we use surveys to gather proof at scale and include optional questions to identify potential advocates for future asks. This change in thinking has helped us build trust with customers, form real relationships, and create advocates who genuinely want to be associated with our brand.

Companies that nurture leads close 50% more sales. 8 ways to show up when they're not ready to buy  (without sounding salesy) Sales isn't a sprint. It's a marathon that rewards patience. When you chase only quotas, you ironically miss them. The moment you shift from selling to helping,  everything changes. Revenue becomes the byproduct of relationships. Why does this matter now? Nurtured leads spend 47% more than cold contacts. 63% who say "not now" will become customers later. Your competitors are still playing the numbers game. Meanwhile, the relationship-builders quietly dominate. These 8 approaches turn prospects into lifelong clients: 1. Send Curated Insights ➟ Share a relevant article. ➟ Tailor it to their challenge or goal. ➟ Position yourself as a trusted filter. 2. Make Strategic Intros ➟ Introduce them to someone valuable. ➟ Think: peer, mentor, or future hire. ➟ This builds goodwill fast. 3. Offer a Micro Win ➟ Share a helpful tool or mini-audit. ➟ Make it easy to use right now. ➟ No pitch. Just value. 4. Host a Casual Catch-Up ➟ Invite them for virtual coffee. ➟ Ask what’s new in their world. ➟ No pressure, just presence. 5. Surprise with Thoughtfulness ➟ Send a quick voice memo or note. ➟ Simple, human, and memorable. ➟ They won’t forget it. 6. Create a Cliffhanger ➟ Share a teaser insight. ➟ Spark curiosity, not a sales push. ➟ Let them ask for more. 7. Give a Spotlight ➟ Shine a light on their wins. ➟ Celebrate them on LinkedIn. ➟ Make them feel seen. 8. Ask a Great Question ➟ Go beyond small talk. ➟ Ask about their goals or roadblocks. ➟ Start a real conversation. I've seen it time and again in my career: When you help without expecting anything, clients remember you when they're ready. Your mindset becomes your advantage. The sale happens almost as an afterthought. Try just one approach this week. Watch how naturally deals begin to flow. 📌Follow Mo Bunnell for client-growth strategies  that don’t feel like selling. (50%, 47%, 63% Stat source: Forrester Research,  Annuitas Group, Marketo)

Allow me to be an armchair psychologist for a moment. The secret to building consumer trust lies in a concept from psychology: the secure attachment style. I’m not going to pretend to be a psych expert here, but I like the analogy of bringing the secure attachment style to marketing. In relationships, secure attachment means trust, clear communication, and emotional stability. The same applies to business. Brands that build secure attachments don’t just attract customers — they keep them. Here’s how: ✅ Be consistent Trust is built through reliability. When mistakes happen, own them, fix them fast, and keep moving forward. Trust is like a bank account — you need to make regular deposits to afford the occasional withdrawal. ✅ Personalize thoughtfully Nobody likes seeing ads for something they bought last week. Thoughtful personalization respects customer boundaries. SEPHORA gets it right by using gamified experiences to collect data seamlessly and enhance the customer journey. ✅ Communicate transparently Customers forgive a lot if you’re upfront with them. Chipotle Mexican Grill rebuilt trust after its food safety crisis through clear, proactive communication and meaningful action. Transparency isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a loyalty driver. ✅ Engage without overloading Bombarding customers with irrelevant emails? Bad. Ignoring them completely? Also bad. Starbucks is rediscovering this former strength by aligning engagement with customer preferences. The key is listening to feedback, using data wisely, and customizing communication. ✅ Act on customer feedback Listen to customers and act on their feedback. That’s the cornerstone of brand trust. When Tesla drivers suggested opening Superchargers to all EVs, the company didn’t just acknowledge it, they made it happen. Actions speak louder than surveys. 💡Remember: Customer loyalty means more than throwing out flashy tactics. You need to solve real problems and earn trust over time. Secure attachments are the baseline for staying competitive in today’s game. Which brands do you think do this well? Check out my latest Ad Age article to hear more of my armchair psychology and the importance of secure attachment in business: https://lnkd.in/gEKni7C2 #Marketing #CustomerLoyalty #BrandTrust

Many young CBI professionals are reaching out to me for an advise and I decided to share some thoughts: Over the years, I’ve found that selling services to our clientele is an art that requires passion, precision and a deep understanding of their world. Here are my top 10 strategies to boost your sales and build enduring relationships: 1. Immerse yourself in their world. Take the time to genuinely understand the lifestyle, values, and priorities of UHNWIs. 2. Foster relationships over transactions. Your goal should be to build meaningful, trust-based relationships. People value connections that go far beyond mere transactions. 3. Be their trusted advisor, position yourself as a knowledgeable, trustworthy partner. Your expertise should extend beyond your service offering, covering areas that are significant to them. 4. Respect their privacy and confidentiality at all times, manage their affairs with the utmost discretion. 5. Every touchpoint with your client should be tailored to their individual preferences, personalised and professional. 6. Demonstrate your track record with concrete case studies, certainly with discretion. 7. Listen much more than you speak, feel their emotional message. It is key to understanding their concerns, needs, and desires. It’s also the foundation for building trust and uncovering opportunities. 8. Avoid hard sales tactics. Strike the right balance between being assertive and respectful. 9. Focus on long-term relationship-building and continuous value creation. Offer services and support beyond the purchase. 10. Be ready to drop your sale if you see that your product is not the right fit for the client. Best of luck! And please feel free to share your best sales techniques in the comments: #SalesLeadership

Salesforce founder Marc Benioff once said: "Trust has to be your highest value in your company. And if it's not, something bad is going to happen." Here’s how to build trust with clients (so that only good things happen): 1. Be human. In the way you speak and the way you act. For example: - Ask them about their lives beyond business. - Be transparent about mistakes made. - Write the way you speak. People crave that. 2. Be consistent Your team has to feel like extensions of the same person: your company. Meaning: - If your marketing messaging is formal, your sales, and operations teams should also be formal. - If your marketing use simple words for clarity, your sales pitches and onboarding emails should also use simple words. Inconsistency kills trust. 3. Be clear about who you are What work do you do? And what kind of work do you not do? If you want to build trust with your clients you need to be clear on both. Because no one ever trusts a vendor who says 'yes' to everything. 4. Be clear about who you serve Same thing as 3. You can't be for everyone. Some clients are great fits. Some aren't. Let the poor fits know and same them time and money (while earning their respect and trust). 5. Let your clients do your marketing. Don't make wild promises about what you can accomplish. Instead, do this: - Ask your successful clients what you did for them. - Transcribe what they say. - Turn it into marketing materials - Let the results speak for themselves. No one trusts people who brag all the time. 6. Have clear values (and stick to them) Values make your company feel more human. More authentic. More trustworthy. As long as you stick to them. You can't do 180-degree turns according to trends and expect your reputation to remain unscathed. (for example: Big Tech) 7. Let your results speak for themselves Don't talk about what you can do for your prospects. Show what you've done for your past clients. Screenshots are powerful. 8. Be clear about what problem you solve You can't be good at solving every problem. You're better off specializing in solving one specific problem and becoming an expert at it. For example: ❌ Don't build mobile apps ✅ Build mobile app MVPs for Fintechs. You'll know the problem better. And you'll become an expert at fixing it. And clients will trust you as a result. 9. Have a point of view (and stick to it) This makes the above easier. By having a point of view on how the world should be, it becomes a lot easier to: - Be consistent - Be clear about who you are - Be clear about who you serve - Have clear values (and stick to them) - Be clear about what problem you solve. What did I miss?

We onboarded 7 Amazon accounts in June & July. 6 are now long term clients.. Here are some top lessons that I've learned over the last 5 years about nailing client retention: 1. Get going with THE work ASAP ⏲️ - First two months is when the client trust is 0 - Slow/shaky performance in this period can hurt - DON'T delay real work for only 'digging out insights' - Start with the most immediate biggest opportunities of improvement - The client needs to see a lot of little positive hints in first two months ↳ Remember, you're buying yourself time & trust to do the bigger time-taking improvement. 2. Draw CLEAR projections early on 📄 - When clients don't know what to expect, they expect too much - They can't know which week/month will be slow if you don't tell them - Underpromise only enough so that the client is still satisfied with it - Set up tougher projections internally and try to overdeliver all the time - Monthly or 10-day breakdowns work the best (add notes) ↳ For example, if the client is told TACOS will go up in July and reset in August, he won't panic when it goes up in July. 3. Be proactive NOT reactive with communication ☢️ - When clients see a decline, they don't investigate external factors - They assume it's because of you - Or they panic that they were not informed - Clients can't be patient with challenges they're kept unaware of - Proactively informing clients > Reactively responding to panic texts ↳ Nothing builds trust stronger than knowing this team is on top of my account. 4. Know the small details better than the client 🔢 - Clients expect you to give their account the attention they can't give - I have seen our clients fire agencies over this EXACTLY - 1 person in the team has to know the account's stats really really well - If the client sees repeatedly he knows more, you're getting replaced 💩 ↳ Question, why would at least 1 person in the team not know the macro & micro details really, really well anyway? 5. Meet the client once every week or two weeks 💻 - You want to know how the client is feeling about recent progress - Address any objections or confusions built out of overthinking - Get them on the same page about any challenging strategies to execute ↳ Clients are much quicker to notice declines vs improvements. Weekly meetings allow you to show what you've been doing for them. A lot of the other stuff is a waste of time. Just aim to make them more money and nail these 5 lessons. That will get you 90% of the results.

A client recently told me, “We’ve always done things this way, but now nothing’s clicking. What changed?” The answer is simple: The market evolved. Customer behaviors shifted. But their strategy didn’t adapt. Once we reevaluated their strategy, we made some key adjustments, and the impact was immediate: engagement spiked by 35%, inbound leads doubled, and they secured their largest deal to date. B2B doesn’t have to be cold or formulaic. Sales and marketing should never feel like a one-sided pitch. They’re about building authentic, human connections. I like to call this the “Connection-Driven Growth Approach.” Here’s how you can apply it: 🔸Listen First, Talk Later • Instead of pushing your message right away, start by listening to what your audience needs and struggles with. • Understand their challenges to craft a solution that resonates. How this helps: Builds trust and helps you tailor your messaging to what actually matters to them. 🔸Be Transparent and Authentic • Show your true values by sharing behind-the-scenes content, and admit when things go wrong. • Let your audience see the human side of your brand—people connect with authenticity. How this helps: Builds rapport and makes your brand more relatable and trustworthy. 🔸Share Stories, Not Just Stats • Use stories that showcase how your product or service makes a real difference in people’s lives. • Focus on the emotional connection your product creates, not just features. How this helps: Makes your brand more memorable and emotionally engaging, fostering a deeper connection. 🔸Engage in Meaningful Conversations • Don’t just broadcast—respond to comments, ask questions, and participate in discussions. • Show genuine interest in your audience’s opinions and experiences. How this helps: Encourages more engagement, builds relationships, and helps turn followers into loyal customers. 🔸Focus on Value, Not Sales • Share helpful tips, educational content, or useful resources before ever trying to sell. • Provide real solutions to your audience’s problems, not just your product. How this helps: Builds trust, adds value to your audience’s lives, and leads to long-term relationships that convert into sales. The truth? Growth doesn’t come from pushing products. It comes from fostering relationships and delivering real value. What’s one way you’re building connections in your marketing right now? Drop a comment! ⸻ ♻️ REPOST if this resonated with you! ➡️ FOLLOW Rheanne Razo for more B2B growth strategies, client success, and real-world business insights.