I had an old friend contact me recently. This was a really good friend that I have not seen or talked to in probably 20 years. You know how I know they are a really good friend? We picked up the conversation like we had seen each other the week before. It is the test of good friendships. The question is: why do two people who really like each other not make an effort to get together in two decades? I don’t have a good answer for that other than both of us were busy with our lives and never took the time. But as I look back on it, I wish I had at least picked up the phone every now and then just to catch up. Not doing so could have been construed as me not caring. I would never want to convey that to my friend, but my long silence could have been taken to be just that.

So what happens when you go too long before you make contact with your old customers? We live in a business age that is doing the vast majority of its communicating without actually talking to anyone. Face-to-face communication is taboo it seems. However, I will tell you from a marketing perspective, it is the best thing you can do to greatly enhance your marketing efforts with customers. Here is what I know: poor communication kills marketing, even if the message was never intended to be negative. Little cues make big statements to customers. I don’t care how slick your marketing campaign is, if people don’t trust you, they won’t buy a thing from you. And trust cannot be detached from human feelings. If a customer even suspects that you don’t care about them beyond selling them your stuff, even if it has no basis in reality, you won’t have them as a customer for long.

Do yourself a big favor. In all of your marketing efforts – even those that are delivered through technology – build in some sort of human communication with your customers. It may be a customer appreciation day where you bring them lunch. It could be as simple as making a phone call to see how they are doing. Marketing only works well when your customers are feeling good about you. Human communications grease the tracks for marketing, so don’t assume your customers will never change their minds about you if you don’t talk to them regularly. Little cues make big statements to customers. That can be both positive and negative. Make sure you are communicating to the positive.