Here’s something that surprises a lot of small business owners. Most of you don’t need more leads.
You need to stop forgetting the people you already know.
Past clients. That lovely person from the networking breakfast. The enquiry from June that went quiet. These people already like you. They’re just not hearing from you, and over time the relationship cools, like a cup of tea left on the side.
As a certified Capsule Partner, a stay-in-touch routine is one of the first things we set up for clients. Here’s the simple version, in three steps.
🏷️ step 1: tag the people worth keeping in touch with
Start by spotting the people who already know you. In Capsule, give them a tag so you can find them in seconds. Keep it simple:
- Past client: anyone you’ve worked with before
- Referrer: people who’ve sent work your way
- Warm contact: someone you’ve met and got on with, but haven’t worked with yet
- Gone quiet: enquiries that never quite went anywhere
You don’t need to tag everyone in one sitting. Ten minutes a day for a week will get most of them done.
🫵🏼 step 2: decide when to nudge
Not everyone needs the same amount of attention. A simple rhythm works well:
- Past clients and referrers: every three months
- Warm contacts: every couple of months
- Gone quiet: one friendly check-in, then leave them be if there’s no reply
A nudge doesn’t have to be a sales pitch. Share a useful article, congratulate them on some news, or just ask how things are going. Small and genuine beats long and salesy every time.
In Capsule, set a dated task for each nudge, so it turns up on your list on the right day without you having to remember.
🗓️ step 3: make it a habit, not a new year’s resolution
We’ve all made resolutions that last until about the 9th of January. The trick is to make this so easy it just happens.
- Block out 20 minutes a week. Friday morning with a coffee works well.
- Work through your tasks for the week. Send the nudges, then set the next date.
- Let Capsule do the remembering. Use Tracks to set up a series of follow-ups once, then apply them to anyone you tag, so the next steps appear on their own.
After a few weeks it stops feeling like a job and becomes part of how you work.
ready to scale up? keep outreach warm, not spammy
Once your routine is running, you might want to reach more people at once. That’s fine, as long as it still feels personal.
✅ Keep it short and relevant. Talk about something that matters to them, not just what you sell.
✅ Send to small, tagged groups. A message for past clients reads very differently from one for new contacts.
✅ Make sure replies don’t vanish. If you use an outreach tool like Lemlist, connect it to Capsule. Anyone who shows interest is added to Capsule as a contact and opportunity, so the warm ones land straight in your pipeline.
Your winter warm-up checklist
Whether you’re a team of one or fifty, these steps work the same way:
- Gather every open lead into one pipeline
- Give each lead a next step and a date
- Look for leads with no activity in the last month and reach out
- Set up a Track for your most common follow-up routine
- Check your pipeline at the start of each week
Outreach can be automated. Relationships can’t.
let’s keep your relationships warm this winter
The people who already like you are your best source of new work. A little regular contact is all it takes to keep them close.
Want a hand setting up your stay-in-touch routine? As a certified Capsule Partner, we’d love to help. Get in touch with Assistify and we’ll get it working for your business.
Ready to launch straight into Capsule? Click here to get started.
