Did You Forget About Me?

The bird feeder in our backyard has been teaching me a lesson lately. When it’s full, birds are everywhere. Somehow, they know there’s food. Sparrows, finches, chickadees—sometimes several at a time. They show up, hang around and keep coming back.

But occasionally, I get busy or I’m on a road trip and can’t fill it.

The feeder goes empty and eventually, so does the backyard. Then I fill it again, and almost magically, the birds return.

Watching this recently reminded me of one of the more painful lessons I learned as a young salesperson. Back then, I was really into what I called “seeding” prospects. I would find an interesting article about their business, industry, marketing or consumer behavior and send it to them. No pitch. No proposal. Just something I thought might be useful. Then I’d follow up and use the article to start a conversation.

One of those prospects was Dudley LeValley from LeValley Oldsmobile-Cadillac. For weeks, I sent Dudley articles and ideas. Eventually, the seeding paid off. I got the appointment. One meeting led to another. I learned about his business, we developed a strategy together and eventually, Dudley trusted me enough to begin what became a multi-year branding campaign.

Success. Or so I thought.

A few months into the campaign, Dudley looked at me and said something I'll never forget.

“Before I was doing business with you, I could count on an interesting article or two from you every week with some insights. Now I’m investing with you and the articles stopped.”

Then came the sentence that really hurt:

“Did you forget about me?”

Ouch.

He was right.

I had worked hard to become valuable when I wanted his business. Once I had his business, I stopped doing one of the very things that had made me valuable in the first place.

I had stopped filling the feeder.

It’s an easy trap for salespeople to fall into. During the prospecting process, we’re curious. We research. We bring ideas. We share insights. We look for reasons to call that have nothing to do with asking for an order. Then we win the business.

Suddenly, our conversations become about schedules, creative, invoices, results and renewals. “Here’s your latest report.” “How’s everything going?” “Just checking in.” The client who received our best thinking while we were trying to earn their business can start receiving less of it once we actually have their business.

Research suggests Dudley was onto something. RAIN Group studied more than 700 B2B purchases representing $3.1 billion in annual purchasing power and found that the top behavior separating winning sellers from second-place finishers was educating buyers with new ideas and perspectives. In fact, winning sellers did so almost three times as often.

Research published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing reinforces the importance of continuing that behavior after the sale. Researchers studying customer success management in B2B organizations found that retention improves when companies proactively and continuously help customers get more value from the relationship.

In other words, providing value shouldn’t be something we do just to win the account. It’s something we have to keep doing to earn the relationship. That seems obvious. But is that what we actually do?

If anything, the feeder should get fuller after someone becomes a client.

They’re trusting us now. They’re investing their money with us. That should earn them more of our curiosity, more ideas, more insights and more attention—not less.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth my backyard reminds me of: The birds don’t care how full the feeder used to be. When there’s nothing for them, they’ll eventually go somewhere else.

Clients can do the same.

Dudley taught me that winning the business isn’t the finish line. It’s the beginning of a new responsibility. The things we did to demonstrate value before the sale shouldn’t disappear after the sale. They should become habits. For me, Dudley’s comments were a wake-up call that changed how I treated clients.

So, think about your best clients. When was the last time you sent them something useful that had absolutely nothing attached to it? When did you bring them an idea they didn’t ask for? When did you share research about their industry, introduce them to someone who could help them or simply give them something that made them think?

Not because you wanted another order. Because you wanted to be valuable.

I used to think I was seeding prospects. What Dudley taught me was that I needed to keep feeding clients.

Take a look at your feeder.

Is it full?

Or is one of your best clients quietly wondering:

“Did you forget about me?”

Think Big. Make Big Things Happen.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on X, YouTube and LinkedIn.