Telemarketing is easier when a prospect is already familiar with your face and your company. That’s why it’s a common tool for maintaining B2B relationships. It adds a personal touch and it keeps your brand from sounding too automated, distant, and robotic.

Because of all this familiarity though, sometimes you end up behaving rather differently from when you first made contact with your prospect. But believe it or not, these subtle changes can either make or break the very relationship you’re trying to preserve!

Whether you’re a supplier or an outsourced service, working together for a long time is indeed proof of a strong relationship. Yet within that strength lie a few weak links that could cause those bonds to shatter. You end up forgetting proper telemarketing courtesy because it now seems trivial for you. You start calling even during times when your prospect could be busy with other things. Sometimes you even end up making house calls!

These don’t seem such a big deal at first glance. Too much courtesy can come off as stiff and high-maintenance (even when you’re talking whole organizations). Emergencies can come and go that would force your hand to inform prospects in unexpected hours.

There’s nothing wrong with throwing some caution to the wind though before it actually does get worse. To start, here are some cases where getting too familiar could cause some trouble:

  • Changes in staff – From changes in management to hiring a new gatekeeper, any person new to your prospect organization is not bound to recognize you. This can be dangerous when too much familiarity can make you forget your manners. You’ll need them when these new people are still hardwired to keep strangers out.
  • Changes in policy – Sometimes you have to go through a new process or a new schedule strictly means no calls to be made after a certain time. It would be ironic if it would take their own rules on timing to make you follow the ones you’ve forgotten.
  • Changes in work environment – It can be a new address. It can also be changing desks. Either way, it would at least be awkward to call a number that used to belong to your prospect but is now relegated to a guy who used to be in another room.

Getting closely familiar with a prospect has its perks but don’t let these benefits keep you too comfortable. Certain changes can happen any time and these would render your familiarity moot.