What Are Touchpoints

What Are Touchpoints, and Why Are They Crucial to Growing Your Business?

The following is adapted from Don’t Be a Stranger.

My six-year-old daughter’s teacher taught her a sign of connection. She holds her hand in front of her with her pinky up and her thumb out, like a “hang loose” sign. If someone in the class says something that she connects with, my daughter taps her thumb to her heart. 

Even my young daughter knows that connection is one of the most important aspects of humanity. And while professionals don’t use hand signals to indicate it, the successful ones know that connection is the lifeblood of business. Personal relationships are the only way you and your company can thrive. 

Every time you reach out to someone over email, you connect with them. They remember that you’re alive. You move to the top of their mind for a moment, in a positive association. You matter. If they need your services that week, they’ll call you first.

That’s a perfect example of what I call a “touchpoint.” What, exactly, is a touchpoint? It’s one of the most effective concepts you will ever learn if you want to grow your business. 

Make Deliberate Connections 

The definition of a touchpoint is simple. It’s every time you reach out to deliberately connect with someone. Phone calls, texts, emails, LinkedIn messages, handwritten letters, whatever communication you prefer—those are all touchpoints, as long as you’re giving it an individual touch. 

Touchpoints create joy and spark memories of your connection to the other person. They should be light, happy, warm, ephemeral moments—one human being looking across the savanna at another human being knowing that they are not alone. 

Touchpoints can’t be generic one-size-fits-all messages. You can’t look someone up on a list of CEOs of companies in Los Angeles and send a generic message out of the blue. You also can’t get your assistant or artificially intelligent robot to send a list of messages and expect them to have nearly the same impact.

Touchpoints work when they tap into authentic human connections. When someone reaches out to me well, I think that he actually remembers me, and we were actually at that event, breathing the same air, for a period of time. He’s not trying to just “get to me.” There was a connection there, however slight, that feels human, and he, himself, followed up on it.

Even though that person may be reaching out primarily for business, the goal was accomplished. I remember he’s alive and I think of him. 

Why Touchpoints Are Crucial for Business

One of the greatest networking errors that professionals make is letting their relationships grow cold. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of it too. For example, at one point I worked directly for a woman named Dominique. We did a great job for her company, and she was in a good position for my industry. I should have stayed in touch but for whatever reason failed to do so. (I screwed up. It happens.) 

Now, if I reach out to her, I’ll have to remind her who I am and recap the last five years. 

Touchpoints could have saved me a whole lot of trouble. It would have been far easier, in contrast, if I had spent five minutes once per quarter staying in touch. Rather than eighty hours, I’d have gotten the same yield from eighty minutes done consistently in five- and ten-minute increments. 

Aside from making people feel good, touchpoints are excellent ways to keep you (and your company) at the top of people’s minds. When they are in the market for your services, they will immediately think of you, and they’ll do so with a warm, fuzzy feeling. They’re also more likely to refer you to others. 

Touchpoints are a low-investment, high-return way to keep vital business relationships alive. 

A Sample Touchpoint

Touchpoints aren’t hard. Want proof? Here’s an example of a touchpoint I recently sent over email:

Hi Susan,

It’s been too long. I remember that time when we had lunch, and were talking about your daughter being afraid of the tooth fairy. My daughter has now lost three teeth and is squarely in the pro-tooth fairy camp. Whatever happened with that?

Hope you’re doing well. It’d be great to catch up soon. 

Larry

The email is fifty-seven words. It takes less than two minutes to write and send—perhaps five minutes if you need some time to think about the right detail. For the price of a handful of minutes, you can shoot a rocket into the universe to let someone know you’re thinking about them. 

Reaching out, particularly when you’re new at the practice, can feel a little vulnerable. You fear you’re going to be rejected, but that fear isn’t warranted. I’ve probably created 5,000 touchpoints over my career. Only once has someone responded with rejection. 

Most people are touched when you reach out. They think it’s cool that you thought of them, even if it was only for twenty seconds. They’re honored. 

Send the Email

Open up your phone and find someone you haven’t talked to in a long time. If you flick your finger up the contacts on your phone, the wheel will stop on a random name. Do you wish you’d seen that person more recently than you have?

Send them an email. Take two minutes and create a touchpoint. It’s as simple as that. 

When the person opens the email, they’ll get a happy warm feeling. You’ll be at the top of their mind for a moment. If they happen to have a need for your services, they’ll call you, but more importantly, they’ll think fondly of you in the meantime.

For more advice on touchpoints, you can find Don’t Be a Stranger on Amazon.

Lawrence Perkins founded what is now SierraConstellation Partners at age twenty-nine with few connections and very little capital. Lawrence grew SCP into a nationwide management consulting group serving nearly 100 large companies in their times of most dire need. Today, Lawrence is a recognized industry leader who’s spoken at major industry conferences and has been cited by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CNN, CNBC, and the Washington Post. Outside of work, Lawrence has built a remarkable life with his wife and daughter that includes interests ranging from reading and writing, singing and dancing, to cooking and running.

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