Practical Sales Training™ > How To Keep Your Clients Happy > The Random Contact Effect
The Random Contact Effect
What Is It
The Random Contact Effect is about making contact with existing and past buyers to see how they are. Not to sell to them.
It sounds like an odd sales technique, mostly because it isn’t one. There’s no pitch hidden inside it. That absence is exactly the point.
The call has one purpose only. To find out how someone’s doing, with nothing attached to it.
Why Does It Work
It works because we often only speak with our clients when we want something. As sad as that is to say, it’s often true, and it doesn’t help the already poor reputation selling has.
By contacting people with no agenda other than to see how they are, you focus on building relationships and creating trust. Not just speaking with someone because you want something from them.
At the end of the day, we’re all people in this world doing the best we can to get by. We all have hopes, dreams, fears, families, goals, and challenges.
Creating genuine connections with those around you is good for your own wellbeing too. It also makes the person you’re calling feel valued and connected, often more than any pitch ever could.
How Can You Use It
Pick a name at random and just call
One of the simplest ways to do this, something I’ve been doing for many years, is to randomly select a name from your contacts and call that person. It doesn’t matter if they’re a current or past client, pick a name at random.
When calling, the “reason for the call” is simply that their name came up on your phone, so you wanted to check in.
Make sure it’s genuine, not a script
I don’t advocate “checking in” as a follow up strategy. But checking in because you genuinely care is entirely different. It must be genuine though. If you don’t care about, or dislike, the person whose name has come up, pick another name.
Try it as a small daily habit
Consider making one of these calls each lunchtime for the next few days, and see how you feel and how your contacts respond. If you were called out of the blue because somebody was thinking of you, how would you feel, and how would you respond?
When It Works Best
This works best in service based businesses where relationships last years, not just one transaction. Design, coaching, law, and consulting all lend themselves to it naturally.
It also works best when there’s genuine history to draw on. A client from years ago gives you something real to ask about, rather than a stranger with no shared context.
When It Becomes Dangerous
It backfires the moment it’s used as a disguised follow up. If your “random” call always seems to land right when you have something to sell, clients notice the pattern fast.
It also becomes risky if it feels forced or scripted. A genuine check in and a rehearsed one sound completely different, and people can tell within seconds which one they’re hearing.
Calling someone you actually resent or feel indifferent toward causes its own problem. Insincerity travels down a phone line just as clearly as warmth does.
Common Mistakes
Turning the call into a pitch halfway through
The moment you mention an offer, the whole call reveals itself as a sales tactic in disguise. Let the conversation stay exactly what you said it was.
Only calling people you might sell to next
Picking names based on revenue potential defeats the entire idea. The randomness, and the lack of self interest, is what makes it land.
Doing it once and expecting a result
One call won’t transform a relationship overnight. The value builds slowly, across many small, genuine moments, not from a single well timed conversation.
The Random Contact Effect – An Example
Calling An Old Design Client
Let’s say you’re a graphic designer who’s worked with dozens of small business clients over the years. Instead of trying to sell to them, one lunchtime you scroll through your phone and land on David, a client you helped design a logo for two years ago.
You call David and say:
“Hey David, totally random – your name popped up on my phone and I realised we haven’t spoken in ages. No agenda at all, just wanted to check in and see how things are going with the business.”
That’s it.
What happens next:
- David is pleasantly surprised, since who checks in like that anymore?
- He tells you how the business is going
- You reconnect as humans, not seller and buyer
- He might even say “We’ve actually been thinking about updating the website, would love to get your thoughts”
Even if he doesn’t, you’ve planted a positive seed for the future.
This works particularly well in service based businesses where long term relationships matter. The secret is genuine intent with zero pressure. You’re building trust, not chasing a transaction.
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