For months or years, one person at your customer ordered, approved invoices and told you when something was wrong. Then they change role, leave or go on long leave, and an email arrives from somebody you have never met, or a message bounces. Nothing is cancelled. But the relationship now depends on a stranger who did not choose you and may not know why you are there.
In a small company this is easy to miss, because the relationship lived in one inbox or one phone. This article gives a short routine for the first weeks. It is for ongoing customers. If the customer has already said they are going, see what to ask, what to offer and what to record when a customer says they are leaving.
Step 1: Name an owner and find out what changed
Decide who on your side owns the account relationship for this customer, and write the name in your customer notes. Then find out three things:
- Who is the person leaving, and where are they going? Moving to another team in the same company is very different from leaving it.
- Who takes over their work? The new contact may be the same person who signs, or only someone who handles day-to-day requests.
- Who actually decides about your service and its budget? This is often a manager the old contact never mentioned.
If the old contact is still reachable, write a short, friendly message: thank them, ask who should be your contact from now on and whether they would introduce you. People are usually glad to do this, and a warm introduction beats a cold email.
If nobody tells you, use what is already public and appropriate: the customer's website, a general company address, or the person who signs your invoices. Ask one polite question: "Who should we speak to about X from now on?" Do not guess at private contact details or collect data about the new person beyond what you need for the work.
Step 2: Write a one-page brief for the new person
The new contact usually inherits a relationship without a handover. Make that easy for them. One page is enough:
| Section | What to include |
|---|---|
| What we do for you | The service in two or three sentences, in the customer's words |
| How it works | Who asks for what, typical turnaround, how to reach you |
| What you pay | Current prices, billing dates, contract end or renewal date |
| What happened recently | Last two or three jobs or results, with dates |
| What is coming | Planned work, open questions, anything waiting on the customer |
Keep it factual. Do not mention anything the old contact told you in confidence, and do not make promises that are not already agreed. If your records are thin, say so in your own notes and fix that afterwards; the quarterly review with a key customer is a good source of the numbers to put on this page.
Step 3: Offer a short introduction call
Within two weeks of learning about the change, send one message to the new contact: a short introduction, the brief attached, and an offer of a 20-minute call. Say clearly what the call is for: to understand how they want to work with you.
In the call, ask rather than present:
- "What does a good month look like for you?"
- "What did you hear about how we work together, and is that still right?"
- "Is there anything you would like to change, add or stop?"
- "Who else should we keep informed?"
The question about change matters most. A new person often has a different priority, a different supplier they already know or a tighter budget. It is better to hear that on a call than to find out at renewal time.
Step 4: Check the practical details
Contacts are also entries in your systems. Go through the places where the old contact appears:
- the customer record or contacts list, so that reminders and notices go to the right person;
- invoice and quote recipients, and anyone who must approve them;
- mailing lists and notification settings;
- shared folders, portals or accounts the old contact set up, for example through a client portal;
- any contract notices, which may name a specific person.
Keep the old contact's details marked as "former" rather than deleting them, so the history stays readable. Only keep personal data that you need, and update it when you learn it is wrong. The UK Information Commissioner's Office explains how contact details of business people are treated when you write to them for marketing, which is worth a look before you add the new person to a newsletter.
Step 5: Follow up after 60 days
Put a reminder in the calendar for about two months after the change. Check three things: has the customer's activity or order pattern changed, is the new contact answering messages, and did anything agreed in the call actually happen? If activity has dropped, the list of signals that a customer may leave helps you decide whether to call.
Treat the new contact like a new customer for a while. The first two weeks checklist for a new customer has several steps that are worth repeating in a lighter form.
Where AI tools fit in
An assistant can draft the brief page from your notes or tidy the questions for the call. Do not paste in confidential contract terms or personal details of the people involved. Read the draft yourself: it speaks for you to someone who has never heard from you before.
Reduce the risk before it happens
You cannot prevent people from changing jobs, but you can make the next change less painful:
- Keep at least two contacts at each important customer: a daily contact and someone who decides.
- Store the history of the account in one shared place, not only in one person's mailbox.
- Make sure two people on your side know each key customer.
What to do this month
- List your ten most important customers and the contacts you have for each.
- Mark customers where you only know one person, and ask for a second contact.
- Write the one-page brief for the two customers where a change would hurt most.
- Decide who on your side owns each account.
- Add a note to the customer record whenever a contact changes, with a date for the 60-day check.
This is general guidance for small businesses, not legal advice. If you hold sensitive personal data about your contacts, check your data protection duties.
Sources
- UK Information Commissioner's Office, Business-to-business marketing: how rules on contacting people at other businesses apply to marketing messages.
- UK Information Commissioner's Office, The right to be informed: what people must be told when you hold their personal data.