Why Loyalty, Not Software, Is the Real Goal
Let’s talk about CRM.
Every B2B company hits the same point. Growth stalls, follow-ups fall through, and someone says, “We need a CRM. That’ll fix it.”
One of our clients came to us a few months after launching theirs. They had picked the system, trained the team, colour-coded the pipeline, and felt like things were finally getting “under control.”
Except, nothing really changed.
Sales were still reactive. Customers were still drifting after the first invoice. And marketing? Busy tagging contacts and building reports that no one read.
The CRM was active. The loyalty was missing.
The problem
They were managing data, not relationships. Here’s what most companies forget. A CRM is a tool. Loyalty is a strategy.
If you stop at implementation, all you’ve done is build a very organised list of people you used to do business with.
According to Forbes, 80 percent of your future revenue comes from 20 percent of your existing customers
(Forbes, Customer Retention Trends)
What we did
We left the CRM alone. It was fine. Boring, but functioning. Instead, we asked, “How are you showing up for customers once they sign the deal?”
That question changed everything.
We helped them:
Create customer journeys after the sale
Build touchpoints that weren’t tied to a pitch
Humanise the CRM experience with small things like check-ins, feedback calls, and non-sales emails from leadership
Train their team to use the CRM for building context, not just logging activity
Yes B2B Companies are doing it!
Take HP.
They don’t just sell printers anymore. They sell managed print services. Subscriptions. Maintenance. Analytics. They turned a one-time hardware sale into an ongoing partnership.
They used tech and data, sure, but the real value? It’s in how they show up after the transaction. Their customers don’t just stay longer, they rely on them. HP didn’t just upgrade their CRM. They upgraded their relationships.
CRM is a system. Loyalty is a signal. If you’re not using one to build the other, you’re just automating reminders.
At Rihla Creative, we help B2B brands turn touchpoints into trust. Because customer retention doesn’t start with software. It starts with showing up like you actually care.
