Follow your champions to their new companies

What it does

The person who championed you at one company already knows what you do and trusts it. When they move, they take that with them, and a new job is exactly when people bring in what worked before. It’s the warmest way into a new company you’ll get, and most founders never track it.

What you need

• Your customers’ main users and buyers, past and present
• The people from deals that went well, even ones you lost
• LinkedIn, or job-change alerts in your contact database
• Your CRM

How it works

1. 1

   List your champions

   Everyone who pushed for you: the main user at each customer, the buyer who signed, and the people from lost deals who liked you and lost the internal fight. Put them in a CRM list or a sheet, with where each one works today.

2. 2

   Check for moves every month

   Look each one up on LinkedIn, or turn on job-change alerts in your contact database. A sheet with a “last checked” date is enough to start.

3. 3

   Check the new company fits

   Same rules as any account: does it match your aim? A champion at a company that doesn’t fit is worth a friendly note, not a deal.

4. 4

   Write a note about them

   Wait two to four weeks after they start, so they’ve seen the problems but haven’t made their plan yet.

   Email or LinkedIn message

   Hi [FIRST NAME],
   
   Saw you're at [NEW COMPANY] now. At [OLD COMPANY] we [ONE LINE ON WHAT YOU DID TOGETHER].
   
   Is [THE PROBLEM YOU SOLVE] on your plate in the new seat too?
   
   [YOUR NAME]

5. 5

   Keep the list growing

   Log the move and the note in your CRM. Every new customer adds names to the list, so make it part of onboarding: who are the people who’ll push for us here?

What good looks like

A list you check every month, and a few warm notes a quarter that start a conversation without a cold email.

Mistakes to skip

• Only tracking buyers. The everyday user who loved the product is often the one who brings it in.
• Writing the day they move. Give them a few weeks to find the problems.
• Leaving out people from lost deals. If they liked you and lost the internal fight, they may win it next time.