Keeping customers happy is imperative to the financial success of a business. But first, you must understand and engage them to build loyalty. Educating sales professionals on how to develop and initiate a customer interaction can and will significantly improve your business’ growth potential.

From being genuine in your interactions to using social media to stay connected, below are several ways a business professional can better engage and maximize the human connection with a potential or existing customer, according to seven members of the Forbes Business Development Council.

1. Be Genuine, Show You Care

In grade school, when teams are being picked, no one wants to be picked last. Thousands of potential customers flock to industry events in foreign cities, and they all still want to be valued and elected first. Endless opportunities arise for breaking bread after the speakers’ talks end. People want to do business with genuine people who know their name and care enough to learn their interests. – Chris Lukasiak, MyHealthDirect

2. Use Social Media For Better Engagement

Social media is a powerful way for sales professionals to engage with customers. Our mission is to engage customers with the right touch at the right time with the right insights. To achieve this, we’ve heavily invested in social selling tools and training so that our sellers are equipped with relevant insights about the individual customer prospect and their business. – Rakhi Voria, Microsoft

3. Personalize Relationships

While it can be tempting for sales professionals to focus heavily on the benefits of the product they are selling, it is important to remember that at the end of the day, people like doing business with people they like. Salespeople should work to get to know their potential or existing customers well enough on a personal level that they can bond over subjects of mutual interest. – Adam Mendler, Beverly Hills Chairs

4. Connect Via Text Message

A simple approach to maximizing human connection is via a simple text message. This might seem obvious, but the text message is not a tool in most sales professionals’ arsenals anymore. This does not work with all types of sales but is ideal for complex sales that require many touchpoints over a period of time. The informal approach helps build rapport whilst decreasing the sales cycle. – Dane Matheson, Sourcebits

5. Practice Good Listening Skills

People like to know who they are doing business with. Within first meeting someone, connections can be found by simply listening — common connections such as sports, hometowns, family, food. The key is to listen, learn and then be genuine in asking about these common connections in follow-up meetings. Bonds are easy to find, it’s your sincerity that matters in cultivating these relationships. – Emily Hauptvogel, H&H Products Company

6. Have Face-To-Face Meetings

In a face-to-face meeting and exchange of information, I learned of a very huge opportunity that came up in a discussion. Because of this, the client and I engaged in a conversation about the respective value propositions of working together and it led to an incremental half-million in sales to my company for this new opportunity. – Wayne Elsey, Elsey Enterprises

7. Find Common Ground

While it may be tempting to templatize outbound emails and meetings, there’s no substitute for establishing a genuine connection with your clients. Doing a bit of research on your prospect and their company will give you ideas for topics that you can connect on. Ensure that every interaction you have with clients contains a personal touch and gives them something to remember you by. – Kabir Mathur, Kiip

Article written by: Forbes Business Development Council