How do you win a customer back?

Find out what changed first

What usually happens next is an email. Someone on the team sends the customer 15% off the next order, then a reminder a week later, and nothing comes back. For many teams, customer win-back starts and ends with that email.

A customer who stops ordering has left for one of two kinds of reason. Something went wrong on your side, such as late deliveries or a price rise, or something changed on theirs, such as a quieter season or a new owner. Your CRM shows you the silence and not the reason, so a discount sent in the first week answers a reason nobody has heard.

To win back lost customers, find out which it is before you offer anything. A rep who knows the account calls once the customer has gone twice as long as usual without an order, and asks one question with two doors. The rep then says back everything the customer said and ends the call with one next step that has a day and a time.

Who counts as lost?

One cutoff for every customer, such as four weeks since the last order, gives you the wrong list. Count a customer as lost when no order has come for twice their usual gap, the time they normally leave between two orders.

The rest of this post follows one example, not real data: a coffee roastery that supplies cafés. Take two of its cafés, both with a last order four weeks ago. The first orders every two weeks, so four weeks is twice its usual gap. That café is a lost customer, and it is time to call. The second orders every six weeks, so four weeks without an order is normal, and its next order is due in about two weeks. It is not lost yet.

For customers who order once or twice a year, twice the gap is far too late. Call them a few weeks after the month they usually order in.

Before the win-back call, the rep who knows the account checks the record for what the customer buys, how often and when they last ordered.

Old leads who never bought from you need a different call, covered in our playbook for dormant leads.

What do you say first?

Tom, a rep at the roastery, looks after the account of Ines, who owns a café on [street]. She has ordered beans every two weeks since spring, always delivered on a Thursday, and her last order was four weeks ago, twice her usual gap. Tom calls her on a Tuesday at half past two, after the lunch rush. Here is the old call.

Tom: "Hi Ines, it's Tom from [roastery]. I noticed you haven't ordered from us for a while, so I just wanted to check in. Is everything OK?"

Ines: "Yes, all fine, thanks."

Tom: "Good to hear. We've actually got 15% off all our blends this month, if you'd like to place an order."

Ines: "Not right now, thanks. We're OK for the moment."

Tom: "No problem at all. Shall I email you the offer?"

Ines: "Sure."

Tom: "Great, I'll send it over. Have a good day."

Plenty of reps make a friendly call like this every week. The offer email got no reply, the roastery learned nothing, and Ines kept buying from another roaster.

The new call has the same rep, customer and reason.

Tom: "Hi, is that Ines?"

Ines: "Yes, speaking."

Tom: "Ines, it's Tom from [roastery]. You've ordered beans from us every two weeks since spring, and your last order was four weeks ago. Did something go wrong on our side, or did things change for you?"

Ines: "Honestly, it was the deliveries. The last two came on Monday instead of Thursday, and we ran out of beans on a Saturday. So we're trying another roaster."

Tom's first turn is four words. Anyone behind the counter could have picked up, so he checks he has Ines before giving his name and the reason for the call. In the old call, his name, the company, what he had noticed and a yes or no question came in one breath. The first-turn rule for opening a cold call holds even when the customer knows you.

"A while" told Ines that nobody had looked at her account. "Every two weeks since spring" and "four weeks ago" tell her that Tom has. Then he asks the two-door question and stops, and Ines gives him the reason in her first full answer.

Why not ask why they left?

"Why did you stop ordering?" sounds honest, but it is hard to answer on the phone. The customer has to explain a decision in a few seconds, as if they owed you a reason, and many answer with something vague and polite.

"Is everything OK?" goes wrong the other way. It is a yes or no question, and "fine" is the quickest way to end the call. That is what Ines said in the old call, although her café had run out of beans on a Saturday.

The two-door question gives the customer two answers that are easy to say out loud. Tom names a possible fault on the roastery's side first, so "it was the deliveries" doesn't feel like an accusation, and a customer whose business changed can say so without making up a complaint.

Leave "This isn't a sales call" out of the opening, because it tells the customer to expect one, and hold back any discount until you know the reason. Tom's 15% off in the old call would not have fixed a Saturday without beans.

What if the reason is you?

The new call continues.

Tom: "So the last two deliveries came on Monday instead of Thursday, you ran out of beans on a Saturday, and now you're trying another roaster. Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry about that Saturday."

Ines: "It happens. But I can't run out on a weekend."

Tom: "Understood. Sara plans our delivery routes. I'd like her to call you about a fixed Thursday delivery. Would tomorrow, Wednesday, at 3 suit you?"

Ines: "Wednesday at 3 works."

Tom: "Wednesday at 3, Sara will call you on this number. I'll text you her name and number by 5 today."

Ines: "Great. Thanks, Tom. Bye."

Tom: "Bye, Ines. Thanks for your time."

Tom says back all three things Ines told him in one full sentence, then thanks her and apologizes for one specific thing, the Saturday without beans. He doesn't explain why the deliveries were late or tell her it was an exception. Arguing would turn her reason into a debate she wants to win.

He offers no discount and doesn't promise a Thursday delivery himself, because the routes are Sara's job. He books a call with Sara for Wednesday at 3, says the day and the time back and tells Ines when the text will arrive, then lets her say goodbye first. In the old call, Tom said goodbye first and left it at an email, with no day or time.

Sometimes the reason comes as a general judgment, such as "Your prices went up too much." Your rep doesn't reply "Yes, they are high" and doesn't defend the price list. They say it back and thank the customer: "So the prices went up too much for you. Thank you for saying it." Then they book a call, with a day and a time, with the person who can look at that customer's volume and price. A discount comes only after you know the reason, only if the reason is price, and only as much as that person can give.

Of the two answers, a complaint is the better one to hear, because the fix is in your hands. Sara can look at the Thursday route. Nobody at the roastery can make a café busier in winter.

What if their business changed?

When the customer's business has changed, respect it. Say back what they told you, thank them, ask one question about what they need now or when things will change again, and agree when you will call back, with a day and a time.

Suppose a café owner tells your rep, "We've cut our opening hours for the winter." The rep says it back, thanks her and asks, "When do you go back to full hours?" She says "In March", and the rep answers, "Then I'll call you on the first Tuesday of March, at half past two, like today." That booked call counts as a next step.

If the customer is closing down, or the answer is a clear no, thank them warmly, record the reason and take them off the list, with no second pitch.

How do you know it worked?

In one month, the roastery's list of lost customers had 60 cafés. Tom called them over two weeks and reached 40 of the 60. Our post on when to call again and when to stop covers the other 20.

Of the 40 he reached, 17 said something had gone wrong on the roastery's side, 18 said things had changed on theirs, and 5 gave no reason.

The cafés that named something on the roastery's side booked a next step most often, 11 of 17, against 4 of the 18 whose business had changed and 0 of the 5 who gave no reason. Late deliveries were the most common reason on the roastery's side, 8 of the 17, and 6 of those 8 cafés booked a next step. A discount would not have made those deliveries arrive on time.

Within 30 days of the call, 9 of the 60 cafés had ordered again, all from the 15 that booked a next step.

Count the same four numbers for every list: customers reached, reasons heard, next steps booked and customers who ordered again within 30 days of the call. On the roastery's list, 35 of the 40 cafés Tom reached gave a reason (17 plus 18).

Once a month, send every reason your customers named on your side to the person who can fix it, as a list. Reasons about price go to whoever sets prices, and coffee quality to whoever runs the roasting. At the roastery, eight cafés on that month's list named late deliveries, and Sara, who plans the routes, needs to see that.

Where does DRING come in?

Tom needed two weeks for 60 cafés, besides looking after the customers who still order. Reactivation is one of the outbound campaigns DRING runs for you, for old leads, lapsed customers and quotes that went quiet. DRING reads each CRM record before it dials, so the call starts from what you already know about the account. The agent calls customers who have stopped ordering inside your calling windows, asks what has changed since the last contact and reopens the conversation for your account team.

A customer whose need is back goes to your rep with the conversation attached, as our page for sales managers shows, and every result is written to your CRM. What you offer, and whether you offer anything, stays with your team. Each agent runs 1,000 to 10,000 simulated conversations, built for your company, before the first real call. Tell us about one list of customers who stopped ordering, and DRING calls you in two minutes.