Have you ever tried to connect with a person in a business only to come across automation after automation? It’s a frustrating experience and can leave a bad taste in your mouth.
However, we can’t deny that most businesses are becoming automated. Automation helps many companies keep costs low while providing excellent customer service. But automation is not the way businesses grow. Human connection is what drives most business success. So, how do you balance customers who want a human connection with the need to automate processes to keep product/service costs down?
Adi Klevit of Business Success Consulting Group and Eric Rozenberg, President of Event Business Formula, recently discussed this on the Systems Simplified podcast. They discussed how business owners can preserve authentic relationships and build people-first systems in a tech-enabled world. Their insights offer a practical roadmap for companies that want to maintain a personal touch while scaling operations and implementing necessary automation.
Why Human Connection Matters
While digital tools have made remote work and automation easier, they haven’t replaced the need for relationships. Face-to-face interactions remain vital across all industries. Business leaders still close deals, build trust, and form partnerships through in-person interactions, not just over screens.
Connection builds loyalty with clients and employees alike.
When your customers and team members feel seen and heard, they’re more likely to stay engaged. However, it can be difficult to keep up with personal connections and interactions if you have a growing business. This is where business systems come into play.
Systemizing People-First Business Practices
Use these five tactics to build business systems that foster genuine relationships:
1. Create Consistent Communication Cadences
From client check-ins to internal team meetings, structure matters. Set a schedule and process for regular touchpoints so no one falls through the cracks. Define what gets covered, who follows up, and how to track outcomes.
2. Standardize Your Onboarding Process
First impressions matter. Whether onboarding a new client, employee, or vendor, a consistent and thoughtful process shows professionalism and care. Include personalized welcome messages, assigned point people, and clearly defined next steps.
3. Map Out Relationship Touchpoints
Identify the moments in your business where personal connection matters most. These may be during sales calls, support follow-up, customer service, and product/service delivery. Once these touchpoints are identified, develop repeatable systems to ensure quality interactions at every stage.
4. Train Teams on Relationship-Building Skills
Just as you would train staff on product knowledge or compliance, train them on empathy, listening, and communication. Equip your people with frameworks for human-first engagement.
5. Use Technology to Enable Connection
Digital tools should support relationships, not substitute them. Use CRMs to remember client details, automate reminders for follow-ups, or manage event attendance, but never let tech replace the personal touch.
The most meaningful business opportunities come from relationships. Serendipity may play a role, but you cannot rely on luck alone. Strategic systems ensure that you create the conditions for meaningful connection, even at scale.
Systemization Doesn’t Mean Losing the Human Touch
Despite its importance, many companies do not have a system for maintaining and strengthening human relationships. Without a structure for outreach, networking, and follow-up, opportunities are missed, relationships stagnate, and business suffers.
Building a business around people requires systems for every step of the way, including:
- Client onboarding and retention,
- Follow-up after networking events or conferences,
- CRM systems that track touchpoints and prompt relationship-building activities,
- Feedback loops that turn customer insights into action.
Whether you’re building a sales pipeline, a client onboarding journey, or a staff training program, every touchpoint is an opportunity to create connections. With the right systems in place, you don’t have to rely on memory or motivation. Instead, you can rely on structure.
When these systems are in place, business owners can stay consistent with outreach, prioritize high-value relationships, and turn connections into long-term partnerships. Reach out to the process experts at Business Success Consulting Group to get started in building and documenting your systems. We’ll help you design processes that make your people your strongest asset.
