The 13-Touchpoint Rule: Why CRM Alone Can’t Close Deals in the DMs
The Data Behind Closing in the DMs
Beyond the CRM: Using a DM Sales System to Close High-Ticket Leads
Here's something most founders don’t like to admit...
Your customer relations management software is probably a graveyard.
A long list of names, emails, and phone numbers you paid for.
Leads that once looked promising.
Deals that “might close someday.”
But someday never came.
Not because those leads were bad.
Because the system tracking them was.
Traditional customer relations management software was built for a different era.
An era of phone calls, gated content, and form fills.
Today, revenue moves somewhere else entirely.
It moves through conversations.
And most CRMs can’t see them.
The CRM Gap
Why Traditional Customer Relations Management Misses Modern Sales
Customer relations management tools are great at storing static data.
Names
Emails
Phone numbers
Deal stages
Call notes
What they don’t track well is momentum.
They don’t capture:
Likes on a LinkedIn post
Replies to an Instagram story
Thoughtful comments
"Saw this and thought of you” moments
Quiet back-and-forth conversations
These moments don’t look like sales activity inside a CRM.
But they are exactly where trust is built.
And trust is what closes high-ticket deals.
This is the CRM gap.
Not missing data.
Missing context.
The 13-Touchpoint Rule
Why Most Deals Die at Touchpoint #3
Here’s the data most founders never see.
In modern, relationship-driven sales, most deals close between the 8th and 13th meaningful interaction.
In fact, 80% of sales deals are closed at (or after) the 13th touchpoint.
Not the first DM.
Not the second follow-up.
Not the “just circling back” message.
Yet most people quit after two or three touches.
They send one DM.
They get silence.
They label the lead “cold.”
(That’s not a cold lead... that’s a neglected human.)
Sales don’t stall because interest disappears.
They stall because follow-up stops before trust forms.
A DM sales system exists to solve this exact problem.
What Counts as a Touchpoint Now?
This is where traditional customer relations management breaks down.
In a DM-first world, a touchpoint is not just a message.
It includes:
Liking a prospect’s post
Commenting with insight
Replying to a story
Sending a short value message
Acknowleding a milestone
Asking a thoughtful question
Following up without pressure
Individually, these feel small.
Stacked together, they create familiarity.
By the time you reach touchpoint #13, asking for a something feels natural.
Not salesy.
Not forced.
Rather, expected.
Micro-Signals vs Cold Outreach
Why DMs Outperform Funnels
Cold outreach assumes interruption.
DM selling assumes awareness.
People rarely buy because you showed up first.
They buy because you showed up at the right moment.
That moment reveals itself through micro-signals:
Repeated engagement
Faster replies
Longer responses
Personal disclosures
Problem language
A DM sales system tracks these signals in real time.
Instead of blasting everyone equally, you prioritize:
Who is warming up
Who needs nurturing
Who is ready for a pivot
Who should wait
This is lead nurturing built for social platforms.
Not volume.
Precision.
From Small Talk to Sales Talk
Without Sounding Like “That Guy”
“I don’t want to be salesy.”
This is the fear that keeps founders stuck in the friend zone.
They chat.
They build rapport.
They never transition.
And nothing closes.
The shift happens when you stop pitching and start listening for problem windows.
When a prospect says:
“We’re slammed right now”
“Pipeline is weird lately”
"We’re busy but not growing”
That’s not small talk.
That’s an opening.
Instead of pitching, you ask a clarifying question.
“When you say busy, is that because leads are coming in but not closing… or because follow-up is falling apart?”
Now you’re not selling.
You’re diagnosing.
This is Sell by Chat® in action.
Where Conversational AI Actually Helps
AI does not replace selling.
It replaces chaos.
Used correctly, conversational AI helps by:
Flagging problem language
Surfacing ready conversations
Preserving context
Highlighting next steps
It should never speak for you.
It should help you see where to speak.
This is how AI strengthens lead nurturing instead of destroying trust.
The RainMaker Trap
(And the FlowMaker™ Shift)
Rainmakers live inside conversations.
They rely on memory, hustle, and personal energy.
Revenue depends on how hard they push.
FlowMakers™ build systems.
They see:
Where every conversation lives
How many touchpoints have occurred
Who needs attention today
Where revenue is forming
The shift isn’t about automation.
It’s about visibility.
A DM sales system turns reactive selling into an engine.
Why FlowChat Exists
The Messaging Layer Your CRM Never Was
FlowChat does not replace customer relations management software.
It completes it.
CRMs store outcomes.
FlowChat tracks conversations.
CRMs record deals.
FlowChat captures momentum.
Together, they form a complete revenue system.
FlowChat provides:
A unified DM inbox
Visual DM pipelines
Micro-signal tracking
Smart follow-up reminders
AI-assisted conversation support
This is how founders reach touchpoint #13 without burnout.
Last thought...
High-ticket sales don’t close because of one perfect message.
They close because of consistency.
"Obsessive Consistency"
The brands winning today aren’t louder.
They’re more present.
They don’t chase leads.
They nurture conversations.
And they understand that every interaction matters.
Stop treating leads like rows in a spreadsheet.
Start treating them like relationships in motion.
Then you'll close more deals!
Happy Selling,
-sean 🔥🕺
P.S. If your CRM feels full but your pipeline feels empty, it’s not a lead problem.
It’s a conversation problem. We built FlowChat to fix exactly that.
For a full breakdown in building your DM Sales System, check out this article.
