Business Insights

Customer retention versus customer acquisition: It’s a battle for the ages.  We know that maintaining loyal customers can be easier and more profitable than finding new ones. However, many businesses still dedicate resources to acquisition.  It is crucial that one balance's their focus between customer acquisition and customer retention. Your r customers provide the most lifetime value, after all. So, while others work themselves to the bone trying to generate leads, you can come up with an effective retention process.

Two out of three business leaders who’ve signed up to our Return On Marketing Investment webinars aren’t measuring marketing ROI at all. We’re not saying this to call them out - far from it. They know ROI is important, they want to know how best to measure the results of their marketing efforts, but they weren’t sure how to make a start. Here’s how.

In business, it’s not just what you sell that matters, but how and where you sell it. This is your route to market. Yours could be selling direct; via Amazon, online, or over the phone – whatever works for your customer. The right route to market is the one that makes it easy for new customers to find you, and therefore buy from you. Get it wrong and they’ll go to your competitors instead. Today, selling via one channel or sticking to what you’ve always known leaves you in danger of being left behind, missing opportunities and losing market share.

“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” – Richard Branson Anyone who’s ever caught a Virgin train might baulk at the suggestion, but there’s a lot of truth in Branson’s statement. Employees’ determine the success of a business day to day. They also contribute hugely to the value of a business when it comes to selling it.

Without a goal, it’s impossible to score. Businesses survive and thrive by offering value; by solving customers’ problems. Too often, that’s the problem, however. When we begin working with them, most businesses don’t understand their customers’ pain points and – even worse – don’t know who their most valuable customers are. Meanwhile, those with a clear picture of their customers’ needs, concerns and attitudes can find more of their target customers – boosting their sales and empowering their business to survive the marketplace challenges that threaten them and their competitors.