Thursday, 26 September 2013 00:00
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By Mardy Sitzer
My guess is that there isn’t a company on the planet that doesn’t want more customers. But what kind of customers?
Small companies, above all others, with limited time and resources, need to maximise their efforts to be sure that they are bringing in the right customers, not just any customer. The ‘not right’ customer can eat into a company’s resources diverting them from more profitable relationships. The same goes for sales people. Struggling or evolving businesses might feel that any customer is a good customer, and while that might be fine in the short term, sustainability demands a focus on the best customers that you should be attracting.
Having a clear idea of who your ideal customer really is – or should be – will help you formulate your sales and marketing efforts and grow. You might even save yourself a lot of time by not chasing prospects that won’t deliver long-term value.
One way to look at customer acquisition is like any investment – such as a piece of equipment you might be considering purchasing.
How much is it going to cost?
What is the lifetime expectancy for this piece of equipment?
What are the ongoing maintenance costs?
How easy or difficult is it for your staff to work with?
What can it produce?
But many business owners don’t look at customer acquisition in this light and may be missing an opportunity to improve their sustainability.
So, what are some of the components to measuring a customer’s value?
Purchase – average spend per purchase
Frequency – how often they purchase
Paying – how they pay
Relationship – how they react, relate
Influence – who can they influence
Loyalty – price shop, share, rate, review, refer
Lifetime value – how long will they stay
So who’s your best customer?[Mardy Sitzer is a certified inbound marketing professional and president of Bumblebee Design & Marketing. Since 1993, Mardy has been delivering creative and innovative marketing solutions. An avid reader of all things internet and marketing, she also writes blogs, articles, and web content for industry magazines as well as for Bumblebee’s clients. She is an adjunct professor at Fordham University and instructor at Rutgers University teaching social media for business. Follow her on Twitter or email her at [email protected]. (Source: http://www.freeenterprise.com/)]
