sales

Who doesn’t love an acronym?!

Well dare I tell you; the world of sales is no different – we too like the odd acronym. Perhaps, not in the volume some other sectors do but well, we just don’t like to feel left out.

So here is a new one for you. One we’ve been talking about a lot of late. A methodology we’ve been honing with our clients and running training sessions over the last six months.

CLV = Customer Lifetime Value

CPAM = Cost per Acquisition and Maintenance

ROI = Return on Investment

You’d be forgiven for not coming across the phrase Customer lifetime Value before and perhaps Cost per Acquisition and Maintenance, but Return on Investment should be a staple. So, let’s explore these in detail and look at why they are so vital to your business and why in my opinion, all and every person in every business should understand and know these numbers.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is not a new concept, but one we have become more and more aware of. Distasteful, absolutely not – the value of your customers over the lifetime they remain a customer is an essential element to understanding your retention and customer acquisition strategy – ultimately fundamental to your overall business strategy.

Your CLV is the value (financial and otherwise) your customer represents over the term they remain a customer – so based on either their average spend over the term, or your ideal spend and term per annum i.e., 30K per annum x 3.4 Years = Customer Lifetime Value. You will have your actual versus your ideal.  It is this metric I recommend embedding into your annual Key Performance Indicators both company-wide and on an individual basis.

Imagine the difference it would make to your bottom line if you increased your Customer Lifetime Value by 10%. Often when we look to grow our businesses, portfolios and product lines, we focus on new business growth, new customer, new opportunities, new markets, new geographies. We forget our existing customers, we get complacent and, in a market, where very few of us are the sole provider of our service of product, i.e., we have competitors – what is our differentiator when it comes to retaining our customers? We have to add value at every turn; our differentiators cannot be price, people or market position or even a product as all of these elements can be replicated. We have to go above and beyond and give reasons for our customers to remain loyal. It is far more cost effective to retain customers than to acquire new ones, up to 125% more so (HubSpot, 2022). The Cost per Acquisition and Maintenance (CPAM) of your customers is another important metric to consider when establishing Return on Investment. What elements go into acquiring new customers? From marketing campaigns, sales campaigns, time, events, networking costs (ask NetKno about this) Platform costs, membership organisations, publications – the list can be endless. Not only the cost of acquiring but also maintaining and account managing. But have you ever sat down and worked out how much it actually costs to acquire a customer and then retain one? Few of us have and I can pretty much guarantee once you have, you will place more focus on your retention strategy!

Return on Investment (ROI) – an acronym you really have no excuse to not know. What return do you have to make on your investment to break even? In sales we can look for anything from a 2.5x ROI – 100x dependent on your market, manager or product / service.

Understanding your sales cycle and pipeline are a critical aspect to all the above and the timeframes involved. We’ve been running workshops, training days and mentoring sessions for the last eight years on how these elements can be embedded across a wide variety of markets – so if you would like some additional information on any of the topics, give my team a call.

Or if you, like us believe in Outsourcing and focusing on your core expertise, we have a range of sales and / or marketing solutions for you to help you grow your business profile, increase lead generation and are your ready-made Sales and Marketing team.

Find out how we can help you with your Sales and Marketing.

• Consultancy
• Mentoring
• Roots – Sales and Marketing outsourced for small businesses
• Going For Growth – Sales and Marketing outsourced for medium businesses.

We would love to chat to you. Contact me or any of my team to find out more.

Jessica

Which one comes first?

Can you have one without the other?

As a small business which role should you hire first?

The gap between sales and marketing is closing. These two roles in my humble opinion used to be worlds apart but now – how different are they? Both operating in the space of ‘professional services’ the two have to coexist in a harmonious manner to truly achieve the best possible impact and returns. But how often do they – well rarely in my experience.

I’ve seen a whole host of examples in teams large and small unable to coexist and work together, with quite frankly, snobbery on both sides. Previously seen as the unqualified marketers (don’t even get me started on this) sales professionals have often got the rough end of the stick. Or marketers referred to as the fluffy colour inners (again lets not go there).

Ok so lets be frank and in my traditional style, direct. How exactly do you expect to grow your business without either of these two functions? As I often am heard saying, you can have the best business or product in the world but if you cant sell or market it – it will remain just that – an on the shelf product or service.

So which one comes first? Well as an owner of a sales and marketing company – which started life as a sales consultancy firm, I can give you an unbiased answer. MARKETING. This has to come first – every time without question. I can sell your products or services, but you know how ill do it more efficiently, more effectively and provide you a with a quicker return on investment – if you’re prospects know who you are and they’ve built up a perspective of you. They trust you, they know you and they like you. Brand awareness and brand visibility is one of the fundamental aspects for any sales individual and yes sometimes this is their responsibility if no marketing fuction is available but often this is up to both the sales and marketing functions.

In fact every single person in your business is responsible for your brand perception, customer engagement in some form or another. You could therefore argue that every single member of your organisation is in your sales and marketing team. The question therefore is do they know this and have you provided them with adequate training?

For small and medium companies who have to date grown organically and now looking to scale or venture into new markets – which role would you hire first? Both are a huge commitment and a costly one with average salaries for both in the North East totting up to c80K. That’s why three years ago we pivoted.

Three years ago as a Sales Consultancy company, we brought marketing into the fold following on from customer feedback. Previously working with outsourced marketing agencies for our SMEs, they fed back the challenge and we adapted. Now offering both sales and marketing solutions on a hybrid basis giving you the opportunity to embrace both at once on a holistic basis without having to compromise.

Find out how we can help you with your sales and marketing

• Consultancy
• Mentoring
• Roots – Sales and Marketing outsourced for small businesses
• Going For Growth – Sales and Marketing outsourced for medium businesses

We would love to chat to you.

Jessica.