Customer Acquisition Efficiency

Most companies focus the majority of their efforts understanding and measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty, but successful growth companies understand that acquiring customers is also a process for which measurement and continuous improvement is critical.
                                                                                                              
Here are some startling facts that indicate most companies do not view customer acquisition as a process, nor do they have metrics in place to monitor the efficiency (or lack of efficiency) of the process.

• 48% of business people never follow up with a prospect,
  
• 25% of business people make a 2nd contact and STOP,
  
• 12% of business people only make 3 contacts and STOP,
  
• Only 10% of business people make 3 or more contacts with a prospect.

The reason why most customer acquisition efforts fail is because most sales are not made on the first contact, or even the second or third:

• 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact,
  
• 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact,
  
• 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact,
  
• 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact,
  
• 80% of sales are made on the 5th – 12th contact.

Acquiring a customer will typically take five or more contacts. Persistence is key. And once the customer is acquired, it is critical to satisfy, retain and grow a profitable relationship.

Maximizing the growth potential of any organization requires a deep understanding of three critical performance areas: customer acquisition, customer satisfaction/loyalty, and customer retention.  If your organization does not measure and improve all of these critical processes it is not optimized for revenue growth.