Earning new business is challenging, regardless of business model, company size or industry. The most successful companies employ a sound customer acquisition strategy to drive revenue, improve customer loyalty and increase customer retention. Acquiring new customers encompasses a variety of sales strategies. The right process will enable an organization to invest in growth and development while meeting profit goals. Additionally, customer acquisition is a valuable measure of success that investors and partners actually care about. Thus, companies must continuously work to reduce customer acquisition costs and increase customer lifetime value.

 

So, what is the best customer acquisition strategy? Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear-cut answer because every business is unique. In this article, we will discuss a few customer acquisition techniques companies are increasingly adopting to convert new customers.

 

Acquisition Strategies are Constantly Evolving

Companies have more competitors than ever before. In this increasingly competitive landscape, it’s never been more challenging to attract, engage, and convert new customers. Why? Today’s consumer is more tech-savvy and sophisticated to traditional sales and marketing tactics. Instead, companies must engage with prospects and customers in a real and meaningful way. Most importantly, businesses need to understand customer pain points and communicate how their company can solve those challenges.

Here are a few customer acquisition tactics you can start using today:

• Use intent data to uncover purchasing signals
• Track vital performance metrics and make data actionable with the right sales tools
• Prioritize relationship-building in your sales strategy
• Outsource face-to-face sales efforts

Take a regular audit of your acquisition strategy to asses strengthens, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The right acquisition strategy will evolve with industry trends to create brand awareness, increase scale, and decrease customer acquisition costs.

 

The Most Powerful Sales Strategy

Technology may change the channels sales utilizes to engage with prospects and customers, but human connections are still the most powerful selling tactic. Building solid relationships with prospects, customers, and clients will always be vital to closing a deal. In fact, human brains are neurologically wired for connections with others. In the book, Social, author Matthew Lieberman states that humans “need to connect is as fundamental as our need for food and water.” Also, according to the Harvard Business Review, “On a lifetime value basis, emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers.”

 

Driving real connections with prospects helps sales reps solidify deals and transform customers into loyal fans and brand advocates. It also increases their likelihood to purchase in the future and share positive reviews within their networks. When relationships take center stage in your sales strategy, sales representatives are empowered to better understand prospects’ needs and explain how your product and/or service can help them.

 

Before you ask sales to invest their valuable time, make sure to weed out contacts who will never purchase your product. Not only will this save you time and money, but your sales reps won’t create a bad impression prospecting people who have no interest in your product.

 

Here are a few tips to prioritize human connections to build strong relationships with prospects and customers throughout the selling process:

 

• Listen to understand, not to respond
• Find common grounds and interests
• Make a genuine effort to solve their problems
• Create an outreach SLA for sales reps to adhere to
• Don’t rule out face-to-face sales tactics to build meaningful relationships

 

Maya Angelou once said, “People won’t remember what you said or did; they will remember how you made them feel.” The moral of the story? Make your customers feel good, and they will purchase again and again.

 

Get Solid Results From Outbound Sales and Marketing Strategies

Mastering outbound sales can be tricky, even for the most experienced sales professionals. But when deployed correctly, outbound strategies allow you to find the right prospects and strategically use collected data to build personalized outreach cadences. However, outbound sales only works if you have proper processes and plans in place.

 

• Here are a few best practices to get results from an outbound sales strategy:
• Use your ideal customer profile to identify the type of prospects you should target
• Employ market segmentation to divide audiences
• Personalize outreach messages to ensure they resonate with your audience
• Track outbound sales metrics to analyze and optimize performance

 

Outbound sales strategies can fuel predictable lead generation but that only will happen if you have a solid strategy in place. Invest in an implementation strategy to fuel predictable lead generation in your sales pipeline. Although there has been a lot of talk that outbound marketing tactics are dead, they are still effective. Inbound marketing seems to be getting all the glory these days. However, outbound channels like direct mail, cold calling and emailing, and search advertising are still popular among marketing and sales professionals because they build relationships, earn trust, and win business.

 

Outbound marketing, also typically referred to as “push” marketing encompasses a variety of channels and tactics including:

 

• TV, radio, and print
• Direct mail
• Social media
• Search engine
• Display banners

 

Inbound marketing, also typically referred to as “pull” marketing encompasses a variety of channels and tactics including:

 

• Website blog
• Earned social media
• Search engine optimization

 

At the end of the day, you can’t expect potential customers to find you through inbound sales and marketing tactics. You need to build a dependable lead generation flow to keep your sales pipeline full. While inbound strategies are incredibly effective at constructing brand awareness, driving website traffic, and increasing conversions, outbound tactics should be used in tandem with inbound tactics to drive and optimize customer acquisition.