What is acquisition? The process of acquiring new customers.
A useful definition of acquisition is:
“Acquisition involves acquiring new customers and orders. Within companies, the marketing and sales departments work together to achieve optimal acquisition of the right leads.”
This definition teaches us a three things about customer acquisition:
1. First, acquisition is no longer exclusively the domain of sales. The Internet has turned the market upside down and led to greater transparency. Buyers search for answers on their own, and the expertise of the salesperson is less and less decisive in the decision-making process.
2. Second, the definition talks about the “right” leads. This is important because customers who don’t fit in with you end up costing more than they bring in. Just close your eyes for a moment and walk through your customer base in your mind. Then you are bound to find one or two that qualify as not fitting. . So it is the job of marketing and sales in this process to ensure that the right audience is tapped into, so that customers ultimately contribute to the bottom line.
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3. Finally, this definition teaches that acquisition is an externally focused process in which prospects must be convinced of the value of your product or service. And that is precisely why customer acquisition is becoming more expensive. Traditionally, we try to convince people of the quality of our product or service. That works less and less well. The key is to start acquisition at the moment the prospect is ready to buy. If you start the acquisition too early then you will find that a long, often non-deal-making conversation must be had.
