Why you must have high standards
when it comes to acquisition
The marketing and sales plans for Q1 are now in full swing. Have you already made a list of the accounts you want to focus on for Q2? That is what I want to talk about today because do you look critically at the companies you target? A potential client looks critically at your company, so why shouldn’t you do the same the other way around?
Now you may think: “Yes, but isn’t a customer a customer? (in other words, turnover is turnover)? But high standards are useful when it comes to attracting new business. Why? Because if you think carefully about what criteria a company should have to be interesting to you, you will reap the following benefits:
- Suitable solution: If a company matches your criteria, it also means that you have the right solution for this company’s problem, thus sharpening your proposition;
- Higher conversion: This will save you time and money because you will not focus on irrelevant parties, and you will only concentrate on suitable companies. This effectiveness will increase your conversion ratio;
- More customer satisfaction: This means you are a good match with the company. Therefore they will be optimistic about the collaboration and customer satisfaction will go up, and you will live happily ever after together.
Key account indicators
We also determine the perfect account for Smart Profile consists of; we call this a key account indicator (KAI). A KAI is a criterion or indicator that an account must meet to be relevant. The KAI is used to determine your target group. These indicators can differ per company, department, proposition or product. So you can easily have dozens of KAI’s per company.
Key account indicators can be based, for example, on a company’s turnover, the number of employees or workplaces and specific functions that you want to appoint, including decision-making authority. In addition to the more general indicators, you also have market-specific characteristics, such as the use of hardware or software, information about the fleet, energy consumption, coffee consumption and much more.
Think about what makes you unique compared to your competitors and focus on these aspects. What are the essential indicators for you?
Based on these crucial indicators, we can create a persona of the ideal customer or customers. Of course, in practice, we never turn down a potential customer, but in the acquisition context. We do not actively take action on the group that does not fall within our key account indicators.
How do you get started with a KAI?
- What indicators are essential to you? Think of the size, turnover, specific systems, functions, markets, energy consumption—the more detailed, the better. Then you add your unique selling points (USPs) and voila!
- Based on your KAI(s), you will look at which companies fall within this target group and where your first focus should be. Curious how big your target group is? Leave your indicators with us, and we will come back to you with a target group!
- Now that you know which companies fall within your target group, it is crucial to contact them. Do you know whom to approach? And how do you want to get in touch with these companies, via social campaigns, an e-mail campaign or simply by picking up the phone?
An e-mail campaign or pick up the phone and call? If you want, we can always help you with that too.
So grab a pen and paper and your customer system and get to work!
