Without buyers, you do not have a business — which is why it is important to both engage more while maintaining the ones you have.
Not only does having a full funnel of buyers boost your business, it also is attractive to investors and partners. Yet engaging new buyers and retaining current buyers demands different efforts and investments. Often, businesses will focus heavily on one and disregard the other strategy. But what if there was a way to achieve a healthy balance of both kinds of growth? With the Mereo Seek to Serve™ philosophy, you can do that.
BOTH BUYER RETENTION AND ACQUISITION PLAY A ROLE IN REVENUE PERFORMANCE
Buyer retention is vital to your organization’s revenue performance. Many successful organizations invest heavily in keeping buyers around — and for good reason. Businesses have a 60% to 70% chance of selling to a current buyer while only a 5% to 20% chance to sell to a new buyer. Plus, research has found that 65% of business for most organizations comes from existing / current buyers.
These benefits do not diminish the role buyer acquisition plays in feeding revenue, though. In a Zippia survey, researchers found that while 18% of businesses focused on keeping buyers, 44% had their eye toward connecting with new buyers — and 38% saw value in investing in both.
This mix is key: New buyers have the potential to become reoccurring buyers, setting your company up for sustainable revenue growth. Your leadership team must find the right balance — and focus on serving, not selling, your new and current buyers alike.
FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS
To find the best balance between acquisition and retention, analyze the buyer journey and consider how your organization can have touchpoints with your audiences throughout the whole lifecycle.
Today’s buyer journey too takes place heavily — if not entirely — online, where buyers do not tend to interact with your sales team early or often. How can you engage with new buyers in your digital spaces, while also serving current buyers? It is crucial to serve your current buyers with added value, such as thought leadership articles, industry news, and insights that meet at the intersection of their challenges and your solutions.
Organizations that lead with value can and will engage buyers, both new and current alike. According to HubSpot, 90% of satisfied customers are more likely to repurchase, and 93% are likely to stick with a company that shows excellent customer service.
At Mereo, we guide selling organizations with our Seek to Serve, Not to Sell™ approach. When your buyer-facing teams focus on seeking to serve, they increase the level of value buyers at all stages receive. This not only is attractive to prospective buyers on the fence — it also builds deep relationships that keep buyers around for the long run.
Learn how to successfully form these buyer relationships with Mereo’s Seek to Serve™ eBook.