Marketing Information

The Value of a Customer


The Driver of All Marketing Efforts

You need to determine what the value of a customer is to your company. Answer the following questions:

How much will the average customer spend with you per year?

A = _____________

If you provide quality service and products, how many years can you expect to keep a customer ?

B = _____________

What is your gross profit, as a percentage of revenues?

C = _____________

The value (V) of a customer is:

V = A X B X C

We learned with our network consulting company that the average life of a customer was about 2 ˝ years and the average yearly expenditure was around $10,000. With a gross margin of 35%, each client was worth $8750 to the company.

$10,000 X 2.5 * .35 = $8750

If you haven't used this simple formula before, it can totally change how you view customer acquisition, retention and customer service. Normally you'll want to spend about 10% of current or projected revenues on customer acquisition. This formula allows you to accurately project what a customer is worth to you over their customer life cycle.

A valuable concept to learn and leverage is to go to great lengths to keep a good customer. The simplest and least intensive marketing efforts are those that you do for existing customers. Stay in contact, educate them on the excellent services you have provided them and the value proposition that you offer.

Close Ratios

The next important parameter is to calculate your close ratio. This means for every prospect you talk to, how many become customers? We had a close ratio of around 25%. With the above example, assuming a marketing budget of 10% of gross revenues per customer, we had $1500 to work with. With a 25% close ratio, that meant we could spend on average $375 for every prospect we talked to ($1500*.25=$375).

This is a very useful tool for making decisions around how much time to spend on proposals, contact, lunches and other prospecting activities.

Bryan Brandenburg has published 5 books as well as a number of articles both in print and on the internet. He has published almost 30 software programs both for consumers and business. More information can be found at www.vmmg.net


MORE RESOURCES:

Marketing Week

Coca-Cola to Boost Marketing Efforts
Wall Street Journal
The Atlanta-based beverage maker said the new productivity targets, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015, include taking costs out of the supply chain and more effective marketing. On Tuesday, Coke also reported a 71% drop in fourth-quarter ...
Coca-Cola Reinvests in MarketingAdAge.com
Coca-Cola to reinvest productivity savings into brand building marketingMarketing Week
Coke Earnings: Profits Up, But Sales DownThe Beverage Network
Food Product Design
all 370 news articles »


Bennett Recognized as an International Top Sales and Marketing Mind
MarketWatch (press release)
7, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- White Lodging Services is pleased to announce Michael Bennett, vice president eCommerce and communications, has been named to the list of the 2011 Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Top 25 ...

and more »


B2B Marketing Leader, Televerde, Executive to Judge National Business Awards ...
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
As a testament to Televerde's growing position as a B2B marketing leader, the company's Senior VP of Global Sales Donna Kent has been tapped to serve as a judge for the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, one of the most prestigious business ...

and more »


Content Marketing Institute, ON24 Announce Virtual Communication Excellence ...
MarketWatch (press release)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Feb 07, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Recognizing the increasing importance of the virtual distribution of content in organizations today, the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and ON24 are recognizing excellence in virtual ...

and more »


Experian Marketing Services Appoints Marshall Stanton as Vice President of ...
MarketWatch (press release)
7, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Experian Marketing Services, a leading provider of data, analytics and marketing technologies that help organizations target and engage their customers more effectively across both traditional and digital media, ...

and more »


Manufacturers Can Now Market Directly to Product Specifiers for 1000s of New ...
MarketWatch (press release)
BidClerk -- the widely recognized leader in providing construction project data and marketing tools to manufacturers, contractors, and distributors -- today announced that is has once again redefined the landscape of construction information with the ...

and more »


SCORR Marketing Marks Growth with New Branding
MarketWatch (press release)
KEARNEY, Neb., Feb 07, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SCORR Marketing, a strategic marketing and public relations agency focused on market development through marketing communications, corporate identity/branding, media communications, advertising and ...

and more »


Northbound DGS Announces New ALTA Suite for Revenue & Engagement Marketing
Sacramento Bee
7, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Northbound DGS, a leading agency in Revenue and Engagement Marketing, today announced its new ALTA suite of integrated revenue generation solutions. Northbound's end-to-end solution is designed to let B2B Enterprises more ...

and more »


Medical Website Design and Medical Marketing Powerhouse, Aurora Information ...
Sacramento Bee
7, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Building on its solid foundation in medical website design and medical marketing, Aurora Information Technology, Inc. (Aurora IT) receives accolades from Bitrixsoft, international technology leader in Internet and Intranet ...

and more »


Marketing Week (blog)

Why the Super Bowl 2012 is a barometer for marketing
Marketing Week (blog)
The Super Bowl 2012 ads are more than just big-budget, show-off marketing moments for brands. I see the Super Bowl ads as a barometer for the collective psyche of global and American marketers. Each year, companies parade their new campaigns, ...
Super Bowl ads both impress, disappoint local marketing/ad repsYork Daily Record
And The Super Bowl XLVI Ad Winner Was . . . Whichever Marketing Survey You ...The Big Lead
Super Bowl Marketing Playbooks -- Which Will Deliver the Win?Huffington Post (blog)
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com -AdAge.com -Daily Illini
all 1,537 news articles »

Google News

home | site map
© 2006