I recently read an article, “The B2B Elements of Value,” from Harvard Business Review that describes different values you can appeal to in order to acquire new customers—but I think it also speaks volumes about customer retention. This is especially important because acquiring a new customer is five times as expensive as retaining an existing one.1
It all comes down to whether we are providing value to our customers in endways that matter to them. According to the article, the different “elements of value” can be organized into a pyramid, based loosely on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The model in the article “extends those insights to people in corporate roles and their motivations for buying and using business products and services.”
We often think that the only value we need to bring to our clients is to deliver positive email metrics, or new leads. But the magic of customer retention happens when we can deliver subjective, immeasurable values. Imagine what the results could be if you’re making your customers look smarter both to their customers and prospects outside of the organization, and even within their organization.
As a B2B business, we are always trying to address these concerns as we position our clients to be innovators and thought leaders in their industry to their clients and to their colleagues across their organization. I also think that we bring inspirational and individual value to our clients by bridging the gap between the sales and marketing team. It’s common for the sales and marketing team to be completely at odds when we start working with an organization—but within the first few months, without fail, we start to see both teams more invested in each other’s success and their goals are much more aligned because of our programs.
Want to look smarter? Learn more about North Star’s innovative SalesAmp or SalesXsell offering or contact us today.
