Get the most from your sales channels with basic prioritisation

There are a number of ways to get new business with the most popular methods being:

• Current clients (cross-selling of products)
• Referrals and word-of-mouth
• Inbound – Advertising, websites, brochures etc.
• Outbound – Cold calling, direct mail etc.

It is important to understand the metrics behind each source; in time, money and success.  You have limited marketing and sales resources available so I recommend prioritising these channels according to cost per new customer and customer quality.

Here’s how you prioritise:

1. Cost per lead (i.e. Website design costs, AdWords campaign, lunch with clients, cold calling)
   • Time spend to service a lead
   • Your hourly rate
   • Closure rate for each source
2. Cost per new customer = Conversion rate * (  Cost per lead + (Time spend * Hourly rate)
3. Sort from lowest to highest in terms of cost per new customer and customer quality.

This will help you generate the best business in the cheapest and most effective way.