Revenue Growth for Customers: Customers Acquisition & Retention

Recently, our CEO, Deepak Goel, had the opportunity to speak to Sandeep Pal, a thought-leading CMO in the Asia Pacific and Japan region. A firm believer in the fact that the only key measure of marketing’s success is “Impact On Revenue”, he has been at the forefront of not just embracing the change but leveraging modern marketing methods and technologies to drive the marketing transformation.

Excerpts

How do you see the lead acquisition process differing for mid-sized companies compared to large enterprises?

Well, it’s not about company size but more about the target segment. In B2B, customers drive the buying cycle, and 60% happens before they even talk to vendors. So, being visible early on is crucial. Whether you’re mid-sized or enterprise, the B2B approach is similar due to the complex sales cycle and multiple stakeholders. Larger enterprises usually have a better MarTech stack and governance framework. Now, mid-sized companies, being more agile, should take a breather, sort out the basics, and then rev up. It’s about avoiding the pitfalls of growing organically without everything being well-connected. For mid-sized companies, I think there is an opportunity here to slow down to go faster.

Is the challenge in achieving effective lead acquisition more about resources, especially with larger companies having more capital and technology access?

It’s not just about resources. Smaller companies have the advantage of agility, while larger enterprises can get stuck in organizational complexities. For mid-sized companies, the key is not massive investments but establishing foundational elements in marketing infrastructure. It’s like having brakes on a car — if you don’t have them, you can’t really be sure of how fast you can safely accelerate. You need a clear foundation built on segmentation and data. Once you establish governance and a scalable marketing strategy, testing and scaling become more feasible. It’s about slowing down initially to build a robust foundation for future growth and competition.

Could you explain the concept of “slowing down to move faster”? Can you share a personal experience that illustrates what it means in practice?

I’ve encountered this in various roles in the last several years. In a B2B setting, there’s always pressure to meet short-term goals. Marketing leadership and business leadership must align on clear goals — whether it’s new customer acquisition, retention, building awareness, entering new markets, or working with channels and partners. So we took a step back, creating both a fast track and a slow lane. You can’t pause marketing entirely, but it’s like changing the tires of a running car — a necessary recalibration for sustained growth.

The challenge was to keep the engine running while building a robust customer intelligence system. This system allowed us to map campaigns to specific audiences, companies, and roles, prioritizing targets based on propensity to buy and past relationships. Instead of a broad approach, we fine-tuned targeting segmentation and created campaigns for specific roles.

When you talk about executing the plan, did you set up separate teams for the slow and fast lanes? How did you practically go about it?

Execution requires resources, and hiring entirely new teams is often impractical. I took a blended approach, assembling a team with members from sales, marketing strategy, and operations. We also brought in experts from SiriusDecisions (now Forrester) and a data scientist from outside to analyze our extensive customer data. With around 50,000 customers in Asia-Pacific over 30 years, understanding customer activity, dormant accounts, and penetration was crucial. We needed to identify white space for cross-selling and upselling, treating some long-inactive customers as essentially new accounts. The analysis allowed us to segment and tailor our messages intelligently, ensuring relevance. We identified gaps in contact coverage for significant accounts, and digital marketing played a role in building a prospective pool for ongoing engagement. This integrated approach proved effective in executing the plan.

Exploring the realm of internationalization, when do you believe it’s strategic for companies to enter new markets? Is there a tipping point where the benefits outweigh the challenges?

The decision to enter new markets hinges on the nature of the solution a company offers. Some solutions demand localization due to factors like language, government regulations, or intricate integrations with local systems. The extent of effort needed to tailor a product for a new market can be a significant barrier. If customization is minimal, it becomes wise to explore growth avenues by addressing new markets. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the go-to-market approach must be adapted to each market’s unique dynamics.

As a growth strategy, internationalization offers more than just expanding reach. It provides an opportunity for A-B testing in marketing. Running campaigns across different markets allows testing varied messaging to discern what resonates best. This insight can then be scaled or replicated in other markets.

I believe that the journey into new markets can be a strategic growth driver, but it demands a careful balance of understanding market nuances and optimizing resources.

* This is the first part of our new series, Drizzlin Unbound, where we speak to experts and stakeholders across the globe to unleash growth beyond borders.

*Want to be a part of this? Reach out to us at hello@Drizzlin.com