Win the Ties, Repeat the Buys

A Sticky Brand delivers two key results:

1. Win the ties
2. Repeat the buys

These are easy to define metrics that you can you use to measure and manage your brand's performance.

Let's explore the idea further.

Win the Ties

Customers have choice, lots of choice. When customers can't distinguish one option from the next they tend to default to one of three positions:

1. They will go with what they already know,
2. They go with what's cheapest, or
3. They go with what's available.

Relationships, price, and availability aren't very scalable or sustainable ways to grow your business.

A Sticky Brand provides you competitive immunity. When customers clearly see what makes your products and services unique they'll beat a path to your door and choose them first. Your brand helps you win the ties.

The first set of brand performance metrics are related to customer acquisition. Is your brand winning the ties? You will find these metrics in your sales data:

• What percentage of your sales opportunities are competitive? This means your customers are weighing multiple options, and talking to two or more suppliers.
• What is your company's win ratio in competitive situations?
• How often does your sales team discount to win new customers, and by how much?

These metrics are easy to capture in any CRM system like salesforce.com. Using the data, you can track performance quarter to quarter or year to year. Pay attention to the trends. Is your company's sales performance improving, staying the same, or declining?

These metrics are a good early warning system to demonstrate your brand's performance.

Repeat the Buys

Winning a customer once is great, but there is something wrong if they are not coming back again and again.

A brand isn't sticky without repeat customers.Tracking customer loyalty provides another set of brand performance metrics:

• Are sales transactions with existing customers competitive or exclusive? Are they going to market again and again, or are they loyal to your brand?
• How receptive are existing customers to new products or services?
• Why do customers leave, and what triggers them to move on?
• What is the annual value of a customer, and is that value increasing, decreasing, or staying the same year over year?
• What percentage of your company's revenue comes from existing versus new customers?

It's also worth questioning if your company is investing enough sales and marketing dollars into existing customers. Often a disproportionate amount of the marketing budget is invested in customer acquisition, but you may find even more growth opportunities with your current customers.

Repeating the buys is an ideal brand performance metric, because it is far more efficient and effective to serve a loyal customer than to constantly be hunting for your next one.

Track Acquisition and Retention Metrics

When you create a compelling brand experience it makes everything easier for your business:

• Selling becomes easier
• Service becomes easier
• Hiring and attracting great employees becomes easier

The challenge is to quantify the process. You may have a gut feeling about how your brand is performing, but the metrics show the real picture.

You don't have to look far for the metrics. Your customers will tell you how your business is performing. Look at both customer acquisition and retention metrics to quantify your brand's performance.

1. Is your company winning the ties?
2. Are your customers repeating the buys?