How can you network to reduce your customer acquisition cost in Direct Sales?

Focus on storytelling. Weave your product into a narrative that solves problems. Use visuals effectively. A tool like Canva can help make your slides pop. Be interactive. Ask questions, use polls or create scenarios. Engagement is key.

Word of mouth is the best marketing technique. Prospects who connect with you through word of mouth have a higher chance of converting. They are already qualified and come with a mindset that you will be able to help. Building that relationship is I believe the only way for you to get genuine references. But, be careful. While they are easier to convert, they might end up straining your relationship with the referrer. There might be genuine reasons that you are not able to work together, but don’t let a situation arise that affects your relationship with your referrer. For eg., you might give an offer that is much lesser than the one given to the referrer. It can make them feel devalued and affects your long term relationship.

Listen, listen and listen and mingle to get to know people. Be generous with your knowledge and help by connecting people. If someone in the future needs what you offer you might then be at the top of their mind.

Leverage LinkedIn. Connect with industry professionals and engage in relevant groups. Attend industry events and webinars. Networking face-to-face or virtually can be powerful. Partner with non-competing businesses for referrals. It’s about creating win-win relationships.

The most effective way to sell high-end products is through reference-based selling. The first step in adopting this method is to build references. To do this effectively, the entire organization must commit to putting the customer first. Having said that, the majority of the responsibility falls on the rep. You have to sell with integrity and earn your client's trust if you want both personal and organizational-level references. When I was a rep, I carried a folder with personal recommendations from my customers, and at initial meetings, I would show these to my prospects. This put me ahead of my competitors right out of the gate because the prospect had a peer telling them that I was good to work with and would treat them well.

You do not have to look inward into your customer database to provide value. You must meet with your existing/potential customers at their point of need. Need identification process and proposal to solve them is the heartbeat of the value proposition. Stand out as someone who goes out of their way to ensure the need of the customer is resolved by creating a range of solutions including referring them to tried and tested solutions (references). Treating each customer uniquely provides a step in seeking varied solutions that go a long way in creating value for money. Do not be generic or providing a copy and paste matrix in need identification and value proposition. Be Unique

The purpose of creating value through networking is to position yourself as a trusted advisor. Hence you give free advice and insights whenever you can. However, be careful not to overstretch yourself, and make sure your efforts are not abused or be taken for granted by the people you serve. While you do differentiate yourself in this way, it may not reduce your CAC if you include the cost of time invested to create value to potential customers.

Leveraging Social media is the best but very sensitive platform in customer engagement. You are basically communicating/speaking to someone you cannot see hence not aware of the response or reaction to your post. The big questions to ask are what is the objective of the message? Who is the target consumer? What is the content? What is the expected outcome? Crafting highly engaging content and creativity spurs positive reaction and hence improves engagement thereby providing feedback on your content that may well be communicating about your products and services. While the use of influencers reaches out to a wider audience, their followers may not necessarily be your target market hence a careful selection of the influencer.

Be careful. While it's great to be involved or even lead communities, you may spend too much time with your communities, and way too little time making targeted sales calls. It makes sense to divide your time in sensible ways. If you face strong pressure to meet very challenging sales targets, you are better off making direct approaches to potential customers. Building and leading communities is time (sometimes resources too) consuming, and may not reduce your CAC