During uncertain economic times, acquiring new business is the biggest challenge facing B2B companies: 38% of a small group of multichannel executives surveyed cite cost-effective customer acquisition as their highest concern this year, according to a recent survey from MeritDirect.
Another 38% cite customer acquisition as a notable concern, the survey found.
Asked to assess other issues that threaten business in 2010 as well as "what keeps you up at night," executives cited the following as their greatest concerns:
- Finding new ways to grow business: 33%
- A downturn in the economy: 21%
- Ability to find new products, products lines, or markets: 18%
Meanwhile, those areas that executives are focused the least on include the following:
- Raising capital and/or credit lines to finance expansion: 51%
- Providing effective customer service: 23%
- Recruiting enough talented people: 21%
- Ensuring that major vendors are value-added partners: 21%
Regarding the economy overall, 44% of executives expect conditions to improve this year, while 51% say conditions will be comparable to 2009 and 5% expect conditions to worsen.
About the data: The anonymous survey was conducted by MeritDirect and polled 39 B2B C-level executives of companies engaged primarily in B2B multichannel marketing, from Dec. 30, 2009 to Jan 15, 2010.
