Oftentimes it’s easier to significantly increase your customer base through the acquisition of competitors than it is with the more commonly used marketing route.  Anyone with at least a modicum of business experience appreciates just how challenging it is for an established business to grow its customer base by 10% per annum if it relies solely on marketing efforts.  On the other hand, the acquisition of a competitor can double, triple, or quadruple your customer base at deal closing.

What many business owners don’t realize is that it can be cheaper as well faster to go with the acquisitions growth strategy. To illustrate this, let’s take a look at cases where this was capitalized on from the recent past.  Specifically, let’s look at businesses which utilized subscriber revenue models such as cable-TV and Internet service providers.  If you owned a small system in either industry, you were faced with a choice of growth through marketing or acquisitions. Now suppose that you had set as your goal a doubling of your subscriber base in five year’s time. We will assume that this target is extrapolated from your growth rates over the last three years. An analysis of your customer acquisition costs needed to double your sales over three years may show that a marketing based strategy’s costs will exceed those of an acquisition strategy.  Morever, the acquisitions route will achieve your goal by doubling the subscriber base as soon as the deal is finalized.

Are you still not convinced that an acquisitions-base growth strategy is the way to go? Okay, let me throw in another reason to seriously consider this option: lower risk. Yes, if you know your business and industry and decide to buy-out a competitor your risk can be reduced because you are taking control of an asset that you understand and that has passed your due diligence. Imagine for a moment that you own and operate a pizza parlor and are looking for ways to expand. One day a marketing consultant calls on you to pitch a new marketing strategy which he promises will double your sales over three years–but at a substantial cost. The week after you are notified by a friend that your competitor down the street is for sale. Acquisition of this pizza joint would instantly double your revenue. You compare the prices of the two options and discover that they are only about 15% apart.

Which is the lower risk option? In most cases, the acquisition of an add-on profit center for your business. After all, you already know to successfully operate such a business and the lenders will trust you more than someone needing a loan to attempt some unproven growth strategy.