CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
Total sales and marketing expenditure divided by the number of new customers acquired in the same period. It includes team salaries, media spend, tools and commissions — not just paid advertising.
In practice
A CAC calculated without including sales team salaries is systematically understated. With two B2B salespeople at 4,000 euros gross per month each, each closing five contracts per month, the salary-only CAC is 8,000 / 5 = 1,600 euros per customer before the advertising budget. CAC payback period matters as much as the LTV / CAC ratio: payback exceeding 18 months creates a structural cash tension that compounds with growth.