Tracing the turbulence in the economy over the past years, The World Bank, in its September 2022 press release, predicted a global recession in 2023. Interestingly, 58% of the American population believes that the U.S. economy has already descended into recession. It is natural for your company to struggle with sales in such a scenario.

Reduced expenditure by customers and their lack of confidence in the future and economy directly impact your sales. Worse, your business also needs to come up with a plan to tackle reduced budgets, less revenue, and cash flow slowdowns. 

‍In such a case, how do you manage to increase sales during the recession? Understanding the evolving customer pattern and tweaking your strategy accordingly works best. Read on.

#1: Prioritize Existing Customers

Focusing on onboarding new clients is not an effective sales strategy during a recession. Instead, engage your sales team in finding ways to deliver value, support, and satisfaction to your existing customer base. Identify the changes you can make to systems, procedures, delivery, or contract terms to serve them with the best. 

By approaching the problem from the customer’s perspective, sales reps can effectively provide a straightforward purchasing process and the security of a trusted brand. For instance, a client is more likely to buy a product with a one-year agreement than one with a three-year contract because of the uncertainty that a recession brings with it.

Your value proportion should be ROI-focused. It must state how the value you provide connects with customers and differentiates your products. If defined correctly, value proportion helps your company stand out in the market competition and retain your customers. 

Low sales bring you extra time. Utilizing it to provide customer satisfaction is the best way to go. Engaging with your customers and seeking feedback is a good first step. Further, focus on improving your customer service and making your payment options more flexible. This will increase your capacity to serve more clients while reducing customer churn.

#2: Automate Your Tasks to Increase Sales During Recession

Automation is one of the best sales strategies that can recession-proof your business. It streamlines the workforce, reduces human error, and frees time for your team to focus on high-impact selling activities instead of manual tasks. Outplay is here to help you with that.

With scheduled messages, workflows, and automated record updates of contemporary CRMs, you can leverage your sales efforts without increasing the number of members in your team. You can even respond to customer queries quickly and in a more personalized way, improving customer satisfaction. 

When implemented efficiently, our sales engagement platform improves the ROI of your business such that it outweighs the initial cost of the start-up. You can expect enhanced speed, accuracy, and reduced error risk with this lowered operational cost.

#3: Invest in Training Your Employees 

Recession is likely to hit your company with lower projects and more free time at hand. Besides, in a scenario when bonuses and raises are out of bounds, upskilling your employees is the best alternative to increase job satisfaction and employee retention. 

Job stagnation is a common trend in employees during the recession that leads to demotivated staff and poor performance. But upskilling can help you rectify it. Focus on colleagues' interactions and connecting across different departments in the organization. This will help you in diversifying an employee's expertise and relieving their frustration. 

Upskilling also helps in increasing customer satisfaction. Your customers do not have to shift from one consulting branch to the other, as a trained employee can provide basic information and answers to all customer queries. These highly skilled employees add to the brand reputation while saving finances, time, and energy that is conventionally invested in hiring new members. 

#4: Seek Referrals From Customers 

Your company’s credibility and the customer’s trust are crucial factors that can help you attract new clients during a recession. Statistics show that referral leads convert 30 percent better than leads generated from other marketing channels, providing a 16% higher LTV.

An integrated referral program, if implemented correctly, can serve as an effective sales strategy. Engaging with your customers and asking if they have someone who might be interested in your product can be the first and most beneficial step in lead generation. Further, incentivize your customers to refer your business to their network. Paying referral commissions or referring leads to strategic patterns that serve your ideal customer profile (ICP) could be effective methods to do this. 

Referral marketing is cost-effective. Contrary to the conventional 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio, it has the potential to boost your company’s growth far beyond expectations. With a sharp retention rate of 37 percent, referred customers are trustworthy and loyal. 

#5: Keep a Check on Your Cash Flow

Prioritizing cash flow during a recession is one of the sales improvement strategies that businesses often ignore. Recession can give a hard time to your company. With customers tightening their purses, you need to look out for even the slightest change in your cash flow.

Do not shy away from reducing transactions with nonprofitable customers who might waste your valuable time in extreme negotiations or late payments. Instead, invest in customers who pay within the prescribed time frame. Further, offer discounts on early payment to improve your sales, which in turn increases cash flow. 

Before making any expense, look out for the accuracy of the charges and the necessity of the purchase or investment involved. Keep a check on profit margins with a cash flow forecast to get a clearer picture of your cash flow. 

Dealing with reduced budgets, cash slowdowns, and layoffs during a recession can be stressful. But to alter the situation to your benefit, you need to shift your position from being a passive recipient of the changes to an active business strategist.

Make use of the right automation tools to streamline your business operations, make prospecting easier, and create personalized messages at scale. Outplay can help you do that a lot more. Check out our tool here.

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