How to recession proof your business

It’s hardly surprising that ‘how to prepare for a recession’ is one of the top search queries in Google Trends with more companies adopting a ‘when not if’ approach and assessing the impact of what the downturn will mean for their business and how they’ll need to adapt and evolve to successfully weather the economic turbulence.

Businesses should take the opportunity to re-focus their marketing and sales teams to come out of the recession in a stronger position to take advantage of their next business opportunity.

Here’s a roundup of some key strategies designed to help businesses succeed during challenging economic times and help them stay ahead of the competition.

1. Know your cash flow

Managing and keeping a tight control on your cash flow is critical during times of uncertainty.?

Top Tip: “Send out invoices and review your receivables promptly. In doing so, you might notice that some clients consistently make late payments or are flagrantly overdue. Resolve these issues before they become lingering problems.” (business.com)

2. Consider multiple revenue streams?

Putting all your eggs in one basket during economic turbulence can be tough - you’re making yourself vulnerable to prospects’ changing needs.

“Diversification — whether that be through pursuing more target markets, offering more products or services, or adding more distribution channels — can help you alleviate that risk. Having multiple revenue streams makes your business more dynamic.

A recession naturally shifts prospects' needs, interests, and priorities — if you want to maximise your odds of riding out economic turbulence, you need to be willing and able to shift with them.” (hubspot.com)

Top Tip: Identify what your business does best and ensure you focus on your core competencies as you consider pursuing new revenue streams. Identify what makes your business unique and ensure you’re obsessed with adding value for your customers and prospective clients.?

3. Invest in your client relationships?

“Focus on your best current customers instead of investing a large amount of money to attract new clients. When you create the best results and experience for your existing customer base, they will want to do more business with you and become an important source of new clients as well.

Business owners will often overlook this as they look for more customers, but don’t underestimate your relationship currency with clients who already know, like, and trust you and your business.?

It’s much easier to get a repeat client, through good service and delivering on your promises.?

An added benefit: happy clients act as ambassadors for your business and share their experience with other potential customers, in turn helping you to draw in new sales for a much lower cost.” (forbes.com)

Top Tip: Use customer satisfaction surveys to understand your strengths and identify areas of improvement. Talking to your customers is a great way to size up your competition and build a deeper understanding of your clients’ changing needs so you can adapt and evolve your offering.?

Did you know? According to a Marketing Metrics study, the probability of landing a new customer is only 5% to 20%, while selling to an existing customer has a success rate of 60% to 70%.

4. Keep watch on the competition

Along with securing and nurturing your existing client relationships, recession-proofing is about finding ways to grow your customer base and that means winning customers over your competitors.?

Top Tip: Do your research. Keep tabs on everything that your competitors are doing by signing up to their email newsletters, visiting and following their social media accounts, reading their latest company news and blog posts. Then take note of any qualities that separates your business from theirs and push your competitive advantage.

5. Never stop marketing your business

“Attracting new business is often central to weathering economic turbulence, so avoiding significant cuts to your marketing budget can be a good bet when you're trying to recession-proof your operations.” (hubspot.com)

Did you know??B2B customers today progress more than 70% of the way through the decision-making process before ever engaging a sales representative

A solid, results-driven social media strategy, complemented with a persona-focused content strategy helps position your business as a thought leader and ‘trusted partner’. Provide informative, value-add content that resonates with your target audience to help build credibility and trust.

Top Tip: Ensure that you track marketing results and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs). Only continue with targeted campaigns that are achieving the desired results and stop those that aren’t. Targeted campaigns that align with your customers' pain points and challenges help preserve revenue.

ORRJO can help

We’re supporting business owners, sales and marketing professionals with campaign creation and lead and demand generation to help nurture and convert qualified opportunities to fuel their sales pipeline and bolster their growth strategy.?

If you’re struggling to find the time to focus on fuelling your sales pipeline, or you’re frustrated with your conversion from lead to sale, ORRJO can help.