Logan Wedgwood shares some marketing tactics that can lift your business in a recession.

When things get difficult financially, the natural response is to look for savings. Costs you can cut. Things you don’t need. We tend to get more careful about where we choose to spend money. That’s all fine. It’s smart even.

What is not talked about enough, however, is that sales make the pain go away.

That’s right, the fastest way for things to feel less difficult is to make more sales. Sales fuel a healthy and resilient business, after all. And this abundance mentality, or that Kiwi ‘get after it’ attitude, isn’t talked about enough.

It’s simple really; the more sales you make, the less you have to worry about cutting costs.

So, here are some marketing tactics that work in a recession:
•    Doubling down on your target market customer.
•    Doubling down on the channels and activities that have a proven ROI.
•    Asking your customers for feedback.
•    Market research.
•    Choosing marketing activities that others are cutting back on.

Start by surveying your customers; why they choose you, what they like most about you and one thing you could do better. Use this information to revise your target market customer documents and zero in on what they really value and what needs you meet for them.

Research where more of these customers are; where do they hang out? Do they belong to any networking events or groups? Are there geographic commonalities?

Next, review your existing marketing efforts and ascertain whether you’re targeting and winning these clients or whether you need to divert your spend elsewhere.

Closer to home, here are some proven tactics for increasing sales that don’t rely on you getting new customers:
•    Increase purchase frequency.
•    Bundling and value add packages.
•    Developing new products and services.
•    Raising your prices.

Start by reviewing your top 20 customers’ spending habits. What do they buy? How often? And why? How often you contact them can directly influence purchase frequency if you have new products or services to discuss or a new way of bundling your services.

If you are comfortable with the expenditure of your top 20, look at the next 20 (B-tier customers) and understand what the gap is between their current business with you and becoming an A-tier customer. Start there.

If you want to cast the net a little wider, here are some tactics for increasing sales via new customers:
•    Give away more value.
•    Have more conversations.
•    Book more meetings.
•    Present more proposals.
•    Ask for more referrals.

Getting new customers means an increase in outbound activity. There is no shying away from this. You have to start every day with a plan and a clearly-defined set of measurable activities that will get you to the outcome you need. Who are you talking to? When? How frequently? About what? What is in it for them?  

Finally, here are some proven tactics that don’t work:
•    Hoping things will get better.
•    Cutting back your marketing activity.
•    Shortcutting your sales process.
•    Spending time hitting refresh on your emails.
•    Sitting in the office filling in your CRM with more data.
•    Starting your day without a plan.
•    Whingeing and moaning, and blaming other people.
•    Focusing on what you don’t have.
 

No excuses
In a contracting market you don’t have time to make excuses. Get out there and do the work.

In a tightening market, it pays to employ an abundance mentality. It’s easy to give up or think it’s too hard, but continue to look for opportunity and focus on the activities you can control.

That’s the way to increase your sales.

Sometimes, in a contracting market, enough sales to stand still suffices. If you’re still standing when the market turns then the ground you’ve managed to hold, and the forward momentum that your activity brings, will see you well-prepared for the upswing.

If there is one time when every single minute counts, it is during a recession.

So, I like to start every day with what I believe is the most powerful question you can ask.

What is one action I can take today that might make the difference?

Start here, and imagine the opportunities you can create.
 

Logan Wedgwood (MBA, MinstD.) is CEO of strategy execution advisory firm, Advisory.Works. www.advisory.works