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This is the second article in a series discussing three different business scenarios and what each can do to survive and thrive during a recession. If you’ve missed our introduction article “The Ultimate Guide to Predictable B2B Sales During a Recession”, read it here first. While there are five steps to ensure predictable sales, we’ve highlighted three specific actions to take if you’re a new business.
For new businesses who have set up in the past 24 months, check out the first article.
For established businesses that are experiencing a slowdown or lower sales, either since last year or more recently, this third article is for you.
Now let’s get started with the second article. This is for businesses who are established, and not really feeling any kind of downturn.
If you’re in this camp, you’re doing well already. However, now is not the time to rest on your laurels! The business may be going well now, but it’s important to take steps to ensure this continues into the future. On the upside, you will have spare resources to invest in this.
In our 20 years in business all too often we get approached by businesses who were doing well … until just one key client leaves for whichever reason and all of a sudden they need urgent sales, which is next to impossible to do for a company that did no marketing for years!
Don’t be that company, maintain your market presence by marketing at all times. Simple, yet effective!
Retention Should Be Your #1 Priority
The best way to ensure continued success is by ensuring your customers stay with you. In uncertain markets, you need to stay in touch with all of them and let them know you are still here and ready to service their needs. Customers tend to have short memories, and managers change all the time.
Therefore a past customer is no guarantee of a future one unless you are actively building top-of-the-mind awareness for them.
You can view this as improving your customer service, and use it as a chance to educate them about your products and services. You’ve likely heard of a customer mention they bought something you sell and then act surprised when you mention you also provide this. This is not because they suddenly don’t like you, they genuinely didn’t know you provide it. This is why education and staying in touch are so vital.
Once your follow-up and education are well sorted, it’s time to review what value you currently provide vs your competitors.
Is there something missing that can be added at low or no cost to you? We’ve all heard of customers receiving a small chocolate with every delivery, and how much this small gesture can build loyalty. But do you implement this in your business?
The chocolate is a metaphor, of course, it’s not always viable in every industry. The key is to think outside the box and find ways to provide value over and above what your customer expects. For service-based industries, it could be providing special insights that only you know. Or if you have a good geographic concentration of your customers, why not put on a customer appreciation evening?
On that note, it’s appropriate to mention that 100% of business owners I met over the years agree that NONE of their customers actually know all the products or services they provide. That is why your customers and past customers can often buy more from you if they know more about what you offer.
PRACTICAL ACTION:
- Choose to invest in marketing. If times are good, you have the ability to invest in marketing so that times will continue to be good!
- Start a regular email newsletter – fortnightly for services or weekly for products. This creates an opportunity for your connections to learn more about your products and services. Sounds too complicated? Ask me how 12 months’ worth of emails can be developed over 6 weeks with little time investment from you.
Explore the Merits of New Product Development
Any downturn can be an excellent opportunity to spend some time developing new products and services. And this is especially true if you are coming into it from a position of strength. If sales are stagnating, you may choose to spend your efforts investing in something new. This can put you in a great position to take advantage once the market returns, and suddenly you have something new over your competitors.
Remember if developing a new product/service:
do good market research first. There’s no point imagining what the market wants, you need to talk to them! Breakthroughs like the iPhone are far and few in between. Most new products are built based on robust conversations with current customers to uncover what their current pain points are.
This doesn’t have to be limited to products and services by the way. You can look at your internal business and see what can be improved there. Would a piece of custom software make the customer experience better, or streamline your own delivery? Perhaps the website needs a refresh? Or maybe you have a lack of good quality content to entice new prospects? While your competitors may be struggling, take this opportunity to invest in future sales.
PRACTICAL ACTION:
- Investigate anything that is new or happening in your industry. Whether this is a straw poll type of chat or a more robust market research, this can be a great way to build your future success.
- If nothing product/service comes up, consider how you can improve the way you do things. Is there a way to become more efficient, or do things to a higher standard?
It May Be Time for M&A
Depending on how well you’ve done, you may have a significant amount of cash to invest. A merger or acquisition shouldn’t be left to the big boys. Even a small business can explore this option. And in fact, during a downturn, it can be easier to find the right business at a discounted price. This can be a risky strategy as a lot can go wrong, especially if you have to merge teams.
Some things to remember:
- Sometimes you are just buying the list of clients, make sure they have one!
- How much duplication of admin can be cut down/handled by your current team?
- You can merge up and down the supply chain, don’t be limited to direct competitors.
- A merger can be a good way to expand beyond your city while sharing the risk with another business.
- Try to look for businesses that do things in the same way you do them – a good cultural fit is usually vital.
- Sometimes you are just buying talent – i.e. the employees.
M&A can reap great rewards, and once you’ve done it once you may end up continuing until you’re a well-known brand. Just remember the fundamentals that made you a success in the first place, as these aren’t likely to change over time.
PRACTICAL ACTION:
- Be open to opportunities that may come along and try to think laterally. Oftentimes once we become open to an idea we start seeing the opportunities all around us.
- Have a chat with a business broker so you understand the process and are well-equipped if you do notice any opportunities.
3 Steps for an Established Thriving Business
To summarise, if you have an established business that has done or is doing well there are three broad areas to continued success.
- First off you want to secure your position, this means ensuring you retain your existing customer base. Look for ways to delight them and keep in touch to ensure they keep coming back to you.
- Second, this can be a good time to develop a new product/service/internal process to increase how competitive you are.
- And finally, if you are really cashed up, it may be worth looking at mergers and acquisitions to fuel growth.
Still in Doubt?
You’re not alone. Lucky for you, you’re in a great position with a lot of different options available to you. That alone can be overwhelming! We’re here to help.
The easiest way to get clear on your goals is to work with me on a weekly basis as a virtual CMO. We’ll set 10 goals to achieve over a 100-day period, this equates to 15 weekly meetings with myself. I’ll bring a lot of ideas to these meetings and provide a sounding board for your thoughts. These 100 days can be truly transformational and you’d be surprised what can be achieved in such a short time period.
Or if you’d like something a bit more hands-on, we can start with a Strategic Action Plan.
Note this isn’t a full-blown strategy, you’ll get actual actions to take to solve your biggest challenges with sales and marketing. Then we can discuss what internal resources are available to get you going, and where we can assist.
Our team has a wide skillset, so we can step in at any level of marketing whether it’s emails, copywriting, calling, web design, LinkedIn/Social management, or something a bit different.
Take the first step today – book a chat with me and let’s see how we can work together. https://lnkd.in/dfGYSdUm
Assia Salikhova
Smarketing Lab Co-Creator,
developer of profitable B2B solutions to grow your business.
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