No products in the cart.
Take a Quiz to Assess Your LinkedIn
Whether we are in a recession or not, we can all agree we live in times of fast and unexpected changes. There is a real likelihood that the speed of change will only grow in the future as we embrace tech further.
This article offers you the ultimate guide to changing your sales process in order to have predictable B2B sales.
There is no promise of a fast solution or 10x growth, although some might apply our ideas to do just that. Instead, the aim is to show you that every company is capable of taking action to not only survive but also thrive in unpredictable times. This is possible if five fairly straightforward ideas are taken on board and implemented.
Think about it, just five ideas coupled with consistent actions are all that is standing in your way! Just do it!
But first, let’s be clear about where we are at right now. While your situation may be different it’s important to recognise where we are coming from.
If you’re ready to dive into something a little more specific, we’ve also got four mini-guides for three different business situations, check them out below:
What’s the starting point?
With all the news coming out these days, it can be difficult to stay positive. Many businesses are facing tough challenges, and one of the easiest things to do is cut costs. Marketing is traditionally first out as it’s often viewed as an unnecessary expense.
This attitude is the very root of the problem – too many companies of all sizes in various industries perceive marketing as an expense rather than an investment.
To be fair it’s a two-way street, and this perception is partly a result of a non-practical marketing approach that is too focussed on research and strategy and misses implementing great ideas. Let’s face it, some marketers have a lot to answer for.
When you recognise the true nature and the value of marketing as an investment in future business, it makes almost no sense to cut it as the first resort. Instead, it’s now time to face the challenge head-on and invest in marketing that works. Inaction during challenging economic times leads to even fewer sales soon after.
It’s common for companies who take action, even complete newbies, to grow during times of economic challenges because many others slow down and don’t seize opportunities.
What to do during Recession?
Step #1: Put Yourself Into Your Customer’s Shoes
1.1: Talk to Your Customers
Understanding your customer is Business 101. But when times are tough, it’s even more important to spend some time and really get an understanding of what your customer is going through. By putting yourself into their shoes you can appreciate what their pain points are because let’s face it – they have likely changed recently.
1.2: Review Your Offering
Changing requirements is an opportunity for you to outshine your competitors. If you are able to listen, understand and then tailor your approach, this can really make you stand out from the crowd. You might be thinking, how do I go about doing this?
Well, it’s easier than you think. Pick up the phone and have a chat with your customers. Ideally, pick the ones you have a good relationship with and who are more likely to be open to discussing what’s going on. Ask open-ended questions about their situation and try to think of ways you can help them. It could mean altering your services or increasing/decreasing certain things. Maybe it’s about offering long-term financing options.
The point is, to speak to your customers and find out what their situation is. Then take that information and see what you can do to help. It doesn’t always have to be financial either – it could be as simple as a workshop that shows them how to do something or use something more efficiently.
1.3: Make a Real Effort to Retain Your Customers
Understanding your customer’s current situation is the first step in ensuring you retain them. Showing up will give them a sense of comfort, knowing that in these times of change, they can still rely on you. Altering your offering so it better suits their situation and needs shows them you are paying attention.
Often these conversations with your customers can lead to a sale. They likely don’t know your full product range, so when you are having these chats keep in mind if there is anything you offer that solves their challenges. It could be something that increases efficiency or productivity etc.
The bottom line – talk to your customers, and your prospects, with the aim of helping as much as you possibly can. Both with advice and offering services/products where relevant. Chances are you will either get more business immediately or sometime in the future.
What to do during Recession?
Step #2: Communicate. A LOT MORE.
Step 2.1: Basic Information is Important.
Recessions are a good time to re-assess your communication skills. I don’t mean verbal, although that never hurts either. I mean what are you putting out there into the world as a business?
Are you offering sage advice to your customers and prospects that help them? Or are you leaving it up to Wikipedia and your competition to educate them?
It’s been fairly common knowledge that senior managers prefer to talk to you after they’ve done their own research. And in 2022, Gartner confirmed this in a report: 72% of decision-makers prefer a ‘rep-free’ experience. This means they are able to educate themselves about you, without you.
What does this look like in real life? In short, it means there are people out there right now looking for solutions you can provide. If content marketing is a foreign concept for you then they are likely not to find you or your company and as a result… go elsewhere. If only they knew you can do it so well!
Now is the time to understand and embrace content marketing. For some that might mean that you need to start from the very bottom and work your way up. Imagine your customers know nothing about your product, that is the lowest level you need to start with.
FAIR WARNING:
for every highly technical industry, please stop thinking your company is well-known or that your customers understand all your technical jargon. First of all, the market is pretty ignorant and most companies are a lot less known than they think they are. Second, often times the decision is made by a senior manager or the company owner who might be not as technically minded as you would expect them to be.
A pretty classic example: digital transformation. Senior management can’t even start thinking let alone make a decision unless they understand some digital fundamentals. When I mention Senior Management, that includes their IT department. Hard to believe this? I’ve spoken to hundreds of companies in this exact position, and more often than not senior managers have a knowledge gap.
2.2: Address Pain Points
Simple articles explaining the basics, all the way up to guides and case studies that really showcase what your business can help them achieve. The reality is that a lot of people who think they know everything, really don’t know all that much. Commonly used jargon might actually be causing confusion. So while the temptation may be to dive into complex thoughts, it’s important to have the basics right first.
Content that addresses current pain points is a great way to show off your knowledge while helping educate your prospects on what you can do for them. Case studies are a great way to do this in a more interesting and engaging format. Better yet, ask if your customers would be open to recording a short video testimonial. Video testimonials like this really help you stand out from the crowd and build trust.
2.3: Claim Your Space as an Expert
Now that you have all this wonderful content, it’s important to put it to good use. And this means LinkedIn or other social media platforms. You need to connect with your target audience and share your ideas and thoughts. By doing this you claim your space and develop your reputation as an expert.
The word “expert” is often questioned by our clients. But why? If you’ve been in the business for a decade, are you not an expert in your field? If you’re a bit newer but part of a team, you can still claim expertise via them. The term expert in this context doesn’t necessarily mean someone who knows everything, just someone who knows more than others.
Worst of all, if you aren’t showing up and claiming your space, this leaves a gap for your competitors to do it for you.
What to do during Recession?
Step #3: Show Up Consistently
3.1: Network More
We all know that a large part of success is just showing up. This is especially true in times of uncertainty. It’s important to be visible not only to your clients but to your prospects as well. The last thing you want to do is make it harder to be found, or worse give them the impression you are no longer in business.
While appearing at offline networking events and trade shows is still a good strategy, online is a much cheaper alternative and you can reach a wider audience.
3.2: Social Media Works More Than Ever
Furthermore, being merely visible on the right social media for your audience is the bare minimum you can do these days. Even if it’s simple posts that explain your products/services and their benefits, this is better than nothing. What this signals to your customers and the market, in general, is that you are still around and available.
Times of change bring times of new management as well, and sometimes this ends in a review of suppliers. Being present online is a good step in ensuring when they are doing a review, you are easy to find. Explaining the benefits of working with you on social media will help ensure any new managers are able to self-educate themselves even if you are not always calling up.
3.3: Collaborate With Others
Collaborating with complementary businesses is another great way to show up for your clients. This is a seriously under-utilised strategy because everyone seems to be looking out for themselves. An arrangement like this can be as simple as committing to referring customers back and forth, or you can do package deals and cross-promotions.
These partnerships are a good opportunity to use your imagination and deliver something your customers will really value.
What to do during Recession?
Step #4: Use Technology to Communicate a Lot More
We often think we are good communicators. But are we?
How up-to-date is your website?
If you sell offline – do you have enough printed material?
How often do you post on social media?
How frequently do you send a newsletter?
When did you last publish an article or video?
Can you tell when was the last time you spoke to each customer?
When did you last speak to each prospect?
The reality is, business gets in the way of all of the above. So it’s only natural that sometimes we forget to post, or don’t have quite enough time to make that call. This is where planning in advance and automation can really make life easier.
4.1: Employ a CRM, That You Will Use
A good first step is to have a CRM. However, the best CRM is one that will be used. So if you’ve tried in the past and failed, maybe just stick to an Excel spreadsheet for the time being. It’s better you have a spreadsheet of customers and notes, than a fancy CRM that you never touch and doesn’t get updated.
4.2: Create Content in Advance
Social media posts and email newsletters can all be thought through and created in advance. LinkedIn even lets you schedule posts natively within the system online or via mobile. So there is no reason you can’t “be present” online. This can seem like a mammoth task, so break it off into chunks and work on a quarterly or monthly basis.
Set aside a few days for creating content, then schedule it and rest assured that it is working for you in the background.
4.3: Use Automation and Modern Marketing Approaches
In addition, leverage the power of automation tools available at your disposal. This means creating landing pages that can sell for you when you are asleep, calendar booking software that lets prospects find a time that is good for them, follow-up emails that answer enquiries immediately, chatbots that can answer your most commonly asked questions, and so much more. All these little automation can help push the prospect further down the sales process without your involvement, leaving you more time to shine and add value.
If you find few words in this section sound like a foreign language for you, it’s time to learn modern marketing approaches because it’s not as complex as you think. You are always welcome to ask implementation experts from Smarketing Lab for guidance.
What to do during Recession?
Step #5: Optimise Marketing
5.1: Slim Down Multiple Agencies
At times, companies end up with a few too many agencies. While it may seem like a good idea initially, the reality of working with 2-5 agencies is that there’s often a lack of a unified strategy. Either each one is looking for you to provide a strategy, or each is advocating for their approach.
This can be detrimental to a business as it either floats aimlessly producing different pieces of marketing materials that don’t work together. Or it gets pulled apart in several different directions, with sometimes disastrous results in the end.
We advocate for a multi-disciplinarian agency that can cover the bases of what is needed, instead of an agency really focused on doing one thing really well. Just like many things, marketing works best not when every different section is performing at its peak, but when the whole is optimised. That’s not to say everything can’t be the best, it’s just not necessary. So, now is the time to review how many agencies you work with and aim to slim it down. One way to do that is to find out the full range of capabilities of agencies you are already working with.
5.2: Use Internal Agency & Augment With Agency Expertise
Review what internal resources are at your disposal and discuss how these can be used with your agency. If you are a competent copywriter, there may not be a need to pay for articles to be written. Instead, perhaps look for an agency capable of taking your thoughts and turning them into other forms of content – social media posts and videos for example.
A good tip to increase your reach on social media is to have your team engage with it. Even if they just react to your company posts, this will give it a boost as it shows people are interested and engaging with your content. The end result will be that your communication reaches more of your target market. Simple actions like this consistently bring a lot of value.
These cost-saving suggestions not only keep your marketing efforts going but also empower your team to stay productive during potential market slowdowns.
Where to from here?
Simple consistent actions have been the key to predictable sales for businesses over the last 120 years, and now it’s our turn to align with market trends.
No matter your situation, you now have five good steps to move forward with your marketing (and sales). Recessions are part of our market reality, and while you can’t have unlimited growth with zero consequences, the good news is that the world continues turning. We will get through it if we’re proactive.
Every business owner and sales manager understands that predictable sales result from a multitude of relatively small, often simple consistent actions. These actions are measured and adjusted based on the results. Those who invest time and effort in doing the so-called “low-level sales activities” succeed in every market situation.
Today, we invite you to review what the “low-level sales activities” for your business are. Explore how a new mix of known and new content & marketing-related activities can differentiate your business, creating more predictability of sales in the years to come.
So, keep calm, carry on, and implement some of the strategies we’ve discussed here. Not sure where to begin? Still feeling overwhelmed?
I have one final piece of good news: help from Smarketing Lab is here.
Like a veritable superhero, we love to help businesses succeed.
Reach out and let’s have a chat. Start by booking a complimentary Strategy Planning Session with me at https://rb.gy/moqm3
Assia Salikhova
Managing Director, Smarketing Lab Limited
P.S. This article is the first in a series of four articles that will cover ideas that can help any B2B company stay afloat. In the next three articles, I will cover three key scenarios based on common types of companies we see every day.
In three articles (to be published weekly) we’re going to discuss the following scenarios:
- Brand New B2B Business. Imagine a new business that has just come to market within the past 12-24 months. You likely started during or just after the pandemic and may or may not have found success. This recession is likely your first.
- Established B2B In Good Shape. If you are an established company and your business has been and is going well, then you might be wondering what to do to keep it up. While you keep reading about the doom and gloom, your business isn’t feeling any major changes. Or are they around the corner?
- Struggling From a Lack of Sales, Established B2B Company. This is about you if you are an established company and your business has been affected recently. Perhaps it was good a while ago, or maybe it was good as recently as last year. Whatever the case, the business has noticeably slowed down. Ideally, you’re not in crisis mode, as if you are it may be too late.
While there are many other scenarios, we believe these three cover the majority of situations. Share in the comments if you feel other common situations are not covered and I’ll be happy to write some more about it.
Assia Salikhova
Smarketing Lab Co-Creator,
developer of profitable B2B solutions to grow your business.
Ready for the next step?
Learn about LinkedIn from Business Services from Smarketing Lab
Find out how well your LinkedIn profile stands by taking a special Quiz to discover how your profile on LinkedIn stacks up vs industry standards. Then ask for help when needed. Because the #teamtalent at Smarketing Lab is on standby ready to help you gain the full benefit from LinkedIn for your business. Learn More
Discover the Values and Benefits of Upgrading and Optimising LinkedIn Profile
